What it's about: A highly contagious new virus has appeared in an Indonesian refugee camp, and the World Health Organization has dispatched a renowned epidemiologist to study it. But when a carrier goes on hajj to Mecca, millions of his fellow pilgrims are exposed and soon enough the disease begins to pose an existential threat to all of humanity.
Author alert: Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Lawrence Right is best known for his nonfiction, including The Looming Tower, Going Clear, and God Save Texas.