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Title: Mutant by Peter Clement ISBN: 0-345-44338-1 Publisher: Fawcett Books Pub. Date: 30 April, 2002 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.85 (13 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Whistle-blowing Can Be Fatal!
Comment: Ray Bradbury once defined Science Fiction as "a logical extension of reality". In his spell-binding, stand-alone thriller MUTANT, best-selling physician-author Dr. Peter Clement relentlessly takes his readers one horrifyingly-logical step beyond today's scientic realities of laboratory-controlled genetic manipulation into an absolutely plausible and terrifyingly probable consideration of their what-if's should amoral men deliberately set out to unleash cross-specie genetic mutations for purposes of mass destruction. His heroine, Dr. Kathleen Sullivan, a brilliant research geneticist, has become increasingly alarmed by the lack of environmental curbs imposed on multi-billion-dollar corporate enterprises which utilize unmonitored genetic alteration techniques on plants for commercial purposes. Her fears crystalize shortly after the sudden, horrible death of a child in Hawaii has been attributed to a deadly strain of "bird flu", a disease which has somehow passed from its chicken carrier to a human host. After she's almost killed while trying to uncover hard evidence to prove that genetically-tainted feed (which may have originated at Agrenomics International, one of her targeted corporations)was the lethal link, she shares her fears and suspicions with Dr. Richard Steele, a burned-out ER doctor...in recovery from a heart attack brought on by overwork and personal stress...during a chance encounter at a convention and piques both his professional and personal interest. Once he becomes convinced that her fears are entirely justified, they join forces only to discover that whistle-blowing can be deadly business as the appalling, utterly damning evidence begins to emerge from a tangled web of false leads and corporate misdirection. Caught up in what soon proves to be an international terrorist conspiracy, they ultimately find themselves in a race against time to stop the implementation of a doomsday scenario aimed at the heart and heartlands of North America. The cliff-hanger uncertainties of the will-they-won't-they ramifications of its final pages make this brilliant novel's unforgetable denouement a genuine milestone in the genre.
MUTANT quite literally leaps from today's headlines into the heart and mind of its reader. One of Dr. Clement's rare talents as a writer is his ability to make highly technical material completely understandable in lay terms without sacrificing any of the elements of superb storytelling. His characters are solidly-realized and intensely real; he has a positive genius for pushing his plot action to its utmost limits without ever violating our sense of cedibility, and I find it impossible to believe that anyone can come away from this literary experience entirely unshaken or unmoved by his shattering vision of an all-too-possible, near-future America.
Rating: 2
Summary: Conventional medical thriller about bioengineering.
Comment: Peter Clement, in his new novel, "Mutant," goes to great pains to explain how dangerous it is to tinker with the genetic makeup of foods, people and animals. Using scientific jargon, Clement explains that once diseases cross species barriers, an illness like the flu can be fatal to millions of people. Even Ebola can theoretically be transmitted by genetically altering the food supply. Not only can accidents occur, but evil scientists have the capability of purposely altering genes in order to harm large numbers of innocent people. This is a serious subject which should receive thoughtful treatment. "Mutant" does not succeed in giving this subject the weight it deserves.
The spunky heroine of this novel is Dr. Kathleen Sullivan, a gorgeous woman with a fiery temper and tremendous intelligence. Her counterpart is Dr. Richard Steele, a troubled ER doctor who gets involved in the anti-bioengineering movement. Both Steele and Sullivan endanger their lives to get to the bottom of an evil scheme to "strike at the heart of America".
What brings this novel down are the cliches that Clement uses in his plot and in his writing. An example is this passage from the novel describing an attack on Dr. Steele by a pair of killer dogs: "He [Dr. Steele] felt locked into their stares, paralyzed by the blood lust he saw burning in their molten pupils and reading in them a hunger as primeval as that of any jungle beast." This is very bad writing.
In addition, Clement relies on one of the biggest cliches of all. It seems that a Middle Eastern madman (who could it be?) wants some deadly bioengineered DNA let loose on a large number of Americans. A mysterious American is helping this madman to achieve his nefarious goal. If you have not figured out who the mastermind of the evil plan is by the halfway point of this book, then you are simply not paying attention.
Other cliches are Dr. Steele's inability to deal with the loss of his wife and the very hackneyed ending, with its "perils of Pauline" pseudo-drama.
Do you want true thrills without the nonsense? Go back to the classic of all time, Michael Crichton's "The Andromeda Strain". When I read this great novel so many years ago, I was truly frightened and educated. The movie was great, too. A few other enjoyable medical thrillers are Michael Palmer's "The Sisterhood" and Tess Gerritsen's "Harvest".
"Mutant" is silly and contrived. I do not recommend it.
Rating: 3
Summary: Alarming subject, uneven writing
Comment: This thriller is basically a warning about the dangers of genetic tinkering. In this case, a "genetic vaccine" which is to be inserted into corn by a virus gets out of control; the virus jumps the species barrier. People and animals who eat contaminated corn get sick, and some die from ebola. The amateurs who investigate this situation discover that the main villain is using terrorist tactics to force the American public to address the issue of genetic engineering, particularly the transfer of genetic material from one species to another. The evil one exploits unsuspecting environmentalists to support his plot and causes more than four hundred deaths.
Calling attention to this problem is a worthy goal. However, the paragraphs of technical explanations will go over the heads of most readers. The two main investigators seem unbelievably reckless. While the action scenes are written effectively, the love and sex scenes are unconvincing.
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Title: Death Rounds by Peter Clement ISBN: 0449004503 Publisher: Fawcett Books Pub. Date: 01 March, 1999 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Lethal Practice by Peter Clement ISBN: 0449002810 Publisher: Fawcett Books Pub. Date: 28 February, 1998 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: The Procedure by Peter Clement ISBN: 0449006220 Publisher: Fawcett Books Pub. Date: 29 May, 2001 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Critical Condition by Peter Clement ISBN: 0345443403 Publisher: Fawcett Books Pub. Date: 26 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $7.50 |
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Title: Deadly Remedy by Gwen Hunter ISBN: 1551666693 Publisher: Mira Books Pub. Date: 01 February, 2003 List Price(USD): $6.50 |
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