In Crouch’s SF novel, the fragile bliss of married clones is threatened when an old nemesis draws closer.

As this second book in The Genethic Legacy series opens, Dr. Avicenna “Avit” Arceneaux is practicing medicine in the rural town of Scorpion Hollow, in Bear Mountain, in the aftermath of an engineered pandemic that has “killed eighty percent of humanity.” He and his wife, Lazare, are harvested clones; a “rogue genetic experiment granted them unique DNA signatures.” This experiment turned them into a new species entirely, meaning Avit has the power to heal deathly ill patients—at a cost—while Lazare can kill just by willing it. Their natures create uncertainty regarding their forthcoming child, who will be the product of the first clone pregnancy. After Lazare hears suspicious clone activity on the local ham radio, their friends Mathieu Boden and Dr. Elise Casaubon arrive, having escaped from the Atlanta Disease Control Center—the former research hospital is now run by Six, an embittered clone-of-a-clone with murderous intentions. Elise asks Avit to return to the hospital, as the clones in stasis are dying, and his medical expertise is required to save them. Faced with an ethical dilemma—should he leave to save the clones or stay to protect his wife and found family?—Avit returns to the lion’s den of a ravaged city where Six is plotting his demise. Scenes of the warm community of rich characters on Bear Mountain (the tough Brielle is a particular standout) are inviting and provide an effective contrast to the devastation in Atlanta and the cohort of damaged clones. The action unfolds at a brisk pace as Six and Avit circle one another and loyalties are tested in character-driven twists that keep the reader guessing at each dramatic chapter ending. Crouch writes with assurance; she knows her characters intimately and slips in poetic turns of phrases amid the drama—Six’s dark ambition is described as “a psychic thorn that infected every other idea.”

Emotive, grounded SF that successfully centers its characters in a gripping, action-packed narrative.

An SF thriller focuses on a world where clones thrive and a new vaccine promises possible immortality.

Dr. Avicenna “Avit” Arceneaux is a young pathologist working on the Panacea vaccine, which will be distributed worldwide. As the rollout is about to start, Arceneaux and his assistant, Mathieu Boden, perform an autopsy on a corpse with a strange condition—the person died by rotting from the inside out. Surgeon General Story Patout, who is in charge of the vaccine project, begins an experiment on Arceneaux and hospital administrator Sister Lazare, both clones, to see if he can mutate them into a higher form. Arceneaux participates against his will, and as the experiment starts to affect him, pandemonium breaks loose. The Panacea vaccine turns out to contain a plague that kills millions around the globe. This was Patout’s plan all along. Arceneaux was “harvested” as a child, meaning his organs were taken to save his brother, Roby, leaving the pathologist scarred and seeing the world through prosthetic eyes. The experiment heals Arceneaux, giving him human eyes and long hair, which makes him look feminine. He uses this disguise to stay in the hospital, posing as the sister of a doctor named Elise Casaubon, and avoid Patout, who wants to harvest him again for antibodies. This sets up a battle pitting Arceneaux, Lazare, and Elise against Patout, Roby, and Elise’s sleazy husband, Richard, to end the surgeon general’s programs for the good of humankind. The novel has the bones of a captivating SF adventure, offering rich details and a remarkable protagonist. But the story feels convoluted, and there are a lot of helpful coincidences, such as Arceneaux’s looking feminine after the experiment takes hold. There is no thorough explanation for that, though it makes much of the following action possible. Unfortunately, the villains are cartoonish. Patout at one point explains that he was actually trying to help humanity by killing a large percentage of the population, reducing the strain on global resources. But there is no sense of what would drive him to such a monstrous deed. In addition, awkward prose hinders the narrative, as when Crouch writes of Arceneaux: “Anxiety broke over him like a red flag surf in the Gulf.” And instead of telling readers Roby has a trademark sneer, the author writes: “He sneered and it was a trademark.”

An intriguing medical tale hampered by uneven prose.

In Crouch’s YA novel, a teenage girl and her family contend with the effects of Hurricane Katrina.

Gulfport, Mississippi, residents are bracing themselves for what they hope will be another rough but manageable storm. Nothing, however, can prepare 15-year-old Jane-Claire Stevens and her family for the devastation that Hurricane Katrina brings. As windows shatter and the wooden frame of their house begins to splinter, they take shelter and wait it out. What they see once the storm has passed is an unrecognizable, uninhabitable town; children’s lifeless feet poke out from beneath the rubble of a flattened home. Meanwhile, Jane-Claire’s father, Mason, a doctor at the local hospital, is faced with a sudden wave of emergency cases. His temper frays in the high-pressure environment, and he’s less than welcoming to his family when they arrive there. He recommends they take refuge inland while he stays behind to treat the injured and deal with their badly damaged home. Jane-Claire, her mother, Dona, and her brother, Lerue, have no option but to head to Huntsville, Alabama, to stay with Dona’s old friend Kit and her husband, Martin. It quickly becomes apparent, though, that Kit’s generosity comes at a price, and soon, an unexpected and terrible occurrence makes the living situation untenable. What begins as a disaster novel develops into a more complex story of rebuilding—not of the property devastated by the storm but of the family, stuck in a new town with a new set of rules. The storm hasn’t really touched Huntsville, but the influx of victims seeking shelter there has had effects of its own. Crouch manages to capture the stigma of otherness that refugees face and does an impressive job of highlighting how difficult it can be to integrate into an unfamiliar community.

An engrossing, sensitive story of the emotional aftermath of a major natural disaster.