Frank G. Slaughter Critical Essay | Critical Essay by Rex Lardner

Critical Essay by Rex Lardner

Days after some puzzling human deaths at sea, rats scurry down the gangway of an ancient tramp steamer as it docks in Manhattan. The captain, victim of a disease contracted from deckhands illegally signed on in West Africa, visits his blowsy girl friend in her apartment. The rats over-run a sleeping drunk. The captain kisses his female friend—who happens to come into contact with hundreds as a cafeteria cashier. Thus does Frank G. Slaughter, busiest medical author of the day, chronicler of Biblical, historical, romantic and military-surgical triumphs, set the scene for his latest novel ["Epidemic!"].

The time is 1965. The events take place during a frantic seven days in Manhattan when immunologists, bacteriologists, police and other city agencies fight a unique, frighteningly contagious and anachronistic enemy—plague….

"Epidemic!" is not only an account of how surgeon Bob Trent and immunologist Eric Stowe doggedly meet the exacting demands of their profession;...
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