GermLine

by Nelson Erlick

Dr. Kevin Kincaid is on the verge of a major breakthrough. He has developed a biological vector that can introduce new genes into the DNA of unborn children-and all their descendants. He hopes to eradicate a wide variety of genetic defects, but others see more sinister uses for this new technology.

Who will control mankind's genetic destiny? The government? The medical establishment? Or an international conspiracy of the rich and powerful? GermLine is a tense and topical thriller from the front lines of tomorrow's most wrenching scientific discoveries.

Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Science Fiction

432 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Dr. Nelson Erlick is an author of medical thrillers and one of the original members of the International Thriller Writers Association.

His first novel, the critically-acclaimed medical thriller GermLine (Tor/Forge Books), received praise from leaders in the scientific community (including W. French Anderson, the "Father of Gene Therapy", and J. Craig Venter, President of the Center for the Advancement of Genomics), literary critics (including Kirkus Reviews, Library Journal, The Philadelphia Inquirer), and noted novelists (Douglas Preston, Greg Cox).
Dr. Erlick's second novel, The Xeno Solution (Tor/Forge Books), received advanced praise from renowned novelists including Michael Palmer, John Lescroart, and David Dun.

Dr. Erlick lives in Pennsylvania with his wife and two daughters.

Reviews

[Daniel Williams · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reading the description I had high hopes. Yes, written in 2003, today the approach for germline modification would be dated, but perhaps the issues, plot, and characters would impress. The issues, ethics, proper use of the technology, and improper use, were all mentioned, and the driving force for many of the characters; ethics and proper use for the protagonist, and potentially unethical use for two sets of antagonists. Or one antagonist, and one other "it depends?" That's where the book falls apart. There were too many people, and too many plot angles. That in itself is not bad; I enjoy books with intricate plot angles, but in many cases here the angles were too loosely tied, and had too many improbable coincidences. I was plodding through it many times. The issues and ethics though are valid and worth thinking about.

[Jan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too detailed and complicated. All of the information provided for the story was unnecessary to the story and made it difficult reading. I can't really recommend this book, even though an interesting story premise.

[Book-a-neer · Rating 2 out of 5]

A not so uncommon sci-fi theme. I've had to skip reading a few of the descriptions as I found it a little too detailed. Predictable ending.

[C · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is standard fare for a suspense novel. The conflicts are reasonably compelling, although I was hoping the villans would win the entire time I was reading the last third of the book (I was hoping the the acual villans would win, not the disposable grunts). The villans at least had vision, whereas the hero's only goal was to destroy the fruits of his life's work just to keep them out of the hands of the villans, despite their potential to help people.

A lot of the action scenes read like they were written by Dan Brown, or maybe even some kid in one of my old High School creative writing classes. Ich. To make the writing even more annoying, the author was obsessed with using the word "ignited" to describe kisses. Every time two characters came together in that sweet embrace, their "lips ignited."

To be fair, this was reasonably good science fiction, showing signs of actual research. Technobabble was kept to a minimum and only a couple of scientific facts were muddled, but this is to be expected since the author works in at least a somewhat related field.

[Toni Stastny · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found it confusing to read at first. The story line was jumpy and the characters were difficult for me to keep track of but later it pulled it all together. If you do not have a medical back ground then you would have a difficult time to understanding. It is about genetic and chromosomes science mystery.

[Shannon · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh, if I could only give this book less than one star, I would. I happened upon this book, it was priced right ($1) and while its not what I usually read, I was willing to step out of my comfort zone and attempt it. BIG MISTAKE!!! I was just utterly bored with Kevin Kencaid. It's not that the book was too complicated, (I was a science major, I got it) it was just presented so utterly slow and repetitious; I kept wanting the evil villains to win. Poorly executed book.

[Kassandra • · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was recommended to me by a dear friend who has since passed away from a terminal hereditary disease and so I will always love this book because of him. His recommendation obviously came from a personal connection with the story. But aside from that, I couldn't put the book down and enjoyed the suspense. There are some great elements!

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

I selected this book at random based on cover and title alone. Sometimes you find a gem. I actually liked the book. Probably best if you have a science background. It's an interesting story with a topic that has deep ethical impacts. Other than a little language to make one character look "tough" (because everyone knows that tough guys swear), the book was fairly clean. Overall, I was impressed.

[Kelsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this so long ago, I remember liking this book, but it has been the subject of a "What's that book?" search and now I have found it!!! Success! The illusive blue and black cover with a DNA helix on it! Found.

[Hectaizani · Rating 2 out of 5]

Medical thriller involving the ability to repair damaged genes in the unborn. Good intentions subverted to evil use. Pretty average, without anything that really stands out in my mind.

[Carrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bioengineering, romance, tragedy, multicontinental adventure, multilayer characters, near death, to many characters to keep track of and the world almost ending, 's great!

[Rovilla Francesca · Rating 5 out of 5]

there is a big possibility that the plot in the book could happen in reality...;)

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pretty good attempt. The science is almost plausible, though some expository parts read more like a textbook or a journal article. The grand conspiracy seems a little too far-fetched. The ending was mostly satisfying. Definitely raises compelling and still relevant concerns over our use of technology to modify ourselves and our progeny. Story was pretty solid and generally well-paced. Author's misuse of "hone in" drove me nuts!