Like other of Maclean's works, the plot involves layers of deception, both of the nominal antagonists and of the reader. The first-person narrator, Cavell, is brought in by the Mordon Microbiological Research Establishment (probably based on Porton Down) to investigate the murder of a scientist and the theft of several ampoules of two deadly germ warfare viruses, including the laboratory-conceived, indestructible “Satan Bug”, a derivative of the poliovirus. There is no vaccine and a spoonful is enough to wipe out all of Britain in a week. With these phials of unstoppable power, a mad "environmentalist" threatens the country's population unless Mordon is razed to the ground. Cavell, blind in the left eye and with a bad leg, is a disenchanted British secret agent, former head of security at the lab, is the prime suspect until he clears himself.
It quickly becomes apparent that the break-in was faked from within. As the plot develops, we become aware of a scheme to blackmail the British government by threatening to release the Satan Bug in the City of London. All is revealed at the end as a hoax, designed to cause the City to be evacuated, allowing a criminal gang time to break into and rob major banks. The Satan Bug was never a real threat.
Release details
1962, UK,
1962, USA, Scribner's (ISBN NA), Pub date ? ? 1962, hardback
