Double Helix, A Novel [Paperback]

Nancy Parker (Author), Nancy A. Parker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 24, 2000

With an assist from the Human Genome Project, Vikon Corporation, a bioengineering company on the island of Grenada in the Eastern Caribbean, has deciphered the key in our DNA to human aging - literally the cure for everything. Now operating beyond all US government and industry regulation, Vikon, headed by eugenicist Anthony Beecher, is about to transform a select group of humans into something altogether new - Homo Sapiens Immortalis. And no one can stop him.

High-tech journalist Kate Lipton wades into this high-stakes thicket unwittingly amid rumors of a group of AIDS sufferers who have disappeared after traveling to Grenada in search of a miracle cure. She soon learns Anthony Beecher will stop at nothing to derail her investigation and prevent her exposing Vikon's activities; for Beecher, the stakes are financially and philosophically stratospheric.

Anchored off Vikon's compound, Kate and partner Jack Sullivan discover Vikon's yacht, the Chimera, ferrying a stream of Fortune-500 types between the airport and Vikon's Grenadian lab. With Vikon security closing in and answers still elusive, she must finally resort to high-tech system hacking to uncover the truth.

If the key to human immortality is unravelled, can and should that genie be put back in its bottle? Who should receive the immortality treatment, and who should decide? DOUBLE HELIX grapples with thorny questions, issues of great relevance to twenty-first century humankind in the age of genetic discovery. For in truth, the key to our species immortality may well be at hand.

Product Details

• Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: Ashland Hills Pr; 1st edition (January 24, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0964227215
• ISBN-13: 978-0964227217
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,286,976 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another intelligent high-tech thriller from Nancy Parker, December 5, 2001

By 

LuAnn Houda (Spokane, Washington) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Double Helix, A Novel (Paperback)

Double Helix was a fascinating view into gene research, sailing and computers, enveloped in a heart-stopping tale of suspense.
I had previously been fairly uninterested in any of these three topics, but had enjoyed her previous novel so much that I gave
it a try. Two days later I emerged from this intelligently written book, thoroughly entertained, wiser and with a stronger sense of ethics. Ms. Parker is able to deliver plenty of
realistic evil in her thrillers, but with human values inherent in the main characters in a way that is uplifting and never "preachy". This is a great read from a great story teller.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars sci-future-fact thriller, September 13, 2010

By 

snappy - See all my reviews

This review is from: Double Helix, A Novel (Paperback)

Coming soon to a lab near you, gene cut and paste! Check out the cover of Science News Sept'10 for an illustration of the science behind this fast paced thriller. Saw the Sci-News cover after just having finished the book and thought "it's here!" Now I'm thinking Double Helix isn't the least fantastic-the bad guy's motive rings true(immorallity coupled with high ideals-and not for the first time). NP really thought this one through and plays out the thrills with tight pacing-no wasted moves. Great read, great fun! And scarier for being right on. I like the sensible breaks for sandwiches and swims, rest and reality unlike the books the frachize boys write-headlong adrenalin. Then-wham, danger ramps up and I'm hooked. NP involved me in Kate Lipton's conviction that she has to take the bad guy down. Somebody had to. Take the dolphins seriously, been there. Both DH and Omega Transmissions are "heads-up" entertainment.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A winner out of the gate!, March 20, 2000

By 

C Lee Paris (Williams, Oregon) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Double Helix, A Novel (Paperback)

Parker's style is riveting, her characters evocative and the tale mesmerizing. The adventures of Kate Lipton and Jack Sullivan will quickly draw you in, bring you along on their sailing adventures, and leave you racing to get to the bottom of Parker's spellbinding mystery. This is one author to save a shelf for in your library of favorites!