The Gene of Life
-
- $5.99
-
- $5.99
Publisher Description
"When science unravels the mystery of eternal life, a grand conspiracy emerges from the darkness of history."
Berlin, July 2008. After giving a lecture, Max Knight, a Nobel Prize candidate and professor of genetic research, is kidnapped. His captors show him part of a corpse, a left hand, discovered when a bomb exploded at a neo-Nazi rally. Although the hand appears to be that of a male in his forties, it actually belongs to a Nazi lieutenant, who must be 111 years old. To solve the mystery, Max and his assistant Katya head for Domba, deep in the Amazon rainforest, where they meet the enigmatic village-leader's daughter, Tania, and soon find themselves involved in a far-reaching Nazi plot. As they race against time from Berlin to the Amazon, California and Rome, will their romance grow? Even if Max has a fatal secret?
Is eternal life immoral or our salvation?
This science thriller was published in Japan (2002, 2011) and China (2013) and became an international best seller. The fast-paced, action-packed story includes adventure, intrigue, romance, history and more.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Over-used genre tropes mar this clunky thriller from Takashima (The Wall). In 2008, world-renowned genetic researcher Max Knight is in Berlin when he's snatched off the street by Nazi hunter Joe Feldman, who gives him a bottle containing a human hand obtained after a recent bombing at a neo-Nazi rally. The hand belongs to Carius Gehlen, a Nazi Waffen-SS colonel, who would now be 111 years old. Joe asks Max to examine the hand's DNA, and Max does so at a laboratory, aided by an attractive researcher, Katya Lang, who soon becomes his love interest. The next day, a bomb explodes under the laboratory, destroying the DNA material and wounding Gehlen's wife, who dies, but not before giving Joe, Max, and Katya a clue that eventually leads them to an ancient tribe deep in the jungles of Brazil. There they find evidence of modern-day Nazis, who have found the key to immortality. Awkward prose is a minus ("she could see Max was racking his brain"), and no one will be surprised to learn that Adolf Hitler may still be alive. Thriller fans have seen this all before, done better.
