"True Evil" by Greg Iles

Many books bill themselves as page-turners and swear you won't be able to put it down. This one lives up to that promise. A mad scientist and a greedy lawyer team up to get rid of inconvenient spouses for wealthy clients, making them die from seemingly natural causes--for very hefty fees! Alexandra Morse is a special agent whose sister alerted her to this scheme while on her deathbed.

With relentlessness, Alex began to unravel the truth by investigating clients of the divorce attorney that her brother-in-law had consulted. She soon discovered that an unusual number of them were now widowed. The book progresses with breathtaking speed as Alex matches wits with the evil doctor who appears to anticipate her every move. Her own life is almost snuffed out several times before the dramatic and satisfying end to this modern Southern gothic tale.

The cover of this book showed a snake coiled in the middle of a bed. Very apropos to the story, but since I'm deathly afraid of snakes and don't even like to look at pictures of them, I sure didn't intend to put one in my journal! Besides, I try to come up with my own idea to illustrate a book. Thus, the scientist manipulating a virus and the poor little lab monkey.