GermLine [Hardcover]

Nelson Erlick (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2003

In gene therapy, the damaged or defective chromosomes of an individual patient are corrected by the addition of new genes introduced into the patient's DNA. This is a dangerous and controversial technique, on the cutting edge of medical science. "GermLine" gene therapy is even more radical. By altering the reproductive cells, the germ cells, of a single individual, you can forever change the genetic makeup of that person--and all of his or her future descendants!

But who should control such an awesome power? The government? The medical establishment? Or a hidden conspiracy of the rich and powerful?

Dr. Kevin Kincaid, a brilliant scientist whose life has been scarred by personal tragedy, is on the verge of a major breakthrough. After years of research and experimentation, he has developed a biological vector capable of introducing new genes into the germ cells of unborn children while they are still in their mothers' wombs. With this vector, doctors will be able to eradicate genetic diseases such as cystic fibrosis and Down syndrome for all generations to come.

But Kincaid's discovery also raises the specter of wholesale genetic engineering, of changing the very nature of humanity itself, which attracts the attention of dangerous forces, including a ruthless government agency, an international conspiracy of wealthy industrialists, and radical terrorists who will stop at nothing, including murder, to keep Kincaid's breakthrough from transforming the world as we know it.

Soon the targeted scientist finds himself at the center of a covert war to control the future of human evolution. Betrayed and deceived by those closest to him, he can trust no one-not even a mysterious woman who bears an uncanny resemblance to his long-dead wife. . . .

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The ramifications of gene therapy are explored in clumsy, ham-fisted fashion in this debut novel, a scientific thriller pitting a brilliant geneticist against the Collaborate, a sinister group of government-funded industrialists. The novel opens with Dr. Kevin Kincaid taking his company's gene therapy technique to the public in a series of touchy-feely commercials that outline his ability to eliminate several deadly diseases. But Collaborate member E. Dixon Loring is monitoring Kincaid's efforts as he develops a final crucial gene-transporting sequence that would allow Loring and his boss, Eric Bertram, to create a de facto dictatorship based on a comprehensive eugenics program. The group's contact with Kincaid is a beautiful journalist named Helen Morgan, who has been done over to resemble Kincaid's late wife, who died in a fire along with his two young children. Erlick, a former surgeon and researcher, explains the science in exhaustive detail, bombarding the reader with acronyms and lengthy lectures on DNA and biotechnology. The complicated genetic material stands in stark contrast to a clich‚-ridden plot featuring a series of ludicrous chase scenes as well as a lurid subplot that portrays the results of a flawed gene therapy program run amok. Though Erlick outlines some of the intriguing possibilities and perils of gene therapy, readers will be hard-pressed to stay the course.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Spellbinding! Just as in Gattica, the science is valid and not only could happen, but will happen if we as a society do not take steps to prevent it. This book is a must-read for anyone who thinks that our scientific advances in genetics will only be used to treat diseases. The issues are complex and this book deals with them from all sides. An outstanding read!"-W. French Anderson, M.D., Director, Gene Therapy Laboratories, "The Father of Gene Therapy"

"The double helix meets the double cross in GermLine. Erlick has found a way to bring his readers to the cusp of genetic research-its reality, its potential, and its inability to alter the fundamentals of human motivation and behavior. When he intends to be accurate about the state of genetic research, Erlick is, and he makes the field understandable to readers. When he plays with the future, Erlick does so deftly, weaving scientific fiction, character and plot. Much of the novel is set, evocatively, in Philadelphia, where advances in genetic research and missteps are the stuff of daily life. But science is the bonus of the book, and this novel should be read for its intrigue and suspense."-Jeffrey C. Lerner, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer, Center Director, AHRQ Evidence-based Practice Center

"An electrifying read from beginning to end. Dr. Erlick successfully delivers a riveting story while dealing with some of the major medical-ethical issues we're looking at now and for the future. Bravo!"-Margaret Cary MD MBA MPH, Former Presidential appointee, Coauthor Telemedicine and Telehealth: Principles, Policies, Performance and Pitfall

"Erlick makes the promise-and the threat-of radical gene therapy eerily plausible. GermLine has been genetically engineered for maximum suspense and authenticity."-Greg Cox, New York Times bestselling author of The Eugenics Wars

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Forge Books; First Edition edition (January 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 076530094X
• ISBN-13: 978-0765300942
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,521,705 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Stopping At Page 73, April 4, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: GermLine (Hardcover)

I've given it my best, read 73 pages and I'm putting this book away now. Not going to read it. I haven't yet encountered a well developed or believable character. The character motivations are either trite or non existant. So far we have been in about a dozen different scenes and few tie together or give me a sense of supporting the direction of the book. Chapter One is Titled "Part One The First Component -- Year 6 of the Plan," Chapter Two is Titled "Part Two The Second Component -- Year 7 of the Plan," Chapter Three is Titled "Part Three The Final Component--Year 17 of the Plan" which helped me not at all in figuring out what is going on. I just flipped through the rest of the book to see if it continued to jump around in Years of the Plan and Components and these references never appear again; the rest of the chapters have simple chapter numbers. Many chapters start with a date, but no year so I can't figure out the sequence of things. Others start with a day of the week, no date, no year. Lost me. As long as I'm complaining, I love the science in novels like this but the author didn't help me enjoy it in this book. He explains the simplest aspects, but then dumps in a bunch of what looks to me like pure blather. I have to quote this, "A physics-based computational approach, lad. Totally unique. My protien prediction software program uses multibody interactions for an expansion of the free energy based on the meolecular relative weight, as determined by the Z-score optimization, conformational space annealing methodology, and multiple linear regression. This allows hierarchical ab initio prediction of a protein's structure. Even using a Q8 refined accuracy index -- the standard's only a Q3 -- my program's perfect." Okay, so this bit of dialogue goes totally unexplained to me as a layperson. I have no idea why this is important. In conclusion, find another book.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Genetic engineering pushed front and center, January 3, 2003

By 

Joseph Haschka (Glendale, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: GermLine (Hardcover)

GERMLINE by Dr. Nelson Erlick is a provocative medical thriller that examines the plausible future of gene therapy and genetic engineering. Briefly summarized, the "Collaborate" is a global consortium of financial and scientific corporations backing a plan for advanced gene therapy based on a technology that can introduce whole chromosomes into the developing human fetus in order to correct genetic abnormalities. The chief protagonist of the story, Dr. Kevin Kincaid, is the brilliant physician-researcher employed by a Collaborate health care and research entity, the Benjamin Franklin Healthcare Network (BFHN), to create and perfect the protein vector, HACV.V7 that inserts the new genetic material into the targeted germ cells. Fearing monopolistic abuse of the technology, two organizations oppose Collaborate and seek to acquire V7's design: the Defense Advanced Research Progects Agency (DARPA - a very real government body) and the Anti-Genetic Action Committee (AntiGen).

GERMLINE's premise is intriguing, the action is occasionally exciting, and the dialog is well done for a "debut novel". However, the book has several rough edges that allow me to award only 3 stars.

There's an excess of characters that significantly impact the storyline: Kincaid, Frederick Grayson (the head of BFHN), Eric Bertram (Chairman of Collaborate), Dixon Loring (Bertram's megalomaniacal deputy), Trent McGovern (head of AntiGen), Kristin Brocks (DARPA's security chief), Helen/Tracy Bergmann (of AntiGen), Dr. Roderick Stevenson (Chief Pathologist at the Collaborate's isolated research complex, Delphi), Marguerite Moraes (at Delphi), and Blount (a Collaborate thug). By my count, four or five of these players could have been left on the cutting room floor, thus streamlining an already complex plot.

Background information provides depth and realism to fiction. As an award-winning researcher and ex-surgeon, Dr. Erlick is well positioned to provide such. However, perhaps he went over the top. For example, when referring to the neurotransmitter glutamate, a character mentions APMA-kinate receptors, voltage-independent synaptic responses, voltage-dependent NMDA-receptors, and metabotropic-subtype receptors. Or, regarding certain custom-created genes:

"We back-coded for the genes ... (placing) them with gene regulators on the q arm of our designer chromosome, position 23q11 through 23q14 ..."

Such esoterica could be understood, I'm sure, by workers in the field. But I gather that Erlick desires a wider readership; your average reader's eyes may glaze over.

I personally was totally unsympathetic towards the "hero" of the story, Kincaid. Sure, at the very beginning his wife and two children are murdered. However, the author never established for the reader a close relationship between the four, so it was hard to care. Kevin was simply the brilliant physician robot wound up and sent on his way to engage the Bad Guys. And Kevin's relationship with Helen/Tracy was forced all the way to the end.

Lastly, I suspect that GERMLINE's specter of gene therapy going awry is the author's personal apprehension. Unfortunately, sinister global conspiracies in fiction are tricky constructs. They're only sinister if the general consensus holds them to be so, like the nuclear Armageddon brought on by KGB plotters so popular in Cold War potboilers. In GERMLINE's case, the maleficence of the conspiracy is perhaps subjective and not to be shared by all.

I think additional editing could lift this thriller to the 4-star level, and I believe Erlick has a viable career as a fiction writer ahead of him if he elects to pursue it.

(Note: This review is of an advance uncorrected proof in the publisher's binding sent to me by the author, who has since informed me that the book has undergone some editing.)

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars I tried but couldn't finish either...., December 29, 2004

By 

Mark J. Barton (Cleveland, OH-The North Coast!) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: GermLine (Hardcover)

I read 250 pages and pitched it. Every page is a new city, new scene, new character.....And.....the story just never goes anywhere. There's a good premise here but the writer and publisher need to re-work this thing! In short: Don't bother...keep looking.