The Second Angel

A dark, dystopian high-velocity thriller in the cult-classic tradition of Kerr's A Philosophical Investigation. July 2069: centennial of the Apollo 11 moon walk. What would Buzz Aldrin see if he were here? On Earth, plagues have destroyed the major food supplies, climatic changes have brought constant winter to the once-industrialized West, and a new and virulent virus--P2--has infected Earth's population, bringing radical change in economic, political, and social structures. P2 is curable--but only with an infusion of uninfected blood. Indeed, blood has become the currency of choice: It is banked, speculated in, traded, hoarded, but only by those wealthy enough (or healthy enough) to have a clean, uninfected supply. And the moon? It is now home to sex hotels and penal colonies. Home, too, to the "federal reserve" of blood banks--the most impregnable high-security installation in the world. It is the brainchild of one man--and he has every reason to destroy it. Acting on the most human of motives--revenge--he will take on the impossible. Unbeknownst to him, he will have help from a very strange source. Call it 2001 updated. Call it a chillingly convincing mix of prophecy and science. Call it Philip Kerr's best book yet. The Second Angel: 1999's prologue to 2069, a terrifying forecast of the future.