Very original. A terrific plot.

Kate Wilhelm is the author of the Hugo Award–winning Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang. Excellent.

Welcome, Chaos (1983) is the second of her books I’ve read.

Though it’s a bit dated, I found the story intriguing.

Disillusioned and sorrowful history professor Lyle Taney retreats to the Oregon mountains to study eagles but becomes entangled with her neighbors, kindly polymath Saul Werther and his assistant Carmen, and a manipulative CIA agent, Lasater.

She discovers Werther and Carmen are part of a secret organization guarding a dangerous immortality serum from Nazi Germany. A serum that grants immortality but can also kill half its recipients and cause infertility.

When Russia independently obtains the serum and unleashes it as a flu epidemic, Lyle must choose sides in a struggle that could lead to global destruction or the start of a new civilization

AI summary

Sure you can argue the writing is not great.

BUT the 4 main characters are really well developed.

It’s a thought provoking read.