The Demon in the Freezer

A True Story

By: Richard Preston

Narrated by: Paul Boehmer

Length: 8 hrs and 53 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, D.C. 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 Books on Tape, 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)

The scariest book I've ever read

Started listening to this book on the same night I watched the new Stephen Kings IT. What I feared when I went to bed was not the movie but what was in this book.

Terrifying

Really, terrifying is the only word for it. Super-bugs resurrected from the past, weaponized, and potentially in the hands of anybody?
Other than that chill-factor, it's a spectacular read, interesting and informative, with enough of a mystery to keep one interested. As a medical professional, the description of the diseases were fascinating, though perhaps a bit grotesque. Definitely one that I'll be re-reading!

Very Entertaining. Bravo; Thank You

The narrator is clear, understandable and pleasant to hear. The book is gripping, a non-stop thrill. It's an example of when the truth is scarier, more bizarre and more entrancing than fiction. Certain sections seems to repeat, however, on my iPod and I question whether it works properly

Good information speckled in a jumble of words

This book has some seriously interesting material on the biology of viruses, specially anthrax and smallpox/varíola, as well as on the effects of some viral infections in humans, but it's all speckled irregularly on a dull mass of stories with neither head nor tail, detailed personal info on basically everyone mentioned in the book and blatant, annoying propaganda that's supposed to make the USA look like the guardians of bioethics and morals as opposed to everyone else. The book even tries to justify the Iraq invasion and war in search of WMDs that were never found and for which there was never one single piece of concrete evidence, in a way that the author may have thought subtle, but it really wasn't. I'd like to know about books that are equally good on describing advanced Biology concepts without all the dragging babble this one has.

fascinating

The performance of the audio is good but there are some editing mistakes Within. Some passages are repeated and some splicing was slightly off. Otherwise, it was a really good job. The book itself is fascinating and should be read by anyone interested in chemical warfare or the use of biological agents in terrorist attacks.

B+ Book With a Terrible Narrator

Where does The Demon in the Freezer rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It is a fairly good story but has some very boring moments made even more boring by the terrible performance. I wanted to pull my hair out when it listed literally dozens of pox viruses by animal type.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

Not really, smallpox is very dangerous and scary but we know there was no biological attack using it so we won't be surprised.

Would you be willing to try another one of Paul Boehmer’s performances?

No, unless it is an amazing story and book and it is the only option.

What’s the most interesting tidbit you’ve picked up from this book?

It is scary to think about the possibility of literally thousands of gallons of smallpox laying around somewhere waiting to cause global anarchy.

Any additional comments?

The narrator attempts to do english accents which he accomplishes fairly well, but his take on Russian accents is comical. There is no reason to do accents with a book like this. He is very monotone and boring. I would recommend reading the book rather than listening to it.

True Horror

It is pretty scary how we can be destroyed by a tiny virus. This book will show how close we have come and does an excellent job explaining small pox among other viruses. A page turner.

Outbreak

Loaded with many medical and facts about the future of virus .... and how they make military weapons.

eyes wide open

every one who wants to really know the world around them should read this book; it will open your eyes. absolutely frightening but necessary knowledge.

Creepy, but amazing!

What made the experience of listening to The Demon in the Freezer the most enjoyable?

It touched so many different topics. While The Hot Zone focused almost solely on Ebola, this book touched a variety of viruses but they were all tied together. You got the backstory on the smallpox eradication efforts, the gruesome effects of the disease most of us have never seen, how the smallpox vaccination team got started in the field and pulled into the research held at the CDC in Atlanta and the story of the first bioterrorist attack on the United States right after 9/11. Very well written (as always) and enjoyable. The narrator did a wonderful job, his use of accents not detracting from the story but helping you genuinely get a feel for the person talking.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

It did from the viewpoint that even though I know smallpox hasn't gotten out, I kept waiting for some catastrophe to occur. Any time you're dealing with a level 4 virus, a person can never be too careful. Add in long days inside a spacesuit conducting necropsies with very sharp scalpels, drugging monkeys who have not had their very sharp canines filed and drawing infected blood from those same monkeys with sharp needles and you have the recipe for potential disaster. Preston is able to give the feeling of constant threat without going overboard or sacrificing truth.