In this stunning work of contemporary fiction, Chevalier has succeeded in illuminating one of the unspeakable tragedies of our age: the exploitation of illness. Rendering the depravity and misfeasance of our modern-day temples of medicine with scholarly aplomb, the gripping narrative in Sarcophagus chronicles the journey of an inspired physician and an intrepid biophysicist as they strive against all odds to develop the world's first effective targeted, injectable gene delivery system-the coveted holy grail of genetic medicine. It is a time in history when terminal cancer patients languish on the chain while medical institutions, academic research centers, and giant pharmaceutical companies struggle in unison against the emerging tide of genetic medicine in a misguided effort to maintain the authority and applications of their loathsome poisonous treatments. Written with the passion of a patient advocate and the omniscience of an astute insider, and set against the bleak and timely backdrop of clinical pathos, Sarcophagus is a compelling journey of discovery and descent into the netherworld of modern medicine as it stands poised at the threshold of history.