The trouble with modern science thrillers is they're too multidisciplinary for any human being to get right. Because I really care about plausibility, on this page I'm showing my slip, and inviting readers to email me with any mistakes that they find. If I agree I'll post them right here. It's no fun to be reading along and find a black pearl that you just know could never happen.

Rope ladder??! The helicopter that picks up Alan Thorpe in the river running scene may use a hoist, but certainly not a rope ladder. The helicopter flights are far too lengthy to not mention refueling stops as well (Contributed by aircraft historian Robert Dorr).

Don't piss off the entire marine corps. In the scene near the end at Rocky Mountain Laboratory, the term soldier is incorrectly used to refer to military personnel, including marines. Sorry, folks (awkward smile) - no offense, eh?

Salute in the Pentagon? The entire compound is a no-salute zone, and why would a soldier salute a civilian senator anyway? (This oversight brought to you by a senior Pentagon biointelligence analyst who said if I used his name he'd have to kill me, or something to that effect.)

Did I hear jeep? That's right, near the end at the Rocky Mountain Laboratory. A fair bit of the novel was conceived during late night rounds at the V.A. where I swear they have "The M*A*S*H channel." Must have had jeeps on the brain when I should have been thinking humvees.

It may be Montana, but it's not easy... Stephen Bailey appropriately points out I shortchanged security at the Rocky Mountain Lab: "I stumbled a bit when I came to the Montana lab setting. You got most things right but, the physical security for this lab is not and will not be dependant on only 6 Marines and no ram barriers. The NIH facility on campus requires some pretty stringent security."

Choose your weapon carefully. This from Tom Hickey, a physician with extensive tactical emergency medical experience: "NOBODY carries revolvers anymore. Everybody caries 9mm semi-automatic pistols now (except for mostly-Federal agencies who carry the .40 cal, which has a bit more stopping power, despite little noticeable increase in unpleasant recoil.) Having the cops show up with revolvers on p.306 interrupts the knowledgeable reader's temporary suspension of disbelief."

Hi, I'm in charge and I want to be infected. Brian Marino, of Washington D.C., who also commented on lax security in Montana noted the following: "I had a major problem with Goldberg going to UCLA Medical Center. You set the table with how impressively smart and distinguished all these people are yet this moron is walking around ground zero of the epidemic without any precautions. It is a little far fetched to believe that this character would be this negligent. If he dies, it would have significantly handicapped the whole effort especially since they hadn't established if the virus was airborne."