Robin Cook made a great career as a novelist. His background in medicine prepared him technically to write, for the most part, very convincingly. His book Vector fits in this blog because it is about bioterrorism and counterintelligence.
A New York City cab driver is an angry disillusioned Russian émigré. He wants to return to Russia, but before he does he wants to do damage to the society that enticed him with what he believed to be a false American dream.
Yuri was a technician in the Soviet bioweapons industry. He has the technical knowhow to carry out his attack on a large scale. Teaming up with some survivalists who distrust the American government he plans his attack, only to be frustrated at the end by amazingly intuitive counterintelligence work. The counterintelligence comes not from the FBI or the CIA but from the office of Medical Examiner.
It's a good read, and technically accurate. It truly underlies how futile it is to rely on a single agency to gather, analyze and disseminate intelligence. It further shows that intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance is all elements of key government offices at all levels.
Cook, Robin (1999). Vector.New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons. ISBN: 0-399-14471-4
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