Raising Abel
W. Michael Gear & Kathleen O'Neal Ge (Reviewed by The Editor - Rebecca Brown)
2002 Warner Books
ISBN: 0446526150
FBI Special Agent Joe Hanson calls paleoanthropoligst Veronica Tremain about her brother's death & her life becomes a nightmare.
Scott, an anthropologist, has been killed by brutal torture, reminiscent of the Inquisition, & burned inside his Colorado home. Hours later Dr. Tremain learns that Scott's longtime colleague Amanda, his significant other, has met with the same fate in her Ohio home. Then another friend, at a fertility clinic in Israel, is likewise exterminated.
What does the list mean that Special Agent Joe Hanson's informant tells him about? Veronica's anthropology friends are all on that list & they are now dropping like flies under an unseen swatter. Who kills the informant, & why is Joe now missing?
As Dr. Tremain picks through the clues in Colorado, Bryce Johnson turns up. A longtime friend & a computer expert, especially in DNA, Bryce was also on that list & was on the phone with Scott when he was killed.
Then the woman who had adopted Scott's & Amanda's infant, four years before, knocks on her door, holding the hand of a young, unusual looking boy. Because he looks nothing like her brother or her friend, just who is he? Perhaps Veronica should be asking: what is he?
Before anyone can put the pieces together, death strikes on a bright, sunny morning & Veronica & Bryce, both single & single-minded career scientists, escape with the child in tow. That boy is the key, to not only unlocking the secrets of Scott's & Amanda's research, he will also open up the secrets of religious fanatics bound & determined to quash any evidence that Creationism & Evolution can co-exist.
There was a 1984 movie along similar lines, long before cloning was a twinkle in some scientist's eyes. Back then I had walked out of the cinema, muttering how they hadn't taken the premise far enough. It was called Iceman with one of my favorite actors, Timothy Hutton, as well as Lindsay Crouse & John Lone, & directed by Fred Schepisi. Raising Abel, nearly a score years later, goes far enough...well...almost!
Raising Abel is riveting reading! Well researched & very well written. Filled with scientific data about the history of cloning, anthropology & religous dogma & fear. It has lots of delicious red herrings & plausible, healthy personal growth, as well as a fascinating glimpse into how our world is experienced from another sentient being's point of view.
Engrossing, sizzling & satisfying! You will want to shelve this one for future reading!
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