RandomHouse catalog entry of PHARMA

Wenn Pflanzen zur tödlichen Waffe werden

Im tiefsten brasilianischen Urwald werden Menschen plötzlich von Pflanzen attackiert: Eine riesige Venusfliegenfalle verschlingt eine Touristin und die Wissenschaftlerin Susan wird von einer wild wuchernden Schlingpflanze fast erwürgt. Gemeinsam mit ihrem Kollegen Ben untersucht sie die mutierten Pflanzen – und kommt einem fürchterlichen Geheimnis auf die Spur …

Zeitgleich wird in Chicago ein renommierter Wissenschaftler umgebracht. Es stellt sich heraus, dass einige Wissenschaftler versucht haben, das Genmaterial von Pflanzen so zu manipulieren, dass sie zu Überträgern von Krankheiten gezielt eingesetzt werden können. Das Ergebnis ist eine tödliche Waffe. Doch dann laufen die Versuche aus dem Ruder…

Der spannungsgeladene Ansatz in dem Thriller Pharma ist keine pure Fiktion. Genmani-pulation ist ein machtvolles und zugleich gefährliches Instrument. Seit Jahrhunderten versucht sich der Mensch die Erde untertan zu machen. Doch es zeigt sich immer wieder, dass sich die unterdrückte Erde auf ihre Art gegen die menschlichen Eingriffe wehrt. Der Thriller Pharma spielt mit der Möglichkeit, dass durch Genmanipulation ein Aufstand der Natur nicht nur machbar, sondern seitens der Wissenschaft sogar aktiv gesät werden kann. Die Frage ist nur: Würde der Mensch in dieser Welt überleben?

Ein rasanter Wissenschaftsthriller für alle Fans von Frank Schätzing und Douglas Preston!

Rip Gerber

Pharma

Thriller / Deutsche Erstausgabe

TB 512 Seiten

ISBN: 978-3-453-43150-8

€ 8,95 [D] / SFr 16,90

Heyne

ET: Juli 2007

Media Contact: Heyne

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PHARMA

by Rip Gerber

former CIA analyst and hi-tech executive
published by Heyne / Random House
in bookstores July 2007

TERRIFYING DEBUT “ECO-THRILLER” EXPOSES PHARMA INDUSTRY WORK IN THE RAINFORESTS

München, Deutschland, July 1, 2007 – PHARMA, the debut novel by Rip Gerber, will be launched by Heyne/Random House in Germany this month. Markus Naegele, editor for Heyne, announced the highly anticipated publication today. “Rip Gerber has written the most compelling ecological thriller of our time,” Naegele said. “PHARMA is a gripping thriller and a fascinating window into the drug industry. After reading PHARMA, you will never look at plants the same way again.” Joe Veltre, of the Artists Literary Group, said of PHARMA: “Gerber has gone beyond the standard thriller and presented science that makes you stop and think, with the most irresistibly brilliant and disturbing characters.”

PHARMA details a race against escalating biological terror, as pharmaceutical scientists struggle to contain a plant parasite that is rapidly spreading across Brazil. From the depths of the Amazon rainforest to the boardrooms of the healthcare conglomerates, PHARMA unfolds at a dizzying pace, as an engineer, a scientist and a computer hacking teenager find themselves in the path of an unspeakable plague: a natural evolution resulting from mankind’s careless tinkering with Mother Nature. But this time, science may not prevail. PHARMA is a page-turner of intricate plot twists and eye-popping science that keeps you rooted to the end; it will forever change how you think about the environment.

The author is a former biochemical engineer and technologist. He began his career at the Central Intelligence Agency, categorizing Soviet newspapers and evaluating recruits in the Psychological Assessment Division. He designed Firestone’s first chromatic polyethylene manufacturing plant, launched the financial industry’s first online credit card application while at American Express, ran global marketing divisions for two advertising agencies and served as Chief Marketing Officer for two public software companies. He received his biochemical degree from the University of Virginia and his Masters from Harvard Business School. Rip lives in California.

Heyne is a division of Random House, Inc. Pharma

Originaltitel: Weeds

Aus dem Amerikanischen von Thomas A. Merk

DEUTSCHE ERSTAUSGABE

Taschenbuch, 512 Seiten, 11,8 x 18,7 cm

ISBN: 978-3-453-43150-8

ca. € 8,95 [D] / SFr 16,50

Random House, the world’s largest trade book publisher, publishes many of the foremost and most popular fiction and nonfiction authors in hardcover, trade and mass market paperback, audio, electronic, digital, and other formats. Random House, Inc. (www.randomhouse.com) is the U.S. division of Random House, the book division of Bertelsmann AG, one of the world’s leading media companies. Books published by Random House, Inc. have won more than fifty Nobel Prizes, as well as dozens of Pulitzer Prizes, and National Book Awards. Among the dozens of Random House, Inc. publishing divisions and imprints in the U.S. are the Bantam Dell Publishing Group, the Crown Publishing Group, the Doubleday Broadway Publishing Group, the Knopf Publishing Group, Fodor’s Travel Guides, Random House Children’s Books, the Random House Publishing Group, and the Random House Audio Publishing Group. Random House’s publishing companies in Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Latin America, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Japan, and Korea are publishing leaders in their territories.

PHARMA unfolds at a dizzying pace, as an engineer, a scientist and a computer hacking teenager find themselves in the path of an unspeakable plague, a natural evolution resulting from mankind’s careless tinkering with Mother Nature. But this time, science may not prevail.

Available on AMAZON.

Paperback: 512 pages

Publisher: Heyne Verlag (July 31, 2007)

Language: German

ISBN-10: 3453431502

ISBN-13: 978-3453431508

Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 4.6 x 1.4 inches

Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces

A scientist with a heart condition, accused of launching a deadly virus that spreads by a handshake, has but three days to outwit a powerful biomedical corporation, outsmart the FDA and outlast the international regime planning an outbreak to coincide with the world’s largest anti-terror rally in which fifteen million Americans will clasp hands and form a human chain across the country.

What if the world’s number one killer – heart disease – could spread as easily as the common cold?  What if a simple handshake resulted in a deadly heart attack?  And what if the virus was released on the eve of the country’s largest anti-terror rally, when millions of people are holding hands to form a human chain across the country?

And what if the only man capable of stopping the attack was accused of murder, wanted by the government, and slowly dying of a heart attack?

Dr. Ben Maxwell, a scientist at the Food and Drug Administration, is holding back FDA approval of a new heart implant.  The device maker’s powerful CEO and an influential senator are eager to get the new device to market, but Ben believes the device is linked to a mysterious outbreak at a naval hospital.  Ben is sent to investigate the outbreak, his suspicions are confirmed, but not before he is infected with a virus, one transferable through a handshake like the common flu.  The virus causes a heart attack within hours.

As Ben fights for his life, he becomes the prime suspect in the murder of the FDA Commissioner, just as the country prepares to form a human chain across the country.  Ben learns that a heart attack virus will be launched in conjunction with anti-terror rally.  Nobody believes him.  Ben must stop the heart virus from killing millions and repair the poor relationship with his son, all while is own heart is failing.

Ben is also forced to reevaluate his own dogmas on science versus faith.  He comes to understand the true purpose of the terrorists and their sponsors, and he is forced to consider whether the great plagues of the past—the Black Death, the Spanish Flu—were naturally occurring events or carefully plotted campaigns aimed to bring civilization back into a ‘balanced state.’  As the nationwide rally commences, Ben must make a decision about his own beliefs based on new truths, save his son, and decide which sacrifices to make if he is to stop the heart attack flu from becoming the worst epidemic in the country’s history.

New York Times

First Thrills will include never-before-published stories by New York Times bestselling authors including Lee Child, Stephen Coonts, Jeffrey Deaver, Heather Graham, Joan Johnston, John Lescroart, Alex Kava and Deb Carlin, Michael Palmer (with Daniel James Palmer), Karin Slaughter, and Wendi Corsi Staub.

This collection also serves as a great introduction to those whom the ITW has christened its rising stars, including Sean Michael Bailey, Ken Bruen, Ryan Brown, Bill Cameron, Rebecca Cantrell, Karen Dionne, JT Ellison, Theo Gangi, Rip Gerber, Gregg Hurwitz, CJ Lyons, Grant Mackenzie, Marc Paoletti, Cynthia Robinson, and Kelli Stanley.

Barnes & Noble

Amazon

The Journeyman is about the birth of a new country, shown through the struggles of a young boy who must unlock the dormant power of his dreams when Sharia, the law of Islam, collides with the ‘law of attraction.’

Lessons from some of the greatest minds of our time appear as Iraqi mentors in The Journeyman. Can you find them all?

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–Joe Marich, Jr., Author, President of Marich Communications, agency for best-selling author Michael Crichton

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Pilots to Profits helps you define, pilot and effectively deploy mobile and wireless applications. Security, change management, budgeting, pilot project logistics, build-or-buy decisions, and aligning business objectives with IT initiatives are just some of the topics addressed.

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About the participants

- Roundtable participants
- come from several countries
- represent organizations of all sizes
- bring experiences from the commercial, government and not-for-profit sectors
- collectively have deployed a wide range of applications

These individuals range from people who are planning their initial deployment to those who have completed one or more.