Biological War

There is an invisible weapon among us. By the time you know you are a victim, it has turned you into a killer.

A compelling, fast-paced, ticking clock non-fiction thriller from the bestselling author of Nuclear War: A Scenario.

'Read this book. It is a better briefing on the problem than the one we received in Downing Street six years ago.' James Phillips, Spectator

A lab accident, a bio-attack, a global pandemic, and the collapse of human society. In this explosive new book, based on dozens of new interviews with experts with high-level political, governmental, medical, and military responsibility, Annie Jacobsen examines this very scenario.

There is no mushroom cloud, no shock wave or blast. Instead, the scenario that could end the world as we know it begins with something so small and malicious, that when used for evil, only evil can result.

This is what could happen; a roadmap to the hours, days, and weeks following the release of a biological agent, that serves as the most essential, forward-looking journalism in preparation for urgent societal upheaval.


'This book moves like a meteor' New York Times

'It will scare your pants off, but in a deliciously readable fashion' Boston Globe

'Important... persuasive and unnerving' New Yorker

Annie Jacobsen is the Sunday Times bestselling author of Nuclear War: A Scenario, which was shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize. A 2016 Pulitzer Prize finalist, her other books include Operation Paperclip, Phenomena and The Pentagon's Brain, and have been translated into 26 languages. She also writes and produces TV, including Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan. A graduate of Princeton University, she lives in Los Angeles with her husband and their two sons.

Read this book. It is a better briefing on the problem than the one we received in Downing Street six years ago. -- James Phillips ― Spectator

A persuasive and unnerving argument. ― New Yorker

A scrupulously realistic book about the inconceivable…This is important work...Biological War is an indictment of the weapons programs that created our discomfiting reality, and of a leadership that has allowed it to continue. ― New Yorker

This book moves like a meteor… Biological War is a heavily researched book about contagious and potentially civilization-ending pathogens…That so many were willing to talk to her, and have their names affixed to this book, indicates the esteem in which she is held. ― New York Times

Biological War: A Scenario will scare your pants off, but in a deliciously readable fashion. ― Boston Globe

It's gripping and very, very scary how this scenario plays out. ― Transfer Orbit