ALTAR OF EDEN by JAMES ROLLINS
Published by Orion / January 5, 2010Kicking off with the same breakneck pace as Rollins' previous novel The Doomsday Key, Altar of Eden takes us right into the world of bio engineering for a scary, thrilling what if tale.
In 2003 Baghdad Zoo is overrun by the US 3rd Infantry Division, however the large number of rare embryos and the chief scientist working with them vanish into the night.
On to the present day and Louisana vet and neurobiologist Dr Lorna Polk is called in when a run down trawler with a cargo of very strange animals (all of them with genetic defects but heightened intelligence) Polk and her team along with US Marshall Jack Menard (with whom Lorna has a significant history having been the girlfriend of his young brother and the whole Menard family bar Jack blaming her for his tragic death) take the animals for further investigation which leads to a significant ramping up of the action when the stop at nothing owners of the animals come looking for them.
A totally preprosterous take on The Island of Dr Moreau but told with such speed and action that you can't help but be swept along by the story. There are some strange things done in the name of science and while the activities Rollins covers here do seem far fetched all of the things he talks about are already going on.
Almost the very definition of the modern page turner, Altar of Eden is an easy, thoroughly entertaining afternoon at the beach.
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