A cryptic message at the bottom of a delivered donut box sends Maggie and her boss, Director Cunningham, racing to a suburban home to search for terrorist action; the letter said to wait for a "crash." What they find is a scared little girl and her violently ill mother.

Recognizing the signs of an infectious disease, Cunningham calls in the experts, the military's center for infectious diseases, USAMRIID. Both agents, the child, and her mother are immediately quarantined at the facility in what is affectionately referred to as the Slammer.

Colonel Benjamin Platt, the doctor in charge of this particular mission, is in a bit of a quandary. Though he and his colleagues fear the worst, diagnosing the illness affecting Mary Louise's mother does not prove to be simple. Then, once it determined to be a strain of Ebola, his commanding officer suggests that, since no other outbreaks have occurred, that perhaps the entire situation should just "disappear."

Maggie has been channeling her nervous energies into research and as much investigating as she can manage through phone calls to her partner, Tully, and communicating with Platt. Stitching together the few clues that she has, Maggie comes to realize that the virus had been planted, and deliberately. Tully has come to the same conclusion, realizing that much of their evidence references previous serial killings.

The questions neither of them have been able to answer are: is this personal? and if so, against whom? While Maggie waits out the period of time that will determine whether she has been infected, Tully races to discover who was behind the terrorist act. Meanwhile, Dr. Platt is scurrying to find out if the specimens being sent in the mail were from USAMRIID's labs while disobeying his commander and secretly doing his best to keep as many of his four patients alive as medically possible.

Exposed is, without question, one of the best suspense novels of the year.  It is not, however, one of the better mysteries. There are too many strands that do, eventually, lead somewhere, but are so loose that at times they're hard to follow. Many readers will pick out the criminal early on, although even up until the end his apprentice is unknown.

A point of view that rotates between the main characters as well as several of the victims and one of the killers keeps the mind engaged, while a frightening premise will keep readers on-edge. Maggie is with us in ways that she hasn't been for a few books, more involved and emotionally stimulated. Her partner, Special Agent R.J. Tully, also has a hefty part – both professionally and personally – in this book, and the insight into his family life and divorce will bring readers closer to him as well.

Exposed is a guaranteed good read, likely one to stand your hair on end and, occasionally, make your stomach clutch.

--Sarrah Knight