A thrilling jump into the deep end of the (gene) pool.
Gene therapy takes a deadly turn in Rogers’ medical thriller.
In this fourth installment of the author’s Mayfield-Napolitani thriller series, Joe Mayfield and his wife Louise “Weezy” Napolitani hope to land a new client for CyberSol, their cybersecurity company: the Swiss firm APX, a supplier of materials used in gene sequencing. APX recently acquired Gerontin Therapeutics, a start-up that developed a rapid infusion method that can help fix “bad genes in otherwise healthy people.” Former Gerontin scientist Ella Sonesgard, now an APX VP, tells Joe that former employee Daniel Manly and some of Gerontin’s intellectual property have gone missing. But when Joe and Weezy travel from their Bethesda office to meet with Ella in Boston, the cybersleuths are told she is unavailable; instead, company CEO Vic Neuchtermeier, whose shoulders “spoke to hours on the weight bench,” meets with the pair to close out the project, explaining that finding the missing employee and intellectual property is not a priority. However, as they have already surmised that Daniel is in Boston (and because Weezy’s family lives there), the couple remain in Bean Town. They learn from Weezy’s brother that a neighborhood friend, a congressman fighting higher drug prices, has died suddenly of a rare disease. About the same time, a U.S. senator collapsed and died, possibly as a result of recently received prophylactic gene therapy. When Ella is diagnosed with hemophilia, it appears gene therapy has been weaponized. Readers familiar with the series will enjoy this fast-paced entry; newcomers, however, may be puzzled when pieces of backstory are blurted out and wonder if the message-receiving aural implants and other futuristic gizmos in the story were explained thoroughly in previous books—their existence is assumed here. The characters’ relationships and dialogue—particularly between Joe and Weezy—are realistic, playful, and sexy. Humor snakes throughout the narrative, and the descriptions are inventive, such as the image of Weezy’s male relatives being “built like boxes with legs.” The book is topical, with large portions addressing gene therapy and climate change and its deniers, and the ending is killer.
A thrilling jump into the deep end of the (gene) pool.Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2024
ISBN: 9781732226241
Page Count: 378
Publisher: Gotuit Publishing LLC
Review Posted Online: June 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Red-hot storytelling.
Two master storytellers create one explosive thriller.
Mauna Loa is going to blow within days—“the biggest damn eruption in a century”—and John “Mac” MacGregor of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory leads a team trying to fend off catastrophe. Can they vent the volcano? Divert the flow of blistering hot lava? The city of Hilo is but a few miles down the hill from the world’s largest active volcano and will likely be in the path of a 15-foot-high wall of molten menace racing toward them at 50 miles an hour. “You live here, you always worry about the big one,” Mac says, and this could be it. There’s much more, though. The U.S. Army swoops in, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff personally “drafts” Mac into the Army. Then Mac learns the frightening secret of the Army’s special interest in Mauna Loa, and suddenly the stakes fly far, far beyond Hilo. Perhaps they can save the world, but the odds don’t look good. Readers will sympathize with Mac, who teaches surfing to troubled teens and for whom “taking chances is part of his damned genetic code.” But no one takes chances like the aerial cowboy Jake Rogers and the photographer who hires him to fly over the smoldering, burbling, rock-spitting hellhole. Some of the action scenes will make readers’ eyes pop as the tension continues to build. As with any good thriller, there’s a body count, but not all thrillers have blackened corpses surfing lava flows. The story is the brainchild of the late Crichton, who did a great deal of research but died in 2008 before he could finish the novel. His widow handed the project to James Patterson, who weaves Crichton’s work into a seamless summer read.
Red-hot storytelling.Pub Date: June 3, 2024
ISBN: 9780316565073
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: June 20, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024
Fine Grisham storytelling that his fans will enjoy.
A descendant of enslaved people fights a Florida developer over the future of a small island.
In 1760, the slave ship Venus breaks apart in a storm on its way to Savannah, and only a few survivors, all Africans, find their way safely to a tiny barrier island between Florida and Georgia. For two centuries, only formerly enslaved people and their descendants live there. A curse on white people hangs over the island, and none who ever set foot on it survive. Its last resident was Lovely Jackson, who departed as a teen in 1955. Today—well, in 2020—a developer called Tidal Breeze wants Florida’s permission to “develop” Dark Isle, which sits within bridge-building distance from the well-established Camino Island. The plot is an easy setup for Grisham, big people vs. little people. Lovely’s revered ancestors are buried on Dark Isle, which Hurricane Leo devastated from end to end. Lovely claims the islet’s ownership despite not having formal title, and she wants white folks to leave the place alone. But apparently Florida doesn’t have enough casinos and golf courses to suit some people. Surely developers can buy off that little old Black lady with a half million bucks. No? How about a million? “I wish they’d stop offering money,” Lovely complains. “I ain’t for sale.” Thus a non-jury court trial begins to establish ownership. The story has no legal fireworks, just ordinary maneuvering. The real fun is in the backstory, in the portrayal of the aptly named Lovely, and the skittishness of white people to step on the island as long as the ancient curse remains. Lovely has self-published a history of the island, and a sympathetic white woman named Mercer Mann decides to write a nonfiction account as well. When that book ultimately comes out, reviewers for Kirkus (and others) “raved on and on.” Don’t expect stunning twists, though early on Dark Isle gives four white guys a stark message. The tension ends with the judge’s verdict, but the remaining 30 pages bring the story to a satisfying conclusion.
Fine Grisham storytelling that his fans will enjoy.Pub Date: May 28, 2024
ISBN: 9780385545990
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2024
SEEN & HEARD
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