Dr. Joanna Blalock is the director of forensic pathology at a large California hospital. Smart, vivacious and attractive, she has earned a reputation as one of the best in her field. When Colonel Guy Hawksworth of the National Security Council shows up to whisk her away from her job (security clearance in hand), Joanna knows it must be important. Sure enough, she's off to a "hot zone" – albeit in the sea off the coast of Alaska.

Here in the Bering Sea, a Navy ship full of advanced research equipment is studying a deadly bacteria discovered on an errant iceberg. Estimated to be more than 65 million years old, the bacteria is being studied by the Extraterrestrial Toxic Agent Team, or ETOX for short. Joanna joins the team aboard the ship and the adventure begins.

Goldberg creates a great group of characters among the various scientists. Leading the group is Ben Kagen, a famous astronomer from Cal Tech. (If that sounds like Carl Sagan, you've got the right idea.) Then there is Dr. Malcolm Neiderman, an overweight and arrogant toxicologist who may have some personal profit in mind while investigating the deadly bacteria. Also joining the group is Mark Alexander, a well-known microbiologist who has made a fortune with his pharmaceutical company. Not only is he rich and handsome, he was once Joanna's lover! Reetha and Doreen Sims come aboard as fun-loving and topnotch technicians. Colonel Hawksworth is the typical career military man who tries to hold the group together in an organized fashion.

Things start to fall apart on the ship pretty quickly after everyone assembles. As various crewmen and women aboard the ship become ill with a horrible illness, Joanna and the other scientists rush to discover the origin. Is it that strange iceberg floating around them? (Part of which is now harbored within the ship.) Is it a new strain of pneumonia or cholera? As if this was not enough, someone is killing the scientists as well! Two "accidents" among the research discovered by Joanna are not accidents at all. Who can she trust? Should she place her faith in her old love Mark?

Goldberg also creates a great setting for a deadly contagion: a ship which no one is permitted to leave. As things slowly descend into chaos aboard the ship, I definitely had the feeling of being trapped – just like Joanna. Stuck in the middle of this unknown plague, it is up to her to discover the source of this horrible and deadly disease – which now seems to have spread to various sites around the world!

Goldberg is really good at what he does, in a manner similar to Michael Crichton. As a doctor himself, he is able to weave medical and biological concepts with a good story. Deadly Exposure is an adventure in both medical science and sleuthing: sort of like The Poseidon Adventure meets Quincy. I'm ready to read another of his Deadly Adventures!

--Martha Moore