Bannerman's ghosts

The chillingly prescient subject of New York Times bestselling author John R. Maxim's remarkable new thriller -- which anticipates the development of unstoppable viral weapons -- is reassuring in at least one regard: It has threatened and angered Paul Bannerman.

The story begins not in Westport, Connecticut, where Bannerman and a group of his deadliest operatives have been trying to live otherwise normal lives, but in a fortified estate outside Washington, D.C., where the billionaire sociopath Artemus Bourne has taken delivery of a package. It was supposed to contain samples of horrific bio-weapons that one of his offshore firms created. Instead, the package held three severed heads. One belonged to the scientist who'd developed those weapons. The other two belonged to men who'd tested the virus on humans.

Bourne knows who sent him the three heads and why; it is an act of vengeance by a man long thought dead. He is out of Bourne's reach, but Bourne knows that man's one weakness -- a woman who is the great love of his life. If Bourne can find her, his problem might be nipped in the bud.