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A group of scientists are working to solve the problem of the chronic shortage of transplant organs. Their aim is to genetically engineer a creature whose organs can be harvested to save millions of lives and earn a Nobel Prize for chief scientist Dr Claus Rhumkorrf. To the dismay of their employers, biotechnology company, Genada, a disaster in the laboratory of a competitor provides an excuse for the United States Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) to have similar operations shut down. Genada's head of security, P.J. Colding, is a long-term antagonist of USAMRIID's Colonel Paul Fisher, who is closing in on Genada's laboratory, but Colding has no intention of allowing the project to be shut down. He brings into effect elaborate plans to move the operation to a secret location in Canada's Great Lakes so that the work can continue and thus the Ancestors, as they are known, are finally born, using extinct DNA from the very dawn of what will eventually evolve into humankind. Scott Sigler will, I'm sure, appeal to readers of Michael Crighton's books. He uses a similar blend of science and action to create a fast-paced, macabre thriller that doesn't resort to flinging bucket loads of blood around to create atmosphere. Yes, some of the descriptions are gory, but not overly so. The Ancestors, with their wholly incongruous black and white cowhide exteriors (the product of a gene manipulation that left the largest organ of the body, the skin, untouched in favour of concentrating on the internal organs), are genuinely scary without being ridiculous. In many ways, I actually prefer Sigler to Crighton as Sigler doesn't bog the narrative down with pages of pseudo-science, although I did feel that I knew more about DNA at the end of the book than the beginning, and the few details that I did look up elsewhere checked out as being accurate. The characters were an interesting bunch and I steadily warmed to Colding throughout the book. He's competent, likeable and, more interesting, has limitations when it comes to the macho action stuff, which is unusual enough in a main character to be worth commenting on. This is one of those rare books that I was sufficiently gripped by to finish in two sittings, which probably says most of what is needed about how much I enjoyed it. § Linda Wilson is a writer, and retired solicitor, with an interest in archaeology and cave art, who now divides her time between England and France.
Reviewed by Linda Wilson, October 2010
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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