Prototype [Paperback]

Brian Hodge (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 5, 1996

Meeting an injured man in the hospital who warded off three attackers, Adrienne finds her life forever changed by Clay, a genetically engineered individual who has been programmed to be one of the most dangerous people on earth.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This sixth novel from underappreciated horror writer Brian Hodge uses the premise of a superstrong, superviolent loner with a chromosome anomaly to ask how Nietzsche's Übermensch might fare in pre-apocalyptic America. The story's central irony is that the hero is oddly powerless: he has an artist's temperament--his few friends are reclusive underground artists--and is deeply self-doubting. He longs to know his nature and purpose as a monster, so he turns first to psychotherapy and hypnosis, then to a search for others of his kind. His companions in this quest are a bisexual psychologist and her female lover (a cultural anthropologist studying "contemporary tribes of discontent and disillusion"). The plot is a bit thin, but the imagery and ideas are intriguing--albeit self-consciously postmodern--and the characters are eerily convincing as outsiders to a society they condemn for its "rule by the mediocre."

From the Publisher

Clay is the prototype, the first of many, programmed with a genetic code that turns him from an ordinary man into a murderous monster. Adrienne, a young psychologist, found him in a Tempe hospital, his hands splintered from the brutal beating he had inflicted on three men who had tried to mug him. To her, he was the most unusual John Doe, but she got his name. Then, she got his past. And then, she discovered the bizarre genetic abnormality in his blood, the abnormality that made him one of the most dangerous creatures on earth.

Desperate to escape the evil in his genes, Clay turns to Adrienne and trusts her with his unfortunate history, a sad world of misfits and prodigies. But as he struggles for peace, both of them move further into the darkness, closer to the man who knows Clay's secret and knows the others in the world just like him.

Now, traveling across country, Clay and Adrienne grapple with their longings and their hope, guided only by the map written in Clay's blood. And Adrienne may be Clay's savior or his next victim.

Hodge has written a taut, suspenseful tale of psychological horror that stretches the boundaries of the contemporary horror novel.

Product Details

• Paperback: 386 pages
• Publisher: Dell (February 5, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0440216281
• ISBN-13: 978-0440216285
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,666,485 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brace Yourself for Reality, January 10, 2001

By 

"jyn" (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Prototype (Paperback)

On the surface this story seems like your average tale of "horror", thanks to a synopsis that can only give you the gist while still keeping you interested. However, lightweights beware! This is a thinking person's novel. Hodge is a powerful writer and his subject matter is not to be taken lightly. Naysayers may call it "depressing", but this book has a strong hold on reality, which makes it less Stephen King and more Poppy Z. Brite. Its the reality of how people really are and how everyone struggles with the myth of "happily ever after". The protagonist, Clay, is deeply flawed and sometimes unlikable......but who isn't?! If you like philosophy as much as you like fiction I suggest you give this one a shot. Brian Hodge is a name to keep an eye out for. He translates disillusionment and questioning that goes straight to the heart.

1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Crushing. The best., May 14, 2011

By 

Ed_Colver1967 - See all my reviews

This review is from: Prototype (Kindle Edition)

The best post-modern horror novel I've ever read. Maybe the best horror novel. Maybe even the best novel period. BUY THIS.