My Brilliant Demise - D. A. Hinkley

Professor Anna Fairchild is always pushing her limits, driven by her ambition to change the world as a prominent leader in neurogenetics. After years of research on human attractions, she has a eureka moment and finally makes a breakthrough. She has discovered a method to close specific pathways in the brain and create new ones, potentially eliminating our impulse to judge each other based on their appearance. Excited by the prospect of a world free of superficial judgments, Anna tests her unproven drug on a human specimen. However, this decision sets off a chain of events that Anna could never have foreseen. Her drug, instead of achieving its intended purpose, triggers a dormant virus in the subject’s body, leading to an uncontrollable spread through bodily fluids. The virus, far from being benign, mutates unpredictably, causing a complete reversal of the desired effect. The affected individuals no longer find young, fertile people attractive, a consequence that Anna could never have imagined. Anna must stop the spread before she causes an epidemic, which would end natural reproduction in the fertile population. Will Anna be able to halt the drug''s effects before they spiral out of control? Can she undo the damage already done? And most importantly, can she survive the consequences of her creation?