Darwin's Radio - Softcover

Bear, Greg

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0345435249 ISBN 13: 9780345435248

Publisher: Ballantine Books, 2000

Synopsis

A 2000 HUGO AWARD NOMINEE

Ancient diseases encoded in the DNA of humans wait like sleeping dragons to wake and infect again--or so molecular biologist Kaye Lang believes. And now it looks as if her controversial theory is in fact chilling reality. For Christopher Dicken, a "virus hunter" at the Epidemic Intelligence Service, has pursued an elusive flu-like disease that strikes down expectant mothers and their offspring. Then a major discovery high in the Alps --the preserved bodies of a prehistoric family--reveals a shocking link: something that has slept in our genes for millions of years is waking up.

Now, as the outbreak of this terrifying disease threatens to become a deadly epidemic, Dicken and Lang must race against time to assemble the pieces of a puzzle only they are equipped to solve--an evolutionary puzzle that will determine the future of the human race . . . if a future exists at all.

About this title

Review:

All the best thrillers contain the solution to a mystery, and the mystery in this intellectually sparkling scientific thriller is more crucial and stranger than most. Why are people turning against their neighbors and their newborn children? And what is causing an epidemic of still births? A disgraced paleontologist and a genetic engineer both come across evidence of cover-ups in which the government is clearly up to no good. But no one knows what's really going on, and the government is covering up because that is what, in thrillers as in life, governments do. And what has any of this to do with the discovery of a Neanderthal family whose mummified faces show signs of a strange peeling?

Greg Bear has spent much of his recent career evoking awe in the deep reaches of space, but he made his name with Blood Music, a novel of nanotechnology that crackled with intelligence. His new book is a workout for the mind and a stunning read; human malignancy has its role in his thriller plot, but its real villain, as well as its last best hope, is the endless ingenious cruelty of the natural world and evolution. --Roz Kaveney, Amazon.co.uk

From the Back Cover:

"A masterpiece . . . Fascinating."
--USA Today

"[A] RIVETING, NEAR-FUTURE THRILLER."
--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"VINTAGE BEAR . . . [His] characters are as complex as his ideas."
--The Seattle Times

"ABSORBING AND INGENIOUS."
--Kirkus Reviews

"BEAR IS ONE OF OUR VERY BEST, AND MOST INNOVATIVE, SPECULATIVE WRITERS."
--New York Daily News

"A WRITER FOR ANYONE CONCERNED WITH THE HUMAN CONDITION."
--Seattle Post-Intelligencer

"IF ANYONE IS THE COMPLETE MASTER OF THE GRAND-SCALE SF NOVEL, IT'S BEAR."
--Booklist

About this edition

• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0345435249
• ISBN 13: 9780345435248
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 544