Due preparations for the plague

A taut and confronting novel that propels us into the chaos of terror and the cruelty - and unexpected hope - of survival.

Lowell tries not to think about the past, about the hijacking that killed his mother. Samantha, on the other hand, cannot let go. As a child she survived the hijacking of Air France 64, and as an adult she obsessively digs for answers, seeking a man called Salamander whom she believes holds key information. It is the death of Lowell's father, and his legacy of a blue sports bag crammed with documents and videotapes, that finally brings Lowell and Samantha together and unravels the interconnections between victims and perpetrators, saved and damned. But in this murky world of endless aliases and surveillance, who can be trusted? When does the quest for truth become a dangerous obsession? And what difference can the truth make? Janette turner Hospital has crafted a taut and confronting novel that propels us into the chaos of terror and the cruelty - and unexpected hope - of survival. 'A writer of many gifts ... intense, lyrical ... [a] sophisticated thriller' - Publishers Weekly 'taut and well paced ... a political espionage thriller with existential underpinnings' - Sydney Morning Herald 'A dark and disturbing tale that will appeal to conspiracy theorists' - Herald Sun 'Hospital is a poet of paranoia, and this book could do for the post-September 11 era what John le Carre did for the Cold War.' - New York time Out