The Return of the Spanish Lady

By Val Davis

Book Overview

Nicolette Scott, an archaeologist and old plane expert, is asked to join a search for a Japanese plane downed in Alaska during WWII. The mission is being funded by a pharmaceutical company in the interest of history. However, a much darker motive powers the search, one which Nick gradually becomes aware of. Knowing that the virus of the dreaded Spanish flu that killed millions around the world in 1918-9 will survive in corpses kept frozen, company executives hope to find the bodies of three First World War veterans who died of the flu while hunting for gold. Their plan is to callously unleash a similar epidemic and then ride in on a white horse with their antidote -- to enormous profit. Nick, horrified, determines to stop the plot even if she must lose her life in the process.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312262248
• ISBN13: 9780312262242
• Release Date: January 2001
• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
• Length: 307 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.8" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Hmmm... Sounds Familiar

I'll give this book the benefit of the doubt and rate it as 5 stars, as I have not read it. But the plot is interesting: a biopharmaceutical company launches an expedition to retrieve (in secrecy) the viral remnants of the 1918 influenza outbreak. The place: the frozen landscape of Alaska. The target: deceased gold miners from the period.The plot was so enticing in fact that I used it myself in an earlier book. If you'd like to read a carefully researched, and much longer version of this story (at 662 pages) check out Ninth Day of Creation, ISBN 0967571294.Most likely Davis just had the same idea as I did, though I seem to have got to print earlier. Personally, I think an outbreak similar to 1918 is just a matter of time, so the information contained in the "Spanish Lady" genome is valuable, and will remain so. I might also point out that between me beginning and finishing my book, the genome was in fact located at the Armed Forces Institute in the wax-preserved autopsy material of 1918 victims. The results of the genetic sequencing of this material should be completed within the decade...Leonard Crane, author of Ninth Day of Creation

Enjoyable

See story summary above.I enjoyed this mystery thriller. The locations in Alaska and the flashbacks to NYC all helped to bring a little more substance to this story. The characters did come of as a little shallow in my opinion. I also think a little more history could have been wrapped in the story. As with any fiction novel, I rarely read the whole jacket summary, for it gives away far to much information and leaves few surprises. I get the protagonists name and read the first couple sentences and that's usually all.Recommended.

Ms.Davis has a great plot here wrapped around a mytery story

The E-Group, a powerful pharmaceutical company, offers to fund an expedition to the Aleutians to try to recover a shot down Japanese World War II plane, The Val. The National Air and Space Museum and its patrons would benefit if the Aichi D 3A 1 aircraft has survived weathering and can be recovered. The Smithsonian assigns Assistant Curator archeologist Nicolette Scott, known for her knowledge of airplanes, to represent them on the expedition.Unbeknownst to Nicolette and her superiors, the E-Group has a more sinister agenda then recovering an old plane. Nick and other individuals on the trek are their expendable ticket to gain entrance to a natural wildlife range with an endangered species population residing there.THE RETURN OF THE SPANISH LADY is a very good medical thriller with clever twists, but the publisher gives away the key plot on the back cover, ruining much of the suspense. Nick is an intriguing archeologist and much of the support cast such as the WW II vet Wes Erickson, the Smithsonian staff, and a Hammersmith grizzly bear seem genuine. The villains appear too amoral to be real, but move the tale forward. Still, avoid the back cover, wear warm layers of clothing and enjoy a fun thriller filled with excitementHarriet Klausner