The Ultima Variant

'Thought-provoking, chilling, and never less than thrilling, The Ultima Variant will leave you wondering just how far from the truth it might be.' - Joel Hames, Crime writer

It is ten years since the Covid pandemic which had crippled countries throughout the entire world, and life is more or less back to normal. But then a deadly new coronavirus emerges, highly transmissible and capable of evading all existing vaccines. The scientists are, once again, racing against time to find a new vaccine, but just as one research team succeed in developing such a vaccine, the scientist leading the team, Professor Felicity Maddocks, is murdered. Why?

Meanwhile, James and Tessa Blackmore, who lost their first baby to Cot Death, are trying for another child. Although Tessa fell pregnant with their first child almost immediately they started trying, she now finds herself unable to conceive. Before long, their plight is replicated by couples around the entire world. What is causing this worldwide decline in the birth rate?

The mysterious murder of Professor Maddocks is investigated by Detective Inspector David Prendergast. His investigation leads him to a shadowy group of scientists and academics who have no obvious connection but who meet in secret for some unknown purpose. Are they somehow connected with the rise of the new coronavirus or the unexplained decline in global birth rate?