This very moving novel tracks a follow-on pandemic to COVID-19 from a village in Greenland to a level 4 biological facility in Montana, exploring the disrupted lives and the heroism of those it touches along the way. Shepard is a realist about the relentless growth of the (so far fictional) organism with the 40% fatality rate, but he is an absolute optimist when it comes to the epidemiologists and medical professionals charged with stopping the pandemic and caring for the sick. The result is an admirable set of characters—beginning with young Aleq, witnessing his entire village wiped out—who exemplify the love and care that make us human even in the face of the unthinkable. ‘Phase Six’ is a sad and beautiful reminder of how we can be courageous when the worst happens.