The pandemic is over....or is it?

Journalist and new father Nik Byron is returning to his work at DC area online media company Newshound after taking personal leave for a wedding and honeymoon scrapped by the coronavirus that shut down the world. Life in general, and his in particular, are getting back to normal and he is eager to reboot his career. When a rookie employee assigned to write obituaries to hone his writing skills discovers that three former workers a local biotech company Xion have all died within a short period of time, Nik agrees that it is one heck of a coincidence. A company spokesperson will only say that what the former employees had worked on was a matter of national security, which only intrigues the veteran investigative journalist. Even as Nik starts digging into Xion and its employees, another event takes place in Idaho. A small religious sect with a compound in Idaho is annihilated by fire, which is explained away as the result of a propane accident....believable, yet it might not be the whole truth. When the sole remaining person connected with the former Xion employees survives an attempt on her life while she is hiking the Appalachian Trail, she has the answers that Nik needs to connect Xion, vaccines, and an off-the-books bioweapon experiment...but he is up against forces that will ruin his career, his personal life, and more in order to keep the story from ever being published.
Black Bird is the third in author Mark Pawlosky's series featuring Nik Byron, and his knowledge both of the world of old school journalism and the misdeeds rampant in the heart of US politics is used to great effect in this tale. In the wake of COVID 19 there are a lot of mysteries and thrillers using the threat of a fast moving disease and the possibility that government helped (inadvertently or on purpose) develop the virus as a premise, so Black Bird isn't breaking any particularly new ground with this outing. I found it a solid read with a likable protagonist and think that fans of authors like Otho Eskin, Laura Lippman and Hank Phillippi Ryan would enjoy this as well. My thanks to NetGalley and Girl Friday Productions/Ramblin House Press for granting me access to the novel in exchange for my honest review.

This was a dark tale that felt all too real considering what the world recently went through with the pandemic. It felt like this wasn't too far fetched.
I loved the characters and how everything played out. Well written and well paced. I'll look for more by this author

This is the third book in an absolutely fabulous series and it's just as good as the first two. Nik Byron is a multi-faceted character who is empathetic and intriguing. I love the investigative journalism and the setting of DC. That it deals with vaccine=related crimes is timely and thought-provoking. I already can't wait for number four!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

I received this book from the author, his publisher, and the fine folks at NetGalley in return for an honest review.

The story is about what could happen if, during the era of the COVID epidemic, the American government were to use the paranoia that was so rampant during this time as an excuse to develop a zoonotic bio-weapons program.

This continues as Newshound reporter, Nik Byron, begins to investigate why a group of religious fanatics in a remote compound located in Idaho and then progresses as a connection is made to the deaths of a group of prominent virologists who meet their ends in an untimely fashion. Something—or someone—is killing the religious followers and scientists, and Newshound reporter Nik Byron is determined to find out what’s behind the deaths. Could Xion Labs’ top-secret vaccine program be connected? Nik suspects so, but he’s being stonewalled at every turn.

As his investigation continues, Nik finds one last Puck Hall, a resolute, free-spirited young woman and Xion Labs researcher, who is soloing the Appalachian Trail. It’s only when Puck, barely clinging to life after eluding trained killers, crawls out of the wilderness that Nik and a rookie reporter cobble together the nightmarish facts that bring the story into focus.

This is a story that is populated with old-school journalism, double-crossing politicians, black-ops assassins, and government secrets, Black Bird follows Nik Byron on a thrilling investigative journey along the Appalachian Trail, deep into the northern Rocky Mountains, over the Pacific Ocean, and eventually right to the doorstep of the White House.

As a novel, I would easily give this story a solid three and a quarter stars out of five and would be enjoyed by readers who enjoy novels with political intrique.

As with most of my literary ramblings, this are just a few of my five cents worth.

Started this then quit. Plot is pretty ordinary - bad guy biotech company teams up with rogue government agency - to develop horrid viral disease then kills the scientists to keep it quiet. How many of these have we read recently? And the writing is turgid too.