The Gene Thieves is an exciting near-future thriller revolving around genetics, family secrets and kidnapping. Mitchell ‘Piggy’ Brown is a brilliant scientist, haunted by his physical imperfections and an abusive childhood. He seeks to redress the cruelty he suffered by creating another child from his parents’ frozen embryos and sperm. Having dedicated his life to unravelling the mysteries of the human genome, Piggy’s research uncovers the ultimate prize in medical science. When ruthless pharmaceutical companies catch wind of his findings they stop at nothing to get hold of this valuable research and Piggy’s baby is literally torn from the surrogate mother’s womb and held to ransom. What follows is a high-tech race against time to track down the kidnappers and save the child. This fast-paced and engaging novel is written in a lucid, easy-to-read style accessible for a wide audience. Characters are well developed and Quinn makes good use of the Sydney setting to add some local colour. The author perhaps could have focussed some more on the social and ethical issues involved, otherwise this a solid work that will appeal to any fan of contemporary Australian science-fiction.

James Francis is a bookseller at Reader’s Feast in Melbourne

Tags: maria quinn