Sequence by Lori Andrews

 

Dr. Alexandra Blake is working on the origins of the 1918 Spanish Flu that killed thousands all over the world.  She is a genetic scientist working for the government at an agency called AFIP (Armed Forces Institute of Pathology).  But things are about to change.  The Institute has just gotten a new Director and he is a colonel and definitely military all the way through.  Alex has been used to working in the lab without much oversight and doing things her own way.

But the new Director, Jack Wiatt, has other plans.  He wanted the FBI and will do anything he can to find a way to get that assignment.  He has started by getting a serial killer case assigned to the AFIP and taken away from the FBI since one of the victims was military.  Alex is appalled.  She loves working on the DNA of diseases and finding vaccines but has no interest in using DNA to catch criminals.  But Wiatt could care less what Alex wants and the case is soon under investigation by a team.

Alex is a free spirit especially in her personal life.  She is balancing two men, a musician who comes and goes and a Senator who seems interested but maybe not as much as he is interested in politics.  As she grudgingly works on the criminal case, she finds her scientific mind engaged and she becomes interested.  The killer is striking every eighteen to twenty days.  Can the team find him before he strikes again?

I enjoyed this book.  Alex is an interesting character and a good role model for young women interested in following their dreams.  But I'm not sure it should be advertised as a murder mystery.  The criminal aspect seems to be in the background most of the time and the emphasis is placed more on the political maneuverings of a government agency and on Alex's love life.  This is the first in a series and I'd be interested in reading more to see if the cases become more criminal.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.