VIRAL

Viral, Andrew Peacock’s first book of fiction, is a pandemic adventure story written in the years before the outbreak of COVID-19. Drawing on his experience as a student working in a biosecure research lab and later as a veterinarian, the author puts together a believable description of a disease outbreak much worse than what we have seen with COVID.

The book opens with the protagonist John working in a lab animal facility in Ottawa when a virulent virus escapes into the outside world. While the island of Newfoundland struggles to keep the disease out and manage the realities of complete lockdown, John attempts to make his way back to an island home that enforces strict isolation.

“An unnerving portrayal of a collapsing society. There is no staying safe in Andrew Peacock’s Viral!”

— Glen Deir, author of Sick Joke and The Money Shot

“Explores the fragility of our society in an intensive, fearsome way and yet leaves us deeply relieved… This book is a must-read, painful in its forceful depiction of society.”
— William Pryse-Phillips W.E.M., MD, MRCP, FRCPC, FRCP, Professor of Medicine and Neurology

“Few people can pull together the elements required to create a gripping, terrifying, realistic pandemic. Peacock’s novel Viral is as contagious as the outbreak in his story.”

— Paul Carberry, author of Zombies on the Rock: Outbreak