“. . . and when Pandora opened her box,
the Nosoi issued forth, spreading the pestilence of Zeus
across the realms of men. . . . “
A clandestine operative from the future lands in a dark alley with no clothes, no hair, and no memory. As she recovers under guard in a nearby hospital, she is haunted by visions of life in her wasteland of a future and of a mission she cannot remember.
Meanwhile, Karen McTavish, formerly an analyst for the CIA, is sent on her first field assignment to St. Petersburg, Russia, where she stumbles onto a plot to launch a biological attack on the United States. As she races against the clock to prevent the global pandemic, she can't shake the feeling there is something familiar about her discovery.
As the lives of these two women collide, they struggle to find common ground to avert the apocalypse.
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What are others saying about Nosoi?
"Imaginative, provocative and utterly engaging, Flight of the Nosoi drew me in from the get-go. Whitaker has sensitively drawn credible male and female characters and his story is filled with compelling twists and turns. I loved the Minneapolis-St. Paul backdrop. too. The book is a page-turner – I didn’t want it to end!" -- Tina Cavitt, author and biographer, Cavitt Productions
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What is it?
In addition to the Whedonesque protagonists, Nosoi injects a sci-fi solution into a thriller grounded in a real-world somewhere between Valarie Plame’s Blowback and Gregg Hurwitz’s Orphan X. I have read many stories with the protagonist going back in time, but I have found none where the hero comes from the future to the present to save the world. My long-time fascination with both espionage thrillers and the various theories and speculation about time travel compelled me to combine the two and fill in that gap. While "Nosoi" is a complete story, there are hooks and off-ramps built in that could connect it to multiple sequels.
An early draft of “Flight of the Nosoi” was a Members' Spotlight on Penguin’s (no defunct) Book Country in 2014 (under the working title “Paradox”).
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Who's who?
Karen McTavish - Novice CIA operative came from the Science Directorate where she worked as a tech in a secret CIA Bio-weapons laboratory in Minneapolis. There, she didn't quite fit in with the secret club of old scientists, but was able to escape to an assignment with the Counter Terrorism Task-force outside of Washington, DC. Under the CTT, she is sent into the field and identify a pandemic threat to the country and the world
Jane-Doe - After waking up in an alley in Minneapolis, the young woman is taken into custody for killing a mugger in self-defense. Kept under guard in the University hospital, where they attempt to treat her amnesia, she gradually remembers snippets of a life that doesn't quite fit into the world around her. It doesn't take her long to realize that staying in protective custody is jeopardizing her mission, and escape becomes her most urgent priority.
Dennis Brandt - Former Army infantryman turned homicide detective for the Minneapolis Police Department, Denny is assigned to the case of the Jane-Doe. As he tries to understand what happened in the alley, as well as discover the identity of the young women who was found with no memory, no clothes, and no hair, he is met with interference from the highest levels of government.
"John" Wayne Grimm - Hot-shot cowboy field operative with the National Clandestine Services, John is assigned as mentor to Karen as they are sent on a domestic errand to liaison with other federal agencies attempting to prevent the biological terror attack Karen uncovered. His brash and abrasive manner sets Karen and him of to a rocky start, though he eventually removes his mask and allows her to see the man behind the cowboy.