Whiteout

2004 | Thriller | 496 pages

Filled with startling twists, Whiteout is the ultimate knife-edge drama from Ken Follett – an international bestselling author who is in a class of his own.

A Family Reunited

As a blizzard descends from the north on Christmas Eve, several people converge on a remote family estate in Scotland. Stanley Oxenford, director of a pharmaceutical research company, has everything riding on a drug he is developing to fight a lethal virus.

A Brewing Storm

Several others are interested in his success too: his children, at home for Christmas with their offspring, have their eyes on the money he will make; Toni Gallo, forced to resign from the police department in disgrace, is betting her career on keeping the drug safe; and a local television reporter, determined to move up, has sniffed the story, even if he has to bend the facts to tell it.

A House Under Siege

A sinister gang spots an opportunity to use one of Stanley’s children against him and steal the virus. As everyone takes shelter, it becomes apparent that being inside the house may be more dangerous than the storm outside, especially when a lethal virus might be on the loose . . .

First chapter

Christmas Eve, 1 A.M

Two tired men looked at Antonia Gallo with resentment and hostility in their eyes. They wanted to go home, but she would not let them. And they knew she was right, which made it worse. All three were in the personnel department of Oxenford Medical. Antonia, always called Toni, was facilities director, and her main responsibility was security. Oxenford was a small pharmaceuticals outfit – a boutique company, in stock-market jargon – that did research on viruses that could kill. Security was deadly serious. Continue reading

Reviews

“Undeniably suspenseful.” – Entertainment Weekly

“Scary . . . provides a rush of fear.” – New York Post

“Almost nonstop action with a plausible and sufficiently frightening plot . . . a page-turner, pure and simple.” – The Tennessean

“Follett goes down a high-concept road. . . . [He] handles the tension of the circumstances nicely.” – San Francisco Chronicle

“A literate, plausible, suspenseful tale that keeps you turning pages well past bedtime.” – The Raleigh News & Observer

“A new breed of thriller . . . an agonizingly protracted, nail-biter ending drags readers to the very edge of their seats and holds them captive until the last villain is satisfactorily dispatched.” – Publishers Weekly