Henry Parsons

Henry Parsons is the deputy director for infectious diseases with the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. He is the husband of Jill and the father of Helen and Teddy. Henry is considered the hero of the novel even though he suffers a variety of human failings.

Henry is physically disabled by a case of rickets, caused by Vitamin D deficiency when he was a child. Henry does not often tell people about his disease, but his parents were members of the Jonestown cult. They were too busy following to commands of the group’s charismatic leader to take good care of their baby.

Henry is ashamed of the work he did with Fort Detrick because he actively helped Jürgen create agents that could kill people. He believes he was a member of a “scientific cult” (94) because he let Jürgen make him believe that they...