Customer Reviews

Raising Abel

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1 star:		(2)

 

 

Paleoanthropologist Dr. Veronica Tremain is stunned when the FBI informs her that her brother Dr. Scott Ferris was tortured before being burned to death. Scott's girlfriend Dr. Amanda Alexander is also brutally killed with the same M.O. Around the globe, other scientists have been viciously slain too. The only non-scientist among the dead is Elizabeth Carter, employed by the Atlanta based Apostolic Evangelical Church of the Salvation. She was killed to prevent her from talking to FBI agent Joe Hanson about her boss, televangelist Billy Barnes Brown holding a list of twenty-five scientists including three murder victims.

FBI Agent John Ramsey investigates the Carter homicide while Joe continues to look into the dead scientists. Joe finds Veronica constantly in his face as she continues her quest to learn why her brother died. Veronica meets two associates of her sibling who also wonder and worry about the death of Scott. The trio accompanied by Abel, the son of Amanda and Scott, flee for their lives not knowing that it is the child's uniqueness that makes him the target of the murderous zealots.

RAISING ABEL is an exciting scientific thriller that uses genetic engineering as the underlying theme for a global conspiracy. The story line remains in high gear throughout the tale as even simplified scientific explanation is cleverly blending into the plot without stopping the action for a lecture. Though the final disclosure seems too insignificant for the murder count, readers will delight in the latest offering of W. Michael Gear and Kathleen O'Neal Gear.

Harriet Klausner

If you enjoy medical thrillers/suspense/mystery books, you'll love this book. I had a hard time putting it down. The twists and turns really hold your interest and the science in it is well explained so it doesn't slow the story down. And with all this is going on today w/genetics and DNA it's a very timely thriller.

I picked this book up one day just wandering around the bookstore. I was getting a bit tired of reading the same old stuff and I wanted something with a new twist to it. I'm one of those people that almost immediately puts the book back on the shelf if I read "police detective so-and-so" or "news reporter so-and-so" because there's just so many of them! Anyway, this book tweaked my interest after reading the back. I had already read two of the Gear's books before (People of the Wolf and People of the Fire) and really enjoyed them so I figured I would give this one a try. Wow. It was great! I never got bored reading this. They did a great job of making me want to know what was going on, who was doing what, and what would happen next. If you're looking for something different and new, read this. A fair warning, though: If you are a very religious person, this may offend you. I'm not so it didn't bother me. I found the whole idea very interesting and happen to agree with most of it. I just finished it so it's still very fresh, but I believe this one's going down as one of my favorite books. Swan Song by Robert Mccammon still tops that list, though.

By now you know the subject of this intelligent thriller, so I'll just add some parenthetical comments. For one thing,these two authors work together seamlessly,but they've had lots of practice,as this is their 14th joint endeavor.

Besides an absorbing plot that sugar-coats a lot of fascinating science, the characters they care to develop compel your interest and actually do change in striking ways. One of the bad guys --Paxton--also turns in a novel performance as an ex-hero with a conscience.

"Raising Abel"'s true "villain" is religious zealotry, the kind that spurs book-burning and torture for people who voice unacceptable opinions. The authors don't hesitate to paint these fanatics as either crazy ignoramuses, or power-mad hypocrites. (See comments by the critic who can't spell "bigoted" and can't get his verbs straight, and you get the idea.)

One amazing aspect is the book's length. it runs to almost 600 pages, but you won't be tempted to skip a single scene. If you like the story as much as I did, you'll eat up Lincoln Child's & Douglas J. Preston's "The Ice Limit" and "Rip Tide." Am I planning to read the Gears' other books? You bet!

"Raising Abel" doesn't waste any time delving into the moral issues surrounding genetic manipulation and cloning. And what a timely book, what with the cloning matters that are springing up in the media every day.

A small group of secretive genetic scientists are hell-bent on proving Creationists wrong by cultivating DNA from a 60,000 year old neandertal found frozen in ice in arctic wastelands, perfectly preserved. Hypothetically, this idea isn't that farfetched. But when the scientists are found brutally tortured and murdered, the mystery begins!

The husband and wife team of Michael and Kathleen Gear write a believable and thrilling journey into the ethics of DNA replication, the moral quandary that comes with it, and manages to deliver a brilliantly written slam-bang novel that doesn't relent for any of its nearly 600 pages. While obviously not fans of the "religious right", as the characters in the novel are fairly stereotypical, the Gears still thrill with "Raising Abel". This one will make it onto my "best reads" list, for sure!

This is the story of four year old boy who discovers who he is and why evil people are murdering those around him and trying to kill him. He (and his stuffed toy Chaser) are at the center of a well written and engaging story.

At times it feels like a murder mystery, and at other times like a science class. Nonetheless it all fits together in a very entertaining package. The main evil characters are deluded fanatics who have no idea about genuine Christianity, but rather are religious nuts. Indeed, there are too many corrupt people in church! Will probably offend those who believe in a young earth, or those not open to science concepts or possibilities.

Beware, you may think that you know where this story is headed, but there are unexpected twists and turns. It held my attenton right down to the end. Good reading.

You know those science articles on page2 of the A section of the newspaper that you always mean to read but somehow skip? You know, the ones about how physical anthropologists have discovered that there really WAS an Eve, or that Ghengis Kahn is directly related to one third of Asia Minor, or that Neanderthals weren't a separate race but got absorbed into Homo Sapiens? Well, cross those stories with pot shots at several flavors of fanatic (Christian, Native American, and Marxist) fervor, mix with debate about cloning and you have this up to the minute science thriller.

The protagonists in this novel are: the unwary (duped) collegue
Bryce Johnson, the grieving family member Veronica Tremaine, and an unknowing child/victem, Abel. Supporting cast includes the FBI, a multinational physical anthropological research group, and intrepid reporters. The Antagonists are a cardboard target: a Christian Fundamentalist group.

It's a good read with current anthropological debates and findings slipped easily into the text. The Gears have done a better job of characterization of their protagonists and plotting in this novel than I have read in their other novels. But, the characters of the Antagonists are not sufficiently developed to show the complexity of the issues that are addressed in this novel. While they based their characterization of the antagonists on tabloid headlines, they took the easy way out and moved from writing a good novel to an average novel that pits science against cardboard characters and simplistic views.But their writing is still good enough to engage the reader into caring for the protagonists. Worth reading, and enjoyable.

First off I am going to nominate the Gears' as one of the most underrated writing duos in existence. The consistent excellence of their novels combined with the amount of research and information they pack into them make them two of the best thriller writers around. Having said all that Raising Abel continues this tradition in admirable fashion. Strong, believable and sympathetic characters, page-turning suspense, and lots and lots of genetic information explained in an easily comprehensive style make this a cut above even the better thrillers on the market.Combined with the moral and ethical implications of the protagonists experiments, this book has all the ingredients of a great page-turning thriller. If you are looking for something a bit more stimulating and entertaining than the DaVinci Code- then try Raising Abel. You will not be disappointed

While this book is a work of fiction, Gear keeps just enough fact running throughout to make it believable, very believable. His characters act and react just like people we all know, love, and hate, and they remain true to character, behaving just as we would expect them to. When readers are finished reading this book, they will have a lot to think about.

RAISING ABEL is riveting reading! Well researched & very well written. Filled with scientific data about the history of cloning, anthropology & Creationism vs Evolution. It has lots of delicious red herrings & action as well as plausible, healthy personal growth, as well as a fascinating glimpse into how our world is experienced from another sentient being's point of view.

Engrossing, sizzling & satisfying!