Spike

In Spike, Jeremy Farrar — a leading infectious disease expert — and journalist Anjana Ahuja deliver an insider’s account of the COVID-19 pandemic. The book blends scientific clarity with gripping narrative, showing how governments, researchers, and public health systems responded to the crisis. Farrar’s first-hand insights into vaccine development, global cooperation, and political failures give the book rare authority. The authors do not shy away from critiquing mismanagement and misinformation, highlighting how political choices shaped the pandemic’s toll. Clear, urgent, and illuminating, Spike is an essential chronicle of a world in crisis and the lessons still unlearned.