"Tense, involving, Camden’s Knife is a smart near-future
thriller with a startlingly real sense of plausibility. In a world that's
falling apart, can one ordinary person make a difference? Tremendous stuff!
Kavanagh can write!”
–
Hugo Award-winner David Wingrove, author of the Chung Kuo series and the Roads To Moscow trilogy
Riverdale Avenue Books is thrilled to publish Camden’s
Knife by John Patrick Kavanagh, an up-dated version of the science
fiction classic Sixers that best-selling author Scott Turow called “Terrific.”
In this near future
pop-culture-filled dystopian novel, America is under the dark cloud of a new
envirus, Camden-Young’s Disease. Unleashed five years earlier from an explosion
at a genetic engineering laboratory, the stealth envirus has laid waste to 74%
of Caucasians between puberty and their early thirties while the other 26% are
mysteriously immune. From flu-like attacks to excruciating fevers, hair loss,
blindness, insanity and death, there is no cure; the only respite available
being the Febrifuge Blue line of pharmaceuticals controlled by the Southern United
Enterprises conglomerate used to treat symptoms of the target population while
also used recreationally by the fortunate Sixers.
Dr. Arthur Camden,
dispatched from the company a year earlier by the powerful and merciless
executive Trisha Lane, believes a formula for a cure (which would destroy SUE’s
incredibly lucrative money machine) is contained in a pair of notebooks seized
when he was fired. For their return, Camden’s willing to exchange four ounces
of the otherwise unobtainable distillate CY6A4 he purloined just before he was
dismissed that Lane craves to manufacture an experimental potion of
unimaginable potential.
David Stonetree,
Lane’s new administrative assistant, becomes the middleman between the players
in this high-stakes chess match, spurred on by the fact that his partner Sharon
has just been diagnosed as a CYD-positive. Torn between Lane’s seductive wiles
and Camden’s selfless decency he finally takes a stand that could cost him his
job and possibly his and Camden’s lives.
John Patrick
Kavanagh revisits his masterful novel Sixers, updating it to perhaps 20
years from our present-day, adding compelling new characters, situations,
fascinating details and an even more powerful climax.
“I loved this book
when I read it 25 years ago, and it has stayed with me ever since,” said
Publisher Lori Perkins. “Give me a virus novel with social implications and I
am
sold.”
The story continues
in Kavanagh’s sequel, Weekend At Prism, with many of the
characters returning in Las Vegas for the $100M World Standoff! Tournament and
“the biggest rock concert ever held in the history of the Universe.”
Praise for Sixers:
“Terrific,” - Scott Turow, best-selling author of
Presumed Innocent and Burden of Proof
“(a) well-wrought
debut…both engaging and fun to read.” – Publisher’s
Weekly
“A stunning debut
novel…skillfully crafted…gripping and disturbing…an important new voice.” – Rave Reviews
“A writer to reckon
with…engrossing and well-written.” - West
Coast Review of Books
“This is a brave,
wonderful book.” – Arthur Shay, Speaking
Volumes
