GeneThrall*

Tampering with Genetics

So much happens in this book that I hardly know how to review it. It takes place thirty-five years in the future, where gene therapy is making great inroads into better health. Genetic companies are supposed to abide by the Marshall Dictat: make no changes in genes that could be inherited by the next generation. The genetic miracles were the result of a desperate attempt to help a powerful family’s unborn child.

This is a very long book, and it takes a while to get the bigger picture of it. First, we see it just from the perspective of a genealogist who is been commissioned by a secret sponsor to look into the history of the family I mentioned above. At the same time, a man has been brought in to try to help a dying child. But other forces are at work, and this book takes you on quite a ride that certainly makes you question where we are going with all of our current research into genetics. Knowledge is good, but what we do with that knowledge can be wrong.

If you don’t mind long books that take a bit to pull it all together, you might enjoy this immersive read about the possible future misuse of genetics.