The Demon in the Freezer

Henderson spearheaded the legendary Smallpox Eradication Program that confronted and uprooted all natural occurrences of the disease by the end of the 1970s. He spent the years following his victory on the staff of Johns Hopkins and then, in the wake of the World Trade Center attacks, became Director of the Office of Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response. Henderson’s illustrious career was nonetheless accompanied by one major setback, from the standpoint of smallpox prevention as Henderson understood it: though Henderson promoted the idea of destroying existing smallpox stores as a gesture of cooperation, the research community turned against this approach, first extending the deadline for destroying the stocks, and then greeting and accepting Peter Jahrling’s work with live smallpox. Henderson would eventually accept Jahrling’s strategy, convinced that resistance to the new, research-oriented approach to prevention would be mostly futile.

A talented and enormously dedicated USAMRIID researcher, Hensley assisted Peter Jahrling in his project of infecting monkeys with smallpox. Perhaps Hensley’s main importance to the narrative of The Demon in the Freezer is that Preston uses her to show how the education and intellectual life of a virus and epidemics specialist can proceed. Hensley is initially drawn to sports, not the sciences, in her education; even as she evolves into an impassioned scientist, she must continue to balance her desire for a fulfilling personal life against her immensely demanding work. As a figure who can be seen growing into her role, she presents a contrast to Henderson and Jahrling, equally devoted scientists who are portrayed almost entirely at the height of their reputations.

A USAMRIID scientist partially responsible for training Lisa Hensley, Hatfill occupies an unusual moral and ethical position in The Demon in the Freezer. He is clearly intrigued by disease prevention technology, especially tissue-growing devices called bioreactors, and cooperates fully with the authorities when suspicions arise about his activities. Hatfill, though, appeared to have falsified parts of his résumé (a role in the U.S. Special Forces, a Ph.D. from Rhodes University); his security clearances were removed shortly before the 9/11 attacks. Whether Hatfill is an innocent, irresponsible man or a genuine source of concern is an issue that The Demon in the Freezer does not resolve—further underscoring the idea that bioterror is an area of investigation plagued by unknowns.

Originally named Kanatjan Alibekhov, Alibek was a high-ranking research official in Russia’s Biopreparat program. He defected to the United States, and in this respect was not unique among Russian scientists: Vladimir Pasechnik left Russia and brought news of his home country’s bioweapons capabilities to the intelligence community in Britain and the U.S. Although Alibek’s actions are a sign of the moral qualms that can accompany the mass production of bioweapons, Alibek’s significance to the narrative extends further. Together with his friend Bill Patrick, Alibek uses household goods to demonstrate to Richard Preston (and to Preston’s readers) the ease with which bioweapons can reach their targets and endanger civilian populations.

The apparent source of the Meschede smallpox outbreak, Peter Los was in his early twenties at the time of this catastrophe. Trained as an electrician but mostly interested in the hippie lifestyle, he most likely came into contact with the disease during his travels through Asia. In some respects, Preston keeps the reader at a distance from Los (“Peter Los” is itself a pseudonym). But, in other ways, Los’s case is inspected closely, precisely, and vividly. The descriptions of how smallpox temporarily ravaged Los’s body are meant to give Preston’s reader a sense of the destructive power of the disease, which fortunately would not claim Los’s life.