A newly released thriller called, "Pox" has been written by Tulsa, Oklahoma’s Dr. Richard Reinking. The plot begins with begins with a terrorist foursome from several Middle Eastern countries infecting themselves with a virus that most people thought was eradicated.

From the moment Richard Reinking decided to become a doctor, he knew he wanted to practice family medicine.

Writing was something that came later.

"I just started writing in the mid-1990s," Reinking said. "I was chairman of the board at Springer Clinic at the time, and I found that it was very therapeutic to creatively make up lies and put them down on paper.

"I just enjoyed the process of it," he said. "And it might have helped that the first book I tried to write was about doctors fighting over money."

Reinking made a few efforts to place the book with a publisher but ultimately decided the book wasn't good enough and put it away.

He had begun another book when, a short time after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Reinking attended a lecture on the possibility of biological terrorism.

"That got me thinking," he said. "I wondered, if something like that was going to happen, what would it look like? How would it be carried out, and how would it be discovered?"

Out of that came Reinking's first published novel, "Pox" (CreateSpace, id="mce_marker"4.99).

A well-researched, well-written thriller, "Pox" describes a quartet of terrorists from various Middle Eastern countries who contrive to infect themselves with smallpox, then travel to the United States to mingle among the populations of major cities at the height of the Christmas season, where they can almost passively spread disease and terror.

Two doctors - Harry Bennett in Chicago and Vicky Anderson in New York City - are the first to realize that something terrible is happening, when they encounter patients afflicted with a disease most people thought was eradicated.

"One of the reasons I chose to use smallpox as the 'weapon,' so to speak, is because it's such a deadly and indiscriminate disease," Reinking said. "What it can do to the human body is horrific."

Reinking's plot begins with the terrorists finding a child dying of smallpox in Somalia. The last recorded case of naturally occurring smallpox was found there, in 1977.

"No one really knows how long this virus might remain dormant, and it's a country undergoing such continuous chaos that it seemed the perfect starting point," Reinking said.

Reinking spent several years trying to interest publishers in his work. But even with the help of a top literary agent ("He represents people like Michael Connelly," Reinking said, "so I thought this could be it"), he couldn't get the novel placed.

"It was timing as much as anything," he said. "There was something of an over-saturation of thrillers about terrorism on the market."

After two years, Reinking decided to publish the book himself. The rise of e-readers and the success some authors had had publishing directly in electronic formats spurred him on.

"I went with CreateSpace, which is a subsidiary of Amazon," he said. "I took advantage of their editing, had them design a cover. I figured this was my one shot, and I wanted to do it as well as possible because I thought I had a good story here."

Although medicine remains his vocation, the lifelong Tulsan plans to continue using his spare time to craft thrillers.

"I'm in the early stages of another," Reinking said. "The simplest way to describe it is that it deals with stem-cell research that goes horribly wrong."
Excerpt

"We must get to within six feet of the Americans to infect them," Mohammed said, as he continued his briefing. "Americans don't like to get close to each other, but they will crowd into subways, trains, and lines for restaurants or museums. Each of you will have a map of your city with the best places marked. Having a map won't be suspicious - everyone has a map. Go to popular places. Get close to them and politely cough. Talk close to their mouths. Be friendly. If you are rude, they will remember you.

"As the rash gets worse, you must hide it. After the blisters, it turns into hard pustules like you see here. Cover your face with makeup. If the rash is too noticeable to hide, you must leave. By then you will be experiencing severe backaches and headaches, and probably vomiting. This means you are sick, and you must not wait too long. They must not find you, or they will know. I can't emphasize this enough. You have completed your jihad. You are prepared for heaven, and it awaits you. May Allah grant your families solace. You are a martyr."

- "POX," by Richard Reinking

Points to consider:
The well-researched, and well-written thriller then follows the human biological weapons as they travel to the US at the height of the Christmas season, and mingle among the populations of major cities, where they actively spread disease. The novel profiles two doctors in New York City and Chicago, the first to diagnose the smallpox clusters in their cities and realize that something terrible is happening. The outbreak is recognized as a terrorist attack, but despite massive public health response, the virus bursts across the nation, engulfing the country in fear and panic. Consider the following quote from the MD turned author: “Many Americans believe that the threat of a biological terrorist attack is genuine, and POX describes a disturbingly real possibility. In POX, the reader witnesses the destructiveness of self-righteous, intolerant fanatics who devise a grim plan to wreak pain and havoc on America. POX offers an intense look at how contradictory ideologies and philosophies realistically play out, and causes us to realize our vulnerabilities.”