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Ancestor: A Novel [Hardcover]

Scott Sigler
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (223 customer reviews)


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Book Description

June 22, 2010
“The ancestors are out there…you have to believe me.”

From acclaimed author Scott Sigler—New York Times bestselling creator of Infected and Contagious—comes a tale of genetic experimentation’s worst nightmare come true.
 
Every five minutes, a transplant candidate dies while waiting for a heart, a liver, a kidney.  Imagine a technology that could provide those life-saving transplant organs for a nominal fee ... and imagine what a company would do to get a monopoly on that technology.
 
On a remote island in the Canadian Arctic, PJ Colding leads a group of geneticists who have discovered this holy grail of medicine. By reverse-engineering the genomes of thousands of mammals, Colding's team has dialed back the evolutionary clock to re-create humankind’s common ancestor. The method? Illegal. The result? A computer-engineered living creature, an animal whose organs can be implanted in any person, and with no chance of transplant rejection.
 
There's just one problem: these ancestors are not the docile herd animals that Colding's team envisioned. Instead, Colding’s work has given birth to something big, something evil.
 
With these killer creatures on the prowl, Colding and the woman he loves must fight to survive — even as government agents close in to shut the project down, and the deep-pocketed company backing this research proves to have its own cold-blooded agenda.  
 
As the creators become the prey in the ultimate battle for survival, Scott Sigler takes readers on the ultimate thrill-ride—and offers a chilling cautionary account of what can happen when hubris, greed, and madness drive scientific experimentation past the brink of reason.


Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In Sigler's timely tale of science run amok, Genada, a renegade biotech firm, is striving to synthesize a proto-mammal similar to the prehistoric entity that all mammalian life sprang from as a source of transplantable organs that the human body won't reject. Pressured for results before the government shuts down her lab, the firm's lead medico, Liu Jian Den, introduces something unorthodox into the creature's genome. The result: oversized and ravenously hungry embryos that eat their way out of the bovine wombs incubating them. A small band of scientists wind up trapped with the creatures on a Lake Superior island, where they become the prey of predators that pose a threat to life as we know it. Sigler (Contagious) stuffs his story with an overabundance of speculative science, but the cinematic pacing keeps the action relentless and suspenseful. Its many pulpy flourishes notwithstanding, this is that rare horror B-movie of a thriller that compels reading until the final page. 10–15-city author tour. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Sigler, the author of the splendid alien-invasion thrillers Infected (2008) and Contagious (2009), veers off into new territory, with a tremendously entertaining horror novel about a motley group of genetic researchers, their maniacal sponsor, and the stalwart government agent who’s determined to shut them down. The premise is thought-provoking: the researchers are trying to engineer an ancient human ancestor so it can be bred and its organs harvested for transplantation. The researchers get their ancestor, but let’s just say they get a bit more than they bargained for. Soon blood and bedlam are everywhere on a small island in Lake Superior. Sigler populates the novel with a lively cast of characters (unlike many thrillers, the heroes are as interesting as the villains), and the action is virtually nonstop—and, at times, quite graphic. If you combined Michael Crichton’s scientific exploration with Matthew Reilly’s lightning-fast pace and colorful characters, you might get something that feels like this book, which, incidentally, would make a great movie. --David Pitt

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 432 pages
  • Publisher: Crown; 1 edition (June 22, 2010)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0307406334
  • ISBN-13: 978-0307406330
  • Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 1.4 x 9.6 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (223 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #210,024 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

New York Times best-selling novelist Scott Sigler is the author of NOCTURNAL, ANCESTOR, INFECTED and CONTAGIOUS, hardcover thrillers from Crown Publishing; and the co-founder of Dark Øverlord Media, which publishes his Galactic Football League series (THE ROOKIE, THE STARTER, THE ALL-PRO and THE MVP).

Before he was published, Scott built a large online following by giving away his self-recorded audiobooks as free, serialized podcasts. His loyal fans, who named themselves "Junkies," have downloaded over eight million individual episodes of his stories and interact daily with Scott and each other in the social media space.

Scott reinvented book publishing when he released EARTHCORE as the world's first "podcast-only" novel. Released in twenty weekly episodes, EARTHCORE harkened back to the days of serialized radio fiction. His innovative use of technology puts him at the forefront of modern-day publishing and has garnered brand-name exposure among hundreds of thousands of fiction fans and technology buffs.

He's been covered in Time Magazine, the Washington Post, the New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, Entertainment Weekly, Publisher's Weekly, The Huffington Post, Business Week and Fangoria. He still records his own audiobooks and gives away every story - for free - to his Junkies at www.ScottSigler.com.

A Michigan native, Scott lives in San Francisco with his wife.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
41 of 43 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars "Ancestor" gets an upgrade May 2, 2010
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This review os for the new edition of "Ancestor," due out June 22, 2010. You can pre-order now!
I listened to the original podcast of "Ancestor" some time ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. This version (June 22, 2010) is even better.

The basic premise is that a company has funded a project to create an animal that would be bred for organ transplantation. An 'ancestor' that would avoid the problems of rejection by combining genes from many, many mammalian species - bot halive and extinc. A fine, humanitarian mission. Of course, when you have huge amounts of money on the line add human egos and frailties and put that in a pressure cooker, bad things are sure to happen.

The plot is tighter in this version and even though there's plenty of science, it doesn't bog down the action. Once I had a day off, I finished the final two-thirds of the book in one day.

Mr. Sigler creates facinating characters and great dialog. He's at the top of his game here. There are villains and monsters and heros -- all fully fleshed out so that you can't wait to find out who lives and who meets with (a sometimes grisly) death. No, I won't spoil the suspense, you have to read it for yourselves.

If you like action, if you like science fiction, if you like some blood and gore with your stories -- Mr. Sigler is your author (and FDO) and the new "Ancestor" is a must-have. If you don't already have "Infected" and "Contagious" go ahead and get all three, Amazon has a deal that will save you some $$ and you will love these books.
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32 of 36 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Ancestor rules! April 1, 2007
Format:Paperback
If you are a fan of science fiction monsters then you seriously owe it to yourself to check out Scott Sigler's Ancestor. Everything starts with real science, taken just a step or two further. Then come the crazy characters, and THEN come the Ancestors, one of the most original science fiction monsters I've read about in a long time. You'll never look at cows the same way again. I absolutely loved this book.
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70 of 84 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Action from Start to Finish April 1, 2007
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
What I love about Scott Sigler's stories is that they grab your attention and don't let go until you close the book. Creative characters, blood thirsty monsters and plot twists that would make Stephen King proud! This is a book to add to your library! Get it now.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars The premise is horrifyingly bad science
I have not read this book, so I have given it 4 stars so as not to affect the average rating. Most reviewers have given it 4 or 5 stars, so it's probably interesting. Read more
Published 19 days ago by dmm
5.0 out of 5 stars Evil personified
It was very different but very entertaining. The story line was clever and believable. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys science fiction
Published 1 month ago by Richard W. Rissmiller
5.0 out of 5 stars Such a Fun Read
Another great story by Scott. I couldn't stop turning pages until I had to sleep or work. I love these kind of stories and Scott has brought me a favorite. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Not Happy
5.0 out of 5 stars MUST READ
I started listening to the audio book and just couldn't get into it. I went to the library and got the REAL book. THIS time, once I started I couldn't put it down. Read more
Published 1 month ago by M. J. Hartzell
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Novelist.
I first heard of this author from listening to the Joe Rogan Experience. And I used amazon as a rating system to see which of his books to read (listen to) first. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Steve
5.0 out of 5 stars Very Impressed
Had never heard of this author but read a couple of his books and was very impressed
with the timeliness of his books
Published 2 months ago by Phyllis Thompson
5.0 out of 5 stars Needs a sequel
Have read it twice and it still captivates with its fast pace, genetic monstrosities, sudden changes, and some really big shark toothed killer cow babies
Published 3 months ago by TCB CAFE
5.0 out of 5 stars Exciting book!
I had a great time reading this book. It's well written and hard to put down. It had me on the edge of my seat so to speak. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Joseph M. Barney
5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect
Scary as always -- this guy knows how to CREEP YOU OUT - just book for advanced Young Adult horror buffs. Pretty intense though , R 17ish
Published 4 months ago by Teresa
5.0 out of 5 stars One of my favorite Sigler books!
Desperately looking for something to read before I boarded a plane, I re-downloaded this book from my kindle cloud. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Gwen Peters
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Topic From this Discussion
hey what about your international fans? Be the first to reply
wtf the epilogue
Christina. It is possible that squirrels are too stupid to make any sense. In this case, however, the squirrel was too stupid to avoid Jian's "baby." Colding buried Jian. She had already impregnated herself. The rapid growth rate allowed the baby to gestate, and then -- like the fetus... Read more
Apr 19, 2011 by Scott C. Sigler |  See all 5 posts
Buying Less Books? Be the first to reply
Now available on Audible.com Be the first to reply
Let's put this on the NYT bestseller list!
There's even a pre-order contest to sweeten the pot! With three not-available-anywhere items and at least 10 great books from Sigler and other authors! There are 10 prize packs, and all you need to do to enter is pre-order, then email in proof of pre-order!

Check it out... Read more
May 3, 2010 by A. Kovacs |  See all 2 posts
Scott steps up
I know- I'm looking forward to this being released. I've listened to the podcast & loved it, but I'd prefer a paper version to re-read. Podcasts are awesome but take so long to listen to... plus I couldn't listen to it at my main job, which is where I do most of my reading.
Sep 28, 2009 by ChibiNeko |  See all 2 posts
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