A fast-moving, page-turning thriller about a world in which antibiotics no longer have the ability to fight off disease.

CHILD ZERO
by Chris Holm
Mulholland/Little Brown, 2022

A quick, straightforward, fast-paced read about Mateo, a boy who not only can fight off disease in a world where antibiotics have lost all of their power, but can heal others. This amazing kid is being hunted by those who want to harness and potentially extinguish his ability. When two detectives find themselves caught in the crossfire of the pursuit, they put their careers and their lives at risk, deciding to deliver Mat to The Resistance—an organization they’ve been trained to view as an enemy to the State but soon start to realize is probably society’s last, best hope.

Chris Holm is a former molecular biologist with a U.S. patent to his name so in this case especially, he knows of what he writes. He is the author of the cross-genre Collector trilogy which recasts the battle between heaven and hell as old-fashioned crime pulp; the Michael Hendricks thrillers which feature a hitman who only kills other hitmen; and thirty-plus short stories that run the gamut from crime to horror to science fiction. His short fiction has appeared in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcok’s Mystery Magazine and The Best American Mystery Stories. His Collector trilogy garnered praise from National Public Radio and was nominated for several awards, including a Stoker and an Anthony. His first Hendricks novel, The Killing Kind, was named a Publishers Marketplace Buzz Book, a New York Times Editors’ Choice, a Boston Globe Best Book of 2015, and Strand Magazine‘s Top Book of 2015. It won the 2016 Anthony Award of Best Novel and was nominated for a Barry, a Lefty and a Macavity. He and his wife live in Portland, Maine.