The Rationing: A Novel

America is in troubleat the mercy of a puzzling pathogen. That ordinarily wouldnt lead to catastrophe, thanks to modern medicine, but theres just one problem: the government supply of Dormigen, the silver bullet of pharmaceuticals, has been depleted just as demand begins to spike.

Set in the near future, The Rationing centers around a White House struggling to quell the crisisand control the narrative. Working together, just barely, are a savvy but preoccupied president; a Speaker more interested in jockeying for positionand a potential presidential bidthan attending to the minutiae of disease control; a patriotic majority leader unable to differentiate a virus from a bacterium; a strategist with brilliant analytical abilities but abominable people skills; and, improbably, our narrator, a low-level scientist with the National Institutes of Health who happens to be the worlds leading expert in lurking viruses.

Little goes according to plan during the three weeks necessary to replenish the stocks of Dormigen. Some Americans will get the life-saving drug and others will not, and nations with their own supply soon offer aidbut for a price. China senses blood and a geopolitical victory, presenting a laundry list of demands that ranges from complete domination of the South China Sea to additional parking spaces at the UN, while India claims it can save the day for the U.S.