Clone

by M.A. Gelsey

Human cloning has become a legal industry in the United States. Despite ethical concerns, the ultra-wealthy use this technology to commission replacement copies of loved ones who have died.

Edgar Prime is the first clone, copied from the DNA of the lead scientist who developed the technology.

Annabel King is the second, engineered by a wealthy widower to replace the wife he lost to cancer when they were both in their thirties.

Javi Vasquez is the third, created by grieving parents after their son died in a car crash on his seventeenth birthday.

As the first three clones approach adulthood they struggle to forge their own destinies free of their creators.

Simultaneously, an undercover FBI investigation infiltrates a black market where “defective” clones are bought and sold for criminal purposes.

The unintended consequences of unleashing such a powerful technology on the world explode in this riveting near-future technological thriller.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Thriller Suspense

336 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 4, 2019

About the author

M.A. Gelsey is the author of CLONE, a novel that explores the unintended consequences of human cloning set in a near-future world. She also authored the Green Sleuths short stories, featuring Detectives Shea Harper and Jiro Winter as they attempt to solve the strange crimes of an east coast suburb called Purgatory. By day she is a software engineer and when not coding or writing she practices yoga and Brazilian jiujitsu.

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

I recommend this speculative fiction book. The characters are well drawn out as the book explores the coincidences of cloning

[Josh Howard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cloning in science fiction is an often visited topic as are the ethics surrounding cloning. This book was refreshing because it focused not on the ethics of should we clones/should cloning be legal, but rather on the personhood and rights of the clones. As I am coming to find more and more, the emphasis on characters and story, rather than the science and gadgetry of science fiction, made this an excellent read.

There were some parts of the story that bogged down and made it harder to keep reading. But you really get a sense of who the characters, the clones, are and the struggles that they face as clones. It is also fascinating to see the reaction of those around the clones to their struggles.

My biggest knock on this book is that the ends of the plots of each clone are not all ended well. One clone in particular is left listless in life without purpose or direction when I felt that clone had the most opportunity at the end to make something greater at the end.

Still an amazing book and I would recommend it to people that generally have a science fiction bent, or who appreciate complex issues in books.

[Jodi Olson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received Clone in a giveaway and was asked to write a review. I save my 5-star ratings for books I will reread again & again ... that being said, I think this may be a book I'll reread because I'm sure I'll pickup some nuances I missed the first time around.
How much would you pay to get over the grief of losing a loved one? What are the ethics of cloning humans? What are the rights of human clones? These are the thoughts & questions that will run through your mind as you get to know Ed, Javi, & Annabel. You'll laugh & cry with them and want to know more about their lives after you turn the last page.

[Anna Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book in a giveaway. I was nervous to start it because sci-fi is not my usual genre, but as another reviewer noted, it read more like contemporary fiction than sci-fi, so it was really easy and fun to get through. I was pleasantly surprised and liked this book more than I thought I would. Although I didn't find the endings for each character satisfying, I appreciate the realism. If this near-future landscape were real, I don't think it would have been happy endings and I don't think the "good guys" would immediately win against these major corporations. I loved seeing the character development. Parts of the book seemed a bit slow at times, while other parts seemed very fast-paced. I also noticed a few small spelling/grammatical errors. Overall though, I had fun with this book and found it thought-provoking. I would love to see a sequel or screen adaptation.

[Sintia Cornejo · Rating 4 out of 5]

We are following the lives of the first three clones created and we get to see how it affects them and the people who created them. This is a fast pace thriller that had me wanting to read more but as I was nearing the end I noticed there weren't enough pages for a great ending. I was hoping for a few more chapters. I want to see Clone as a Netflix series.

[Courtney Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you for the ARC of this!

Such an interesting concept. I've spent time thinking about this sort of thing before. Would I use cloning if it was readily available to me? I'm not sure. But this book definitely pushed me further towards NO.

Well-written, great character development, tragic ends, 4 out of 5 stars!

[Alvin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an extremely fun and fascinating read that I couldn't put down. If you enjoy thrillers and enjoy thought exercises about things such as autonomy and rights of cloned humans, this is the book for you.

[Leah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting read.

[Joanna Dibble · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really interesting book. It's different from the books that I typically read, but I really enjoyed how it made me think about the topic of cloning. The book was fast paced and I enjoyed the characters.

[MA Eisele · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this well crafted story. Thank you for the free Kindle copy that I received from Goodreads Giveaways. I liked the way it was written with each chapter focusing on one character. It was easy to follow and I felt as if I came to know the characters well. The story was exciting as it moved along. I wanted to know what would happen next and it was never boring. The ending was a bit surprising but well done. I did have a wish to know what happened to Annabelle and Javi when the story ended. There was a flicker of romance there at one point. Hugo wasn't mentioned again after the tragedy occurred and I wondered about him too. But other than that, the book was satisfying and enjoyable. Maybe it isn't quite over? There could be more story to tell.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a little out of my normal genre...but I've been known to dabble in some light sci-fi. That said, I was pleasantly surprised it read more like contemporary fiction than sci-fi. I enjoyed the morals of the plot line....no spoilers here, but cloning people has become a thing in this near future setting....the reason for cloning? The marketing of it is to relieve your grief of losing a loved one...however the mere science of being able to do it opens up a pandora's box of trafficking, owning humans, desire to replicate the past, or narcissism (the reader discovers early on that the scientist who perfected the process cloned himself!) The story itself revolves around 3 central character clones, and about a half dozen other important players in the storyline. I was extremely engaged in the book as it seemed the 3 clones struggled to find their own identity...and I thought I would watch grand epiphanies unravel or moment when they stood up to their makers to demand their own identity. However, that is not the route this book took. It had moments like this, but ultimately the ending was a depressing let down. Perhaps the author crafted it this way purposely to serve as a warning. As for as the actual craft of the writing, it certainly wasn't literature, but the interesting material the book dealt with made up for that. For me, the book was worth the read, but not one of my all time favorites.

[Tiffany · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received Clone in a giveaway and was asked to review it.

I really liked the idea for this book and was super stoked to dive in! The book was well written for the most part. There were some sentences that didn't flow well and I had to reread multiple times to understand. There were also some sentences where there were two characters involved and you couldn't understand who was doing what because names were not used. Towards the end I did notice some rushing and a lot more spelling and grammar errors.

Like someone else pointed out, I thought Annabelles story ended well and was thought out but the other two were just ok. They could have been a little longer with a better ending.

The going between each character with super short chapters kind of threw me off also. When I started the next I had to try and remember who I was reading about and what happened the last time it was their turn so it took me out of the story. Also, some of the metaphors were a little much. Example: shame hovered over him like a demon, stabbing him with a trident and laughing in his face. I just thought that was silly.

Overall, I think this book was OK. I really liked the idea and it made me think about cloning in a way I never have. I'm glad I got to read it.

[Jim Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

Decent until 3/4 of the way.

By 75 percent I realized it was not going to be a good ending. Not enough pages left for a great ending. I thought the end was done without thought to what transpired so far. I just knew it had nothing left to give. About the only part satisfying was Annabel's story. That was good and well thought out. Primes ending was not satisfying as well as Javi's. I guess I could live with the ending for Javi. But Primes was just so unsatisfying and truly unexpected.

[Susan Beich · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clone is a book about humans that are cloned for various reasons - weather to replace a lost loved one, or to replicate oneself. Great idea for a book!! I however, found it difficult to stay engaged. The characters were shallow, and the supporting characters even more so.