Review of Uncaged

Available at Amazon.com

Uncaged: A Thriller

Paul McKellips

Vantage Point

ISBN-13: 978-1936467099

288 Pages (Includes front and back matter)

Review by Steven King, MBA, MEd

This month, America remembered the tenth anniversary of a terror attack which changed the world forever.  On that fateful day of September 11, 2001, most people can picture where they were with vivid clarity.  Our mouths hung agape as we watched commercial airliners become steered missiles—flown into the World Trade Towers and the Pentagon.  Do most people recall the events of early January 2009 with such alacrity? I doubt it.

On January 19, 2009, The Washington Times carried a story of how an al-Qaeda camp was closed when unconventional weapons experimentation went awry.  Sources differ as to what exactly occurred in early January—intercepted communications allude to a breach of a sealed area and biological experimentation claiming the lives of 40 al-Qaeda operatives. The United States has known for two decades that al-Qaeda has been pursuing biological weaponry and reports have concluded that they are organized and determined to do so. While some dismiss the American invasion of Iraq as motivated merely by oil interests, many forget that then Secretary of State Colin Powell referred to Abu Musa Zarqawi’s development of ricin in Northern Iraq as part of his justification to invade Iraq.

What would happen if a country decided to manufacture a deadly biological weapon – and then dangle the threat of its release as a warning in an attempt to blackmail the world?  Paul McKellips writes of just such a scenario is in his amazing thriller, Uncaged.

Two military professionals, one a veterinary expert in infectious diseases and the other, a navy commando-turned-physician, become embroiled in a race against time to subvert the spread of Malak al-Maut—the Angel of Death—a deadly mixture of Bubonic Plague and the Ebola virus.  Sadly, the political tide of America has turned violent against using animals in medical research—prompting a moratorium against animal research and stringent reduction in the number of animals research facilities could utilize.  As the Angel of Death reaches Americas shores, it will be decisions to disobey orders that will inevitably bring help in the midst of chaos.

Uncaged is a mile a minute, breathtaking thriller.  Without trying to unduly vaunt this terrific book, I could not put it down.  The characters are developed sensibly without the tired clichés of which I have come to expect in so much modern fiction.  Real issues are confronted in this amazing work; such as the necessity of animal research and reality of biological terrorism.

If you are looking for a fascinating story that will grip you from the first few pages – you will want to read Uncaged.  If you are at all bothered by the likelihood of biological terrorism – you need to read Uncaged.  There is hope for a solution—discover the truth therein.