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Kill Shot
- A Shadow Industry, a Deadly Disease
- Narrated by: Jason Dearen
- Length: 6 hrs and 34 mins
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Summary
An award-winning investigative journalist's horrifying true-crime story of America's deadliest drug contamination outbreak and the greed and deception that fueled it.
Two pharmacists sit in a Boston courtroom accused of murder. The weapon: the fungus Exserohilum rostratum. The death count: 100 and rising. Kill Shot is the story of their hubris and fraud, discovered by a team of medical detectives who raced against the clock to hunt the killers and the fungal meningitis they'd unleashed.
"Bloodthirsty" is how doctors described the fungal microbe that contaminated thousands of drug vials produced by the New England Compounding Center (NECC). Though NECC chief Barry Cadden called his company the "Ferrari of Compounders", it was a slapdash operation of unqualified staff, mold-ridden lab surfaces, and hastily made medications that were injected into approximately 14,000 people. Once inside some of its human hosts, the fungus traveled through the tough tissue around the spine and wormed upward to the "deep brain", our control center for balance, breath, and the vital motor functions of life.
Now, investigative journalist Jason Dearen turns a spotlight on this tragedy - the victims, the heroes, and the perpetrators - and the legal loopholes that allowed it to occur. Kill Shot forces a powerful but unchecked industry out of the shadows.
Critic reviews
"If you like fast-paced forensic thrillers á la Kathy Reichs, you’ll love this tale of death and mayhem.... A harrowing, fast-paced tale of blind greed and sloppy science." (Kirkus, starred review)
"A gripping journey.... Informative and engrossing, this book is a page-turner about a deadly outbreak and a reckless compounding pharmacy. Recommended for fans of true-life medical thrillers." (Library Journal, starred review)
"This unnerving true tale is a crowd-pleaser for fans of true crime and medical mysteries." (Discover Magazine's Must-Read Science Books)