The White Plague

A molecular biologist is driven insane by his family's murder. He unleashes a gendercidal plague that kills only women, throwing global society, politics, and morality into irreversible chaos as humanity faces extinction.

American molecular biologist John Roe O’Neill is visiting Dublin with his family when a car bomb planted by an IRA faction instantly kills his wife and twin children. The trauma shatters O’Neill's psyche, fracturing his mind into multiple warring personalities and igniting an all-consuming desire for global revenge.

Under the pseudonym The Madman, he engineers a genetically modified bacterium that is spread by men but is invariably fatal to women. He releases the plague into Ireland, England, and Libya, the first for show more his personal loss, and the latter two for their direct and indirect roles in supporting terrorist activities. The disease quickly crosses borders, triggering a global pandemic.

As the disease spreads, the female population rapidly dwindles. World governments react with desperate and draconian measures: they implement strict international quarantines, burn infected areas to the ground, and hide the few remaining women in heavily guarded, sterile reserves. Society collapses into anarchy and despair as the prospect of human extinction looms.

While global politicians manipulate one another for survival and dominance, a scientific team works frantically to find an antidote. Meanwhile, O'Neill re-enters Ireland incognito to bear witness to the devastating aftermath of his revenge. He ultimately provides the scientists with the critical insights needed to develop a cure without allowing any single government to claim a monopoly on it, though the damage to the world is catastrophic. show less

Don't get me wrong, this is a very good book, especially so for being written about 30 years ago, when DNA was still fairly new. However, what makes me drop my rating to a 3 star was that the part with Herrity and the Madman was just plodding, it went on for page after page. If Mr. Herbert had balanced out this with some female POV's, or the POV's of the men as their females die or their attempts to hide them, that would have added a great deal to this book. If you're a Herbert fan, definitely check this out, just don't expect it to be Dune-caliber.

Reading about this man-made plague right now wasn't too bad as the plague in this book kills all the women, which is worse than what we are currently dealing with. John O'Neill is in Dublin with his wife and twins when they are killed in an IRA terrorist bombing. He goes back home and comes up with the worst revenge he can think of - a plague targeted at Ireland, England and Libya (who he sees as all part of the bombing) that kills only women. Of course, a plague like this can spread beyond a country's borders, and soon the world is in a race to cure the plague and prevent the end of the world. I liked it, but it wasn't quite a 4* read for me; there are only three female characters of note and there was a lot of arguing about show more Catholicism in Ireland which dragged a bit. I think it would be really neat to have a post-apocalyptic book describing how things continued in a world where the man to woman ratio is ~10,000 to 1. show less

This book was really disappointing. It started out as a really interesting idea and then it didn't live up to its potential. My main complaints are that there were too many characters and there was too much going on. The character you spend the most time getting to know is the sick terrorist who comes up with the plague "virus". There was one female character in the whole book and barely any time was spent with her. In addition, I was offended at the way that Herbert discussed the resulting changes to human mating systems and social structures.

Finally, I have to say that the "science" in this book was wildly inaccurate, when I could make any sense out of it at all. I'm a geneticist and I could barely figure out half of what he was show more trying to describe. He seems to have several serious misunderstandings about how DNA and RNA work. When I could understand the molecular mechanisms he was describing, I found them to be farfetched, if not biologically impossible. Even if it were possible, the technology available in the 90's wasn't sufficient for O'Neill's task.

I'm honestly surprised that I finished this book, but I'm happy to have it over with. show less

When American scientist John O'Reilly and his family are in Ireland for a few months, a bomb goes off and his wife and two kids are killed. Something switches in his head and he wants revenge. He is able to create a plague that only kills women. He unleashes it in three countries, but it quickly spreads throughout the world.

It was ok. I thought the beginning and end were much better (for keeping me interested), but most of the middle part of the story dragged for me. The book was told from many different points of view, and there were a lot of characters to figure out. There were political and religious musings that weren't as interesting to me.

I dug this one out for a change of pace. I'd looked it over before, but hadn't read it. But I'm usually desperate for new reading material, so I decided to give it a try.

The basic plot is that a crazed scientist develops a plague designed to infect and kill women. It gets worldwide distribution, and so all of womankind faces the possibility of extinction - soon to be followed by all men, of course.

It's set in the modern day, or possibly in the near future - but so near that there's nothing to distinguish it from the present. Well, the present as of 1982, since a key plot point is the Irish Republican Army.

The book was surprisingly riveting - it was almost impossible to put down until I was about three-fours of the way through. And it's show more a LONG book. But towards the end the whole thing began to pall. With most women dead, and the major character in an incredibly bleak situation, the book became awfully hard to read towards the end. And I found the ending itself quite unpleasant. Herbert was an incredibly gifted and intelligent writer, and I cannot make any criticism of his technique in this book; I just don't like what he had to say. Not everyone would feel the same way, obviously. show less

The White plague is not particularly pleasant, but tells the gripping story of John O'Niell, who is a molecular biologist studying the genetic patterns of native Irish in an approximation of the modern day when it was published, that being 1982. You can tell by the level of computer technology. Anyway, he is looking out a bank window waiting to complete some business and sees a car bomb go off below him as he is watching his wife and twin children walk away on a shopping errand. They are obviously killed and he is so distraught by the incident that he fractures in to a few separate personalities. One of these goes in to hiding and ingeniously creates a plague virus that is highly contagious and targeted to specifically kill women. He show more sends the virus to Ireland, England and Libya in payment for the death of his family in a terrorist bombing. (The IRA received materiel and training from Libya). The plague escalates and endangers the continuity of humanity, cities and regions are isolated by burned borders or are simply nuked out of existence to stop the spread of the death. There are obvious disruptions of systems, both religious and political. Yada yada yada, the hunt for a cure leads to revolutions in genetic engineering and the reduced population of women has a huge impact on future society as well.

For something so morbid and destructive, it is actually an entertaining read. Frank Herbert is a man of great ideas and intellect as well as a brilliant writer. Many of the characters are Irish and he perfectly captures the nuances of the Irish accent. Very well done story. show less