The Scenturion Spy: Book One - Becoming a Spy

Book excerpt: IN THIS STIMULATING debut novel, protagonist Dr. Milt Davidson, a pathologist and cancer researcher working at a NYC medical school, is recruited by the CIA to spy on Russia’s bioweapons research involving odors that target the brain through smell receptors in the nose. Davidson studied human olfaction during his graduate education. Under the cover of starting up a Moscow-based biopharmaceutical company focused on developing odor therapies for neurological diseases, the young scientist/novice spy, who is on sabbatical from NY, quickly becomes entangled in romances with female spies that pose risks to the mission and their lives. Because the sense of smell is the least studied and understood of our five senses, this novel introduces a potentially new drug therapy involving smelling defined odors. Can Milt escape the scrutiny of the Russian military GRU? Can he gain the loyalty of the Jewish chemist who directs the Russian research on odor bioweaponry? The answers to these questions unfold over the page-turning course of this exciting first novel breaking through the conventional genre, leaving us yearning for the sequel. The science described is authentic, but the author speculates on new medical pursuits for both the lay reader and scientist.