A PRESCIENT VIRUS

acontagious virus emerges from East Asia. It bounces across the globe, killing millions while a feckless US president and global disarray can do little to stop it. There are lockdowns, a recession and no shortage of conspiracy theories. A vaccine seems far away.

Welcome to 2020. And also to Lawrence Wright’s , a piece of research-driven fiction he began writing years before the current pandemicstaff writer from Texas, ahead of the book’s July release in India. “But by the time the book came out, there was no need to caution people because we were in the middle of a terrible pandemic…. If there’s anybody that’s concerned about my prognostications, it’s me. I want the coincidences to stop!”