By JEFF CLEMETSON | Mission Times Courier<\/p>\n
No one wants to get sick with COVID-19. No one wants to get a loved one sick either. But what if someone did? That is the premise of a new book titled \u201cNovel Coronavirus\u201d by Allied Gardens author Kyle G. Roesler.<\/p>\n
The book is a modern twist of a whodunnit about a young man who still lives at home with his father. When the pandemic begins, the son comes up with a convenient murder plan to rid himself of his overbearing father, who has pre-existing medical conditions by purposely infecting himself with the virus \u201cassuming he would survive and dad wouldn\u2019t,\u201d Roesler said.<\/p>\n
To soften the murderer\u2019s persona in the story, Roesler made Kevin, the son, someone who has a slight degree of mental illness. \u201cHe isn\u2019t looking at the world with the same moral compass as the rest of humanity is,\u201d Roesler explained.<\/p>\n
Roesler came up with the idea for his book while washing his hands as prescribed by health officials after an evening walk with his wife.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile I was doing that this particular evening, it sort of occurred to me, \u2018What if I forgot sometime?\u2019 It would be so easy to touch something else first and if I was carrying COVID on my fingertips, I could infect the people I\u2019m living with. And that thought quickly changed to, \u2018What if someone wanted to do that?\u2019 It seemed like an easy way to try and infect someone else and try to get away with a murder in a way most people wouldn\u2019t see as murder,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Roesler then outlined the story, began writing, and five weeks later had finished his book. He felt compelled to finish \u201cNovel Coronavirus\u201d quickly because he said it was an obvious story for writers to write and he wanted his to be one of the first. The self-published book is now available on Amazon and other bookstore websites.<\/p>\n
Besides the mystery of how Kevin\u2019s murder plan is eventually found out, the book also features scenes of people hoarding toilet paper, zoom cocktail parties, zoom funerals, characters who are high school seniors and disappointed they are missing normal graduation events.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe main thing I was trying to do, in addition to wrapping it around this whodunnit, was to capture just what it felt like to be in quarantine,\u201d Roesler said. \u201cTrying to capture all those different experiences that are unique to 2020 and put them all in one place in this book so that hopefully in the future it will be a good resource for people to go back and go, \u2018Oh, that\u2019s what it was like,\u2019 or remember that\u2019s what it was like living through 2020.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Roesler hopes the book will be a good historical reference, does he worry about it being used as a contemporary guide for would-be murderers?<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve thought about it, but I look at it the opposite way around,\u201d he said. \u201cBy putting the book out there, it\u2019s more sort of warning people in law enforcement that this is a possibility. Keep this in mind as people are dying because you can\u2019t necessarily assume that every infection is just a complete accident.\u201d<\/p>\n
That might be difficult for law enforcement, according Roesler\u2019s own research he conducted while writing his book. \u201cI don\u2019t think there is any way to tell the difference between an intentional infection and an accidental infection,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cNovel Coronavirus\u201d is Roesler\u2019s sixth self-published book. The retired aerospace engineer moved to Allied Gardens a couple years ago from the Bay Area and is now a dedicated writer. Besides \u201cNovel Coronavirus,\u201d Roesler is also publishing a trilogy \u2014 first book titled \u201cAct Globally\u201d \u2014 in 2020.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s my first reach into science fiction, although it isn\u2019t about aliens or space battles or anything,\u201d he said, adding that the story is about a company that makes self-replicating machines that are used by an eccentric billionaire to create a mountain outside of Las Vegas that is bigger than Mt. Everest.<\/p>\n
\u201cNovel Coronavirus\u201d and all other titles by Roesler are available on most ebook platforms. For \u201cNovel Coronavirus,\u201d 50% of all proceeds from the book will be donated to charities \u2014 25% to Feeding America and 25% to the World Health Organization.<\/p>\n