# Identify this book **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 28, 2012, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-book/639103 "2012-10-28T02:59:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2012, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-book/639103/1 "2012-10-28T02:59:20Z")
Read this around '96 or '97; it was a new book at the time. Tanker collides with the Golden Gate bridge (disgruntled crewman at the wheel, or something along that line) and spills oil into Frisco Bay. Someone decides that this is the perfect test for his unapproved, unlicenced, &c, &c, newly created oil-eating bacteria and releases some into the bay. Bacteria become airbourne (I think), get out into the surrounding cities, mutate to begin eating petroleum fractions, not just crude, and spread. (One vector is gas pumps - contaminated car stops for gas, bacteria get onto pump nozzle, and then begin to “infect” other cars that use that gas pump.) Bacteria mutate even further and begin eating any petrolium product, including all plasctics (phones, computers, &c, &c). TEOTWAWKI… Can anyone provide title and author? ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2012, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-book/639103/2 "2012-10-28T03:03:12Z")
[Darkness Falls by Kyle Mills?](http://www.amazon.com/Darkness-Falls-Kyle-Mills/dp/B001E95IOY) ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2012, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-book/639103/3 "2012-10-28T03:03:51Z")
_[Ill Wind](http://www.amazon.com/Ill-Wind-Kevin-J-Anderson/dp/0312857608)_-Kevin J. Anderson and Doug Beason ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2012, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-book/639103/4 "2012-10-28T03:32:58Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > [Darkness Falls by Kyle Mills?](http://www.amazon.com/Darkness-Falls-Kyle-Mills/dp/B001E95IOY) Definitely not the book I had in mind, but it certainly sounds interesting. Thanks for the suggestion… > [@runner pat](#): > > _[Ill Wind](http://www.amazon.com/Ill-Wind-Kevin-J-Anderson/dp/0312857608)_-Kevin J. Anderson and Doug Beason Don’t recognise the cover, but the reviews sound right. Have to check the library… ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2012, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-book/639103/5 "2012-10-28T03:39:36Z")
My copy has [this cover.](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/askville/5030904_9366508_mywrite/illwind.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![PapSett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2012, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-book/639103/6 "2012-10-28T05:01:58Z")
I read that book! And oddly enough, was just recently trying to remember the name, too. I’m pretty sure it is Ill Wind. I really enjoyed that book a lot! ---
**Author:** ![Damfino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Damfino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damfino)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2012, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-book/639103/7 "2012-10-28T21:50:06Z")
You may be interested in \* Mutant 59: The Plastic Eaters \* published in 1971, by Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis, who also wrote for \* Doctor Who \* . ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2012, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-book/639103/8 "2012-10-28T23:00:21Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > Definitely not the book I had in mind, but it certainly sounds interesting. Thanks for the suggestion… > > Don’t recognise the cover, but the reviews sound right. Have to check the library… Do you recall the Bad Guy getting cooked under a reflector-insulation blanket by space-generated microwaves ? Then I am fairly certain it was Ill Wind. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-book/639103/9 "2012-10-29T02:35:56Z")
Don’t remember that part, DrFidelius, but I’ve ILL’d the book and am waiting for its arrival. Another thing in its favour is that I recall that the book I’m looking for was the second book I’d read that year with the same title, and there’s an Anna Pigeon mystery called _Ill Wind_… ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2012, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-book/639103/10 "2012-11-07T23:57:50Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > _[Ill Wind](http://www.amazon.com/Ill-Wind-Kevin-J-Anderson/dp/0312857608)_-Kevin J. Anderson and Doug Beason Picked up the ILL from the library yesterday, and that is indeed the book I was looking for. Thank you!!