Crime Zero: A Novel [Hardcover]

Michael Cordy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 23, 1999

To Put an End to Crime once and for all, a powerful cabal of scientists, politicians, and law-enforcement officials put forth Project Conscience. One FBI psychologist sees the dangers -- and is soon plunged into a terrifying conspiracy, whose outcome threatens to alter the course of human evolution itself.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In his second novel, Cordy revisits the genetics motif of his notable debut, The Miracle Strain, this time envisioning a chilling near future when a steely female FBI director and her sycophant virologist plot to alter human biogenetics and create a crime-free, female Utopia. In the year 2008, forensic psychologist Luke Decker, director of the behavioral sciences division of the FBI academy at Quantico, is at odds with his boss, FBI director Madeline Naylor, who believes criminals are genetically predetermined, not shaped by social conditioning. Decker is surprised to discover that his former lover, the brilliant geneticist Dr. Kathy Kerr, is now working for a California biotech lab. In collaboration with Naylor and her worshipful accomplice, Dr. Alice Prince, Kerr is conducting super-secret research to alter the genomes of males in hopes of curtailing their inborn violent tendencies. When Kerr is told that her theories have been implemented already, in a covert study in which prisoners were subjected to a lethal early strain of her genetic magic bullet, she realizes she's being used. Although the furtive trial caused many prisoners' deaths, it has also drastically reduced violent crime in L.A. for close to a decade. Asked to endorse the illegal study to swing the upcoming election in favor of the first female presidential candidate, Kerr refuses to join in the coverup and is marked for death. Meanwhile, Decker visits San Quentin, where a condemned serial killer gives him some very bad news. Kerr, now romantically reunited with Decker, confirms this frightening fact with DNA testing, and suspense heightens with the worldwide dissemination of a doomsday virus. Showing more twists than a spiraling double-helix of human DNA, the plot has rough edges and loose ends, but these are minor inconsistencies in Cordy's futuristic and timely gender-bender. Agent, David Chalfont. (July)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Genetics figured in Cordy's debut, The Miracle Strain, so it's hardly surprising to see it surface again here. In the near-future, scientists have found a way to isolate the genes that cause violent behavior in men, and a project to alter the genetic makeup of serious offenders is underway. Then FBI forensics specialist Luke Decker discovers that the men behind the project are up to no good.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 432 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow; 1st edition (June 23, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 068815509X
• ISBN-13: 978-0688155094
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,221,043 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantistically Realistic, September 12, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Crime Zero: A Novel (Hardcover)

This book is excellent. If you have read Miracle Strain I would say Crime Zero might just pip it to the post.

If you can imagine that potentially the gene responsible for crime can be modified to create pasive individuals and no violence among peoples and countries. Ok then imagine that this could also wipe out certain races or class of people. Scary thoughts.

Crime Zero actually becomes incredibly real. Rogue geneticists have identified the gene and are intent on creating a world of stability and peace (nothing wrong with that you say). But in doing this it will involve a number of deaths (millions) generations wiped out.

Only one person can stop the genocide and she created the original gene modifications necessary but she is being shut down.

A very very good read.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Chilling, August 2, 2004

By 

Jedidiah Palosaari "Not My Real Name" (Fes, Morocco) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Crime Zero: A Novel (Mass Market Paperback)

Especially that last line.

I picked this up because I was thirsting for some science fiction, and there was pretty slim pickings in the library. I wasn't expecting much. I was glad to be disappointed.

Cordy writes convincing characters, interweaving future science possibilities with practical life. But the best part of the novel is dealing with the philosophical issues of predestination and Arminianism, nature vs. nurture. The best of science fiction causes us to think beyond our paradigms, and this is no exception. To what extent do criminals, or any of us, choose our errors? Even when we do not choose, are we still responsible? It would be easy to simply bring up these issues through dialogue between the characters. Instead, Cordy discusses the issues through the characters' lives, and the plot of the book.

I strongly recommend you have snacks and drinks already prepared before beginning the book. I was unable to put it down after I began. Cordy provides the realism of science and the fantasy of the genre to weave a tale that encompasses the reader's reality, if only for a few hours.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not much fun, August 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Crime Zero: A Novel (Hardcover)

A future battle of the sexes? Could have been fun. But this vision of the future isn't convincing enough to be entertaining, and the lifeless, flat characters are utterly unabsorbing. A short thriller that never develops its theme in an interesting way.