The Gene of Life

by Tetsuo Ted Takashima

Overview

When science unravels the mystery of eternal life, a grand conspiracy emerges from the darkness of history.

Berlin, July 2008. After giving a lecture, Max Knight, a Nobel Prize candidate and professor of genetic research, is kidnapped. His captors show him part of a corpse, a left hand, discovered when a bomb exploded at a neo-Nazi rally.

Although the hand appears to be that of a male in his forties, it actually belongs to one of Hitler’s most diabolical officers, who must be over 111 years old.

To solve the mystery, Max and his assistant Katya head for Domba, deep in the Amazon rainforest, where they meet the enigmatic village-leader's daughter, Tania, and soon find themselves involved in a far-reaching Nazi plot.

As they race against time from Berlin to the Amazon, California and the Vatican, will their romance grow? Even if Max has a fatal secret?

Is the search for immortality immoral or the only answer to mankind’s salvation?

This scientific thriller was published in Japan (2002) and China (2013) and became an international bestseller. The fast-paced, action-packed story includes history, romance and more.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781940842516
Publisher:	Museyon
Publication date:	06/15/2021
Pages:	360
Sales rank:	1,066,603
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

After working as a scientist for the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute, Ted Takashima moved to California, where he studied at the University of California. He has published more than twenty novels in the action/thriller/suspense/mystery genres in Japan. His novels include Intruder, which won the 1999 Suntory Mystery Award; Pandemic (2010), which foretold the global spread of COVID-19 in 2020; and The Wall (2020), a redemption story set against the backdrop of a refugee crisis at the Trump border wall with Mexico.

Editorial Reviews

04/19/2021

Over-used genre tropes mar this clunky thriller from Takashima (The Wall). In 2008, world-renowned genetic researcher Max Knight is in Berlin when he’s snatched off the street by Nazi hunter Joe Feldman, who gives him a bottle containing a human hand obtained after a recent bombing at a neo-Nazi rally. The hand belongs to Carius Gehlen, a Nazi Waffen-SS colonel, who would now be 111 years old. Joe asks Max to examine the hand’s DNA, and Max does so at a laboratory, aided by an attractive researcher, Katya Lang, who soon becomes his love interest. The next day, a bomb explodes under the laboratory, destroying the DNA material and wounding Gehlen’s wife, who dies, but not before giving Joe, Max, and Katya a clue that eventually leads them to an ancient tribe deep in the jungles of Brazil. There they find evidence of modern-day Nazis, who have found the key to immortality. Awkward prose is a minus (“she could see Max was racking his brain”), and no one will be surprised to learn that Adolf Hitler may still be alive. Thriller fans have seen this all before, done better. (June)

Publishers Weekly

"Elements of real science wend into the narrative, while a love affair between Max and Katya also gives the story extra steam." —Foreword Reviews 

"The book’s fun rests in its action, and in the interactions between the main characters." —Foreword Reviews

"The most interesting part of this thriller . . . is the ethical question behind its genetic science. Should immortality be a scientific achievement?" —Library Journal

From the Publisher

06/18/2021

In the new novel from Takashima (The Wall), Max Knight, a celebrity professor of genetics, and his research assistant, Katya, find themselves caught up in a bewildering mystery. Evidence from an explosion at a far-right political rally in Berlin in 2008 appears to show that one of Hitler's former lieutenants was in attendance—and not only was he alive, but he seemed to be only in his forties. Caught up in a conspiracy regarding genetic immortality, the puppet-master leads Max and Katya across the world from Germany to the Amazon to California and the Vatican, in a race against time with participants who are willing to kill. VERDICT A clunky thriller that relies entirely on plot and character tropes to move the action along. However, it also throws so much at the reader, at such a fast pace, that the reader cannot be faulted for occasional confusion. The most interesting part of this thriller, and one that should have been given more focus, is the ethical question behind its genetic science: Should immortality be a scientific achievement? Others may find that the numerous conspiracy theories Takashima builds into the plot add excitement, but they also create the quagmire of a little too much for one title.—Laura Hiatt, Fort Collins, CO

Library Journal