Pandemic

Right now, in a remote corner of rural China, a farmer and his family are sharing their water supply with their livestock: chickens, ducks, pigs, sheep. They share the same waste-disposal system, too.

Bird viruses meet their human counterparts in the bloodstreams of the swine, where they mix and mutate before spreading back into the human population. And a new flu is born....

Dr. Noah Haldane, of the World Health Organization, knows that humanity is overdue for a new killer flu, like the great influenza pandemic of 1919 that killed more than twenty million people in less than four months. So when a mysterious new strain of flu is reported in the Gansu Province of mainland China, WHO immediately sends a team to investigate.

Haldane and his colleagues soon discover that the new disease, dubbed Acute Respiratory Collapse Syndrome, is far more deadly than SARS, killing one in four victims, regardless of their age or health. But even as WHO struggles to contain the outbreak, ARCS is already spreading to Hong Kong, London, and even America.

In an age when every single person in the world is connected by three commercial flights or fewer, a killer bug can travel much faster than the flu of 1919.

Especially when someone is spreading the virus on purpose...

"Full-time doctor and first-time novelist Kalla injects a frightening dose of reality into this tale of biological terrorism. Dr. Noah Haldane of the World Health Organization has repeatedly warned that the human race is due for a deadly new virus, similar to the 1919 Spanish flu that killed 20 million people in six months. So when a mysterious new flu strain is reported in China's Gansu province, Haldane isn't surprised he's called to investigate. He's shocked to learn that the new disease — dubbed Acute Respiratory Collapse Syndrome (ARCS) and considered far more deadly than SARS, killing one in every four people it infects — is intentionally being spread to London, British Columbia and Chicago. In the jet age, a killer bug can travel fast with devastating effects. The lively supporting cast includes the pretty director of counter-bioterrorism for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and a hilarious Scottish virologist. While a few plot twists seem a little too convenient and some technical passages slow the pace, Kalla's ripped-from-the-headlines plot and confident command of both language and medicine make this sobering book a pleasure." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"Daniel Kalla expertly weaves real science and medicine into a fast-paced, nighttmarish thriller — a thriller all the more frightening because it could really happen." Tess Gerritsen, author of Body Double

"Kalla is a rocket ship of a writer. He moves to the front of the pack with a thhriller that will grab you from page one and never let you go." Keith Ablow, author of Psychopath

"Pandemic is fast, fierce and frightening. Kalla delivers a shot of adrenaline iin a medical thriller that really thrills." Don Winslow, author of California Fire

"Pandemic is a totally compelling novel, one of those rare thrillers that lays oout a scenario that is not only possible, but terrifyingly probable." Douglas Preston, author of Relic and The Codex

"At last! A new thriller writer worthy to join the Ludlum, DeMille, LeCarre clubb. Not just a great read, a real treat." Beverly Swerling, author of City of Dreams

This original novel explores what happens when two of Western society's most recent threats--SARS and terrorism--unite. "Daniel Kalla expertly weaves real science and medicine into a fast-paced, nightmarish thriller--a thriller all the more frightening because it could really happen."--Tess Gerritsen. Original.

Born, raised, and still residing in Vancouver, Daniel Kalla spends his days (and sometimes nights) working as an Emergency Room Physician at an urban teaching hospital.

The idea for his first medical thriller — the bestseller Pandemic — sprang from his clinical and administrative experience in dealing with the SARS crisis of 2003. In his next novel, Resistance, a superbug immune to antibiotics — unleashed intentionally — threatens the unsuspecting public.

His books have been or will be translated into eight languages so far. Both Pandemic and Resistance have been optioned for feature film, and Dan has written the first draft of the script for Pandemic. His fourth novel, Blood Lies, will be released in summer 2007, to be followed in 2008 by the medical thriller, Prion. His latest release, Rage Therapy (a psychological thriller), came out in hard cover from Forge Books in October 2006. In it, Kalla plumbs the depths of forensic psychiatry and the emerging fields of impulse and rage control therapy.

Dr. Kalla has handled media questions across North America on various medical and writing related issues. In 2005, he was featured on the front page of the Globe & Mail Review section and was interviewed on national TV on the Vicki Gabereau Show. CNN, CBC radio, the National Post, City TV, and the Vancouver Sun have also interviewed him.

He is married and the father of two young girls, and received his B.Sc. in mathematics and his MD from the University of British Columbia.