A Jerk, a Jihad, and a Virus
a novel
by Gary F. Jones
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Pub Date May 03 2016 | Archive Date May 29 2016
BQB Publishing | Boutique of Quality Books
Description
Veterinary virologist Jason Mitchell can’t keep his mouth shut, can’t lie convincingly, and can’t follow orders. He’s an unlikely candidate to help the CIA locate and destroy a deadly hybrid virus stolen from Jason’s lab at the University of Minnesota. From Washington to Djibouti, From Minneapolis to Yemen, marines cringe, senators turn livid, and CIA agents shudder as Jason struggles to prevent the virus from becoming a biological weapon in the hands of jihadists.
Jason and Ann Hartman, veterinarians, lovers, and graduate students, conduct a study of BCV in calves, a common virus that causes diarrhea in cattle. A recently arrived Chinese student accidentally exposes the calves to the SARS virus, a close relative of BCV. The calves and the Chinese student develop a severe and puzzling pneumonia. The Center for Disease Control isolates a hybrid BCV-SARS virus from the Chinese student and the calves. The FBI is notified of the new and dangerous virus.
Ahmed, more con man than graduate student, discovers samples of Jason’s that contain the virus. He steals them and flees to Yemen where he pretends to be a devout Muslim to get funding from a jihadist group. The jihadists believe the virus will be valuable as a biological weapon and as bait to lure the CIA into military action that will kill innocent civilians and increase hatred of the US. Jason and an unconventional CIA agent redefine “thinking outside the box” as they con Ahmed, dodge bullets, and thwart the jihadists.A Note From the Publisher
Author is available for interviews, blog tours, autographed tours, autographed book giveaways, contests, and book club discussions.
Advance Praise
"This fast-paced, smart, witty, and tautly written thriller explodes with an international setting and a great cast of characters including the unlikely hero-a young university bovine virus researcher in St. Paul, Minnesota. The author gives us high stakes with incredible details, creating an authentic and fascinating look inside university labs and politics as well as a jihadist plot that takes our hero around the globe to Cairo and back. Gary Jones is a great new voice on the thriller novel scene. A Jerk, A Jihad and a Virus is a highly recommended read."
-Christine DeSmet, mystery author and screenwriter, Master Class writing instructor, University of Wisconsin-Madison Continuing Studies
Marketing Plan
Gary Jones was raised on a dairy farm in Wisconsin and grew up showing Holsteins and Clydesdales. Jones earned his veterinary degree at Michigan State University and practiced bovine medicine in rural Wisconsin for nineteen years. At the age of 42, Jones uprooted his family and returned to graduate school at the University of Minnesota, where he earned a PhD in microbiology. While at the U of M, Jones developed both a diagnostic test for a disease of swine, and a means of extracting bacterial DNA from swine feces and used the test he’d developed, which was based on PCR, to identify pigs infected with a bacterium that had not been able to grow in the lab. The diagnostic test is now a standard test used worldwide in veterinary diagnostic labs. Jones is also the author of Doc’s Codicil, a finalist for the INDIEFAB Book of the Year Award for 2015.
Available Editions
| EDITION | Paperback |
| ISBN | 9781939371928 |
| PRICE | $19.95 (USD) |
Average rating from 4 members
Featured Reviews
Megan D, Reviewer
I made a mistake when I started reading this book. I failed to see the obvious which is clear in the title alone. This book is SATIRE!!
Once I realized this, then it all made sense about why the story telling was so "poor" and full of holes and implausible scenes.
In proper context, it's hilarious. One of the biggest things that the book turns on it's end in the spy genre... the concept that the two sides and agents of them, don't know what the other is doing. One "spy" blatantly gives away his identity to his university friend that has been assigned to try and gain information from him! The friend is very inept anyways so our villain spy says: (paraphrased) "I know what you're doing, here's the information you want. I'm just here because I love your big screen TV. I wrote it out for you so you can take it to your boss, I know you won't remember but after this, you'll have to memorize what I let slip."
The reference is a bit butchered in trying to use it as an example. In full context, it's funnier. But a direct passage about our inept university American spy...
"Honey, I love you dearly, but you aren't cut out for that type of work. It'll take three guards working full time to keep you from saying the wrong thing in public. I can picture you spotting [...], and yelling 'I see him, I see him.'"
Here's another juicy bit:
"A woman assaulted him?"
"Ahmed offended a feminist with martial arts training."
Someone said, sotto voce, "Rush Limbaugh's greatest fear." A ripple of laughter went through the room.
Then there were the goats... which had me laughing for a good 5 minutes.
I'm going to round up to 4 stars but really this is about a 3 and 2/3rds star for me.
Because the one problem I had with this book. It went on too long. It kept losing my attention during the longer bits of complex machinations to keep the plot going. The humor wasn't sustained through all of them. At least not for me. My friend LOVED every bit of it and gave it a 5 star so definitely a YMMV, your mileage may vary.
Thank you to the publisher for providing a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
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