Pandora's Helix

Dr Michael Neef, consultant in child oncology at a large city hospital, is cautiously optimistic when he is giver the go-ahead to carry out gene therapy trials on some of his terminally ill patients. The biotechnology company involved believes that it has come up with a treatment for malignant cancer and the hospital administrators, reeling after a recent bout of bad publicity, see this as an opportunity to get some good press coverage for a change.

But as the trials progress, the press - largely in the form of journalist, Eve Sayers - becomes more interested in the deaths of two young girls. Originally thought to have died from viral pneumonia, post-mortem examinations reveal the presence of an underlying cancer, so severe that only recent exposure to a powerful carcinogen can account for it.

As more deaths follow and the city's Public Health Department fails to trace the source of the carcinogen, all the signs point towards a horrifying scenario, though the powers-that-be refuse to take any of the evidence seriously. Alarm bells ringing, it is up to Neef, with the aid of Eve, to set about trying to find the cause of this deadly - and seemingly infectious - disease before any more fall victim to it. And it would appear that someone is determined he won't live to find out . . .

Ken McClure is the internationally bestselling author of over twenty medical thrillers such as The Lazarus Strain, The Gulf Conspiracy, White Death and Dust to Dust. His books have been translated into twenty-three languages and he has earned a reputation for the accuracy of his predictions. McClure's work is informed by his background as an award-winning research scientist with the UK's Medical Research Council.

This book was first published by Simon & Schuster Ltd. (UK) in 1996.