The Demon in the Freezer

A True Story

By: Richard Preston

Narrated by: James Naughton

Length: 5 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

“The bard of biological weapons captures the drama of the front lines.” (Richard Danzig, former secretary of the navy)

The first major bioterror event in the United States - the anthrax attacks in October 2001 - was a clarion call for scientists who work with “hot” agents to find ways of protecting civilian populations against biological weapons. In The Demon in the Freezer, his first nonfiction book since The Hot Zone, a number-one New York Times best seller, Richard Preston takes us into the heart of USAMRIID, the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Maryland, once the headquarters of the US biological weapons program and now the epicenter of national biodefense.

Peter Jahrling, the top scientist at USAMRIID, a wry virologist who cut his teeth on Ebola, one of the world’s most lethal emerging viruses, has ORCON security clearance that gives him access to top secret information on bioweapons. His most urgent priority is to develop a drug that will take on smallpox-and win. Eradicated from the planet in 1979 in one of the great triumphs of modern science, the smallpox virus now resides, officially, in only two high-security freezers - at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta and in Siberia, at a Russian virology institute called Vector. But the demon in the freezer has been set loose. It is almost certain that illegal stocks are in the possession of hostile states, including Iraq and North Korea. Jahrling is haunted by the thought that biologists in secret labs are using genetic engineering to create a new superpox virus, a smallpox resistant to all vaccines.

USAMRIID went into a state of Delta Alert on September 11 and activated its emergency response teams when the first anthrax letters were opened in New York and Washington, DC. Preston reports, in unprecedented detail, on the government’ s response to the attacks and takes us into the ongoing FBI investigation. His story is based on interviews with top-level FBI agents and with Dr. Steven Hatfill. Jahrling is leading a team of scientists doing controversial experiments with live smallpox virus at CDC. Preston takes us into the lab where Jahrling is reawakening smallpox and explains, with cool and devastating precision, what may be at stake if his last bold experiment fails.

©2002 Richard Preston (P)2002 Random House Inc., Random House Audio, a Division of Random House Inc.

Critic reviews

“Richard Preston has brought us another book that reads like a top-notch thriller. Would that it were fiction. As the movie unfolds in your mind, remember this: It can happen here.” (Laurie Garrett, author of The Coming Plague)

“The Demon in the Freezer is fascinating, frightening, and important. It reads like a thriller, but the demons are real. Richard Preston has a ‘black patent’ on this kind of reporting and storytelling. He is the only writer on the scene who can make the inside story of biological weapons so darkly entertaining. Read this book and pray that its heroes can lock the demon back in the freezer.” (Jonathan Weiner, author of The Beak of the Finch)

Loved it!

This book kept me on edge almost the whole way through. It is a must read based on the times we are in. I had no idea about the severity of biological warfare! I feel like my eyes have been opened. I would suggest it to everyone.

Will make you wash your hands a lot more often

Excellent book, even if a bit dated in parts (Iraq was still being run by Sadam at the time of publishing). Still, a very good synopsis of the science behind microscopic weapons of terror, complete with graphic descriptions of the deadly effects (that you know you want to hear).

I wish there were 10 Stars, simply amazing!

the beginning, when he talks about the lives they've impacted just by touching a letter

Required for class but wow!

Recommended for anyone interested in medicine. This is a terrifying story of the possibilities small pox has.

Not the whole story

This is a fantastic book, but when I compared this audible version to the written book I found that whole paragraphs were not in the audible version throughout the entire book! Very disappointing.

Not happy

What disappointed you about The Demon in the Freezer?

This audible did not follow along with the book whatsoever. The sections were not correct and also did not follow with the book.