A far-fetched but often fun SF thriller.
A geneticist uncovers a universal, hardwired gene that determines the moment of one’s death in Thomas’ SF novel.
In the high-tech hub of Boston, Helix Innovations is a cutting-edge biomedical giant researching the predictive genetic foundations of dire maladies. One of their young shining-star scientists, Dr. Emily Harper (who has a background in computer hacking), makes a shocking discovery: the “terminal gene,” sometimes called a “kill switch.” It seems every living organism possesses this, a predetermined biological timer that unerringly forecasts exactly when that living thing will die. Such powerful knowledge applied by unscrupulous business interests and authorities is a frightening prospect: “The terminal gene had the potential to redefine medicine, providing insights into deadly diseases, or it might disrupt society, giving governments and corporations the power to exploit mortality...Would the government weaponize it, sorting citizens by their expiration dates?” Straightaway, Emily begins to receive threatening messages warning her to keep quiet and cooperate, or else. The danger seems to originate from a secret group called Chronos, which is already setting itself up to control the terminal gene and actively scheming to find a way to “reset” it. A mysterious person (or persons) known only as “Q” is also involved, though whether they are friend or foe is unknown. Emily’s apartment is ransacked, and the young scientist finds herself locked out of security protocols. This is too much for Emily’s live-in fiancé, Tyler, an ex-soldier with dormant-but-deadly combat skills. He and Emily zero in on unfriendly Helix CEO James Kessler as a likely source of harassment. But as paranoia escalates, it seems nobody can be trusted—not cherished academic mentors, Tyler’s former military associates, or a mysteriously reappearing Boston beat cop. Even worse, carefully concealed terminal-gene data indicates the approach of a mass-extinction event.
Some readers may find the terminal-gene concept to be less like a plot device from one of Michael Crichton’s just-on-the-edge-of-plausible thrillers and more like something bubbled up from the surrealistic imagination of Jorge Luis Borges (or early-1950s horror comic books). The concept is rather akin to a pin-cushioned Voodoo doll or a monkey’s paw that dictates one’s fate paranormally (death will come, no matter what ones does to prepare for or prevent it) rather than scientifically, though quite late in the action is there is some doubletalk about retroviruses and the like. Curiously, the story remains Boston-centric, even as news spreads of the doomsday discovery—the reactions from Washington, D.C., Wall Street, and the world in general feel curiously marginal. Readers able to suspend their disbelief will be left with an agreeable beach (or possibly hospital ward) read. It is only in the home stretch that the author addresses the philosophical conundrum, “Is it possible to reconcile human free will with a universe ruled by deterministic laws of nature?” before getting back to the action-heavy business of skulking through intranet firewalls and sneaking into besieged CRISPR labs (it is amusing how Emily, a celebrity whistleblower, can go unnoticed in a Beantown roiled by anti-Helix protests). One need not be a geneticist to diagnose the likelihood of sequels germinating.
A far-fetched but often fun SF thriller.Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2025
ISBN: 9798999838643
Page Count: 311
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An unforgettable story of survival and the power of friendship—nothing short of a science-fiction masterwork.
Weir’s latest is a page-turning interstellar thrill ride that follows a junior high school teacher–turned–reluctant astronaut at the center of a desperate mission to save humankind from a looming extinction event.
Ryland Grace was a once-promising molecular biologist who wrote a controversial academic paper contesting the assumption that life requires liquid water. Now disgraced, he works as a junior high science teacher in San Francisco. His previous theories, however, make him the perfect researcher for a multinational task force that's trying to understand how and why the sun is suddenly dimming at an alarming rate. A barely detectable line of light that rises from the sun’s north pole and curves toward Venus is inexplicably draining the star of power. According to scientists, an “instant ice age” is all but inevitable within a few decades. All the other stars in proximity to the sun seem to be suffering with the same affliction—except Tau Ceti. An unwilling last-minute replacement as part of a three-person mission heading to Tau Ceti in hopes of finding an answer, Ryland finds himself awakening from an induced coma on the spaceship with two dead crewmates and a spotty memory. With time running out for humankind, he discovers an alien spacecraft in the vicinity of his ship with a strange traveler on a similar quest. Although hard scientific speculation fuels the storyline, the real power lies in the many jaw-dropping plot twists, the relentless tension, and the extraordinary dynamic between Ryland and the alien (whom he nicknames Rocky because of its carapace of oxidized minerals and metallic alloy bones). Readers may find themselves consuming this emotionally intense and thematically profound novel in one stay-up-all-night-until-your-eyes-bleed sitting.
An unforgettable story of survival and the power of friendship—nothing short of a science-fiction masterwork.Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-13520-4
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2021
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
A disarmingly heartfelt space adventure that dares to suggest genocide might be a bad business.
When a bunch of corporate assholes mark their planet for destruction, a garage band of colonists must defend their home world with the power of rock.
Slightly sidestepping his frenetic litRPG—literary role-playing game—doorstoppers, here Dinniman takes on capitalism, propaganda, xenophobia, and violence as entertainment. Thankfully for readers, it’s all wrapped in the usual profane, adolescent humor, and SF readers will have a ball. A couple of hundred years after they left Earth, the inhabitants of the interstellar colony of New Sonora weren’t expecting much in the way of new threats, especially after a mysterious illness killed almost everyone between the ages of 30 and 60. That disaster left only the young and the old on the populated planet, where farming is enabled by highly accelerated AI and people are generally cool with each other. But when drummer Oliver Lewis stumbles across a foul-mouthed killer mech piloted by a child, he realizes that something’s definitely fishy. Earth, it seems, has classified the New Sonorans as non-human and scheduled their destruction as a paid, five-day combat game. Apex Industries, led by lead mercenary Eli Opel, has reverse-engineered Ender’s Game and is turning loose its players with real bullets and bombs on the population of New Sonora. The resistance is a weird bunch, led by proto-slacker Oliver; his little sister, Lulu; and his ex-girlfriend, documentary filmmaker and burgeoning revolutionary Rosita Zapatero, as well as the other members of Oliver’s band, the Rhythm Mafia. Thankfully, they also have Roger, the last functioning AI on the planet, though Oliver’s grandfather permanently programmed it to nannybot mode as a dying joke. Call the book overlong—the battle scenes often feel like watching someone play a videogame—but the humor and the execution are cutting without being mean and there’s almost always a point.
A disarmingly heartfelt space adventure that dares to suggest genocide might be a bad business.Pub Date: Feb. 10, 2026
ISBN: 9780593820308
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Ace/Berkley
Review Posted Online: Dec. 12, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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