The Silk Code

The Silk Code, Paul Levinson, Tor Books, 1999

Phil D'Amato is a New York City forensic detective. He is suddenly thrust into the middle of a mystery while in the car with Mo, his friend, going to meet someone in the Amish country of Pennsylvania. Suddenly, Mo collapses, gasping for air, and dies within minutes. Phil continues to investigate, and is stunned to learn that the Amish have been involved in a secret biowarfare battle.

For many years, a group living among the Amish, but not real Amish, have been introducing low-level allergen catalysts through totally innocuous methods, like through home-grown fruits and vegetables. It's a totally harmless substance that won't show up on any blood test. When they want to kill someone, they have the person come in contact with a genetically engineered flower or beetle, for instance, carrying another harmless allergen catalyst. Put the catalysts together, and the person dies in minutes from what looks like a heart attack or severe allergic reaction. The real Amish have found an organic antidote.

<p>Later in the book, a colleague of Phil's dies in that way. Within two days, the corpse has changed into an early form of human called a Neanderthal, and carbon dating shows that the body is suddenly 30,000 years old. Perhaps a latent bit of DNA that the "fake" Amish have managed to activate?

A new sort of weapon is used by the "fake" Amish to get rid of evidence or people. A Mendel bomb consists of genetically engineered fireflies that produce heat as well as light. Put enough of them together in one place, and boom, instant fire. Suspicion falls on Stefan Antonescu, a custodian at the New York Public Library, who spends all of his free time reading about silk. He could easily pass for a Neanderthal, and, otherwise, isn't what he seems.

I really enjoyed this book. The characters are real people, the story is very well done, and the possibility of biowarfare going on with no one knowing is really juicy. This is an excellent first novel.