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    SynBio
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    SynBio
    Unavailable
    SynBio
    Ebook431 pages4 hours

    SynBio

    By Leslie Alan Horvitz

    2.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Stolen DNA, shadowy links to North Korea—a scientist is lured into a dangerous game of weaponized disease in this “gripping, twisting” thriller (Janet Gilsdorf, author of Ten Days).

    Seth Stringer is a biohacker. Young, brash, and ambitious, he works in Cambridge, Massachusetts, hacking into DNA the same way hackers infiltrate computer systems: manipulating organisms by inserting new DNA or exploiting genetic mutations that can trigger fatal heart attacks or induce bipolar illness or Alzheimer’s.
     
    Biohackers like Seth can perform their experiments in their kitchens using equipment purchased for next to nothing on eBay. Seth is obsessed with exploring the frontiers of genetic manipulation—but he can be a little naïve. When his former professor Marcus Adair dangles a job in London working for an international pharmaceutical company called Chimera, Seth jumps at the chance. He can make good money and cement his relationship with his girlfriend, who has misgivings about his future prospects as a breadwinner.
     
    What Seth fails to realize, until it’s too late, is that the principal business of Chimera isn’t the manufacture of generic drugs, but the production of lethal genetic products for well-heeled clients. These are used to assassinate or debilitate presidents, prime ministers, and CEOs using their own DNA against them, a method that not only makes it difficult to identify the perpetrator—a cold virus can deliver the engineered DNA—but makes it almost impossible to determine a crime has been committed in the first place . . .
     
    “A thought-provoking and electrifying thriller.” —Jeffrey Small, bestselling author of The Jericho Deception
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Media
    Release dateJul 1, 2014
    ISBN9781497637535
    Unavailable
    SynBio
    Author

    Leslie Alan Horvitz

    Leslie Alan Horvitz is the author of over twenty novels including The Memory Hole, The Donors, Double Blinded, The Dying, and Causes Unknown. Editions of his books have been published in Germany, Poland, Hungary, Norway, Japan, Russia, South Korea, Brazil, and the UK. He is also the author of several works of nonfiction, most recently The Essential Book of Weather Folklore, The Encyclopedia of War Crimes and Genocide, The Weather Tracker, Night Sky TrackerEureka: Scientific Breakthroughs That Changed the World, and Understanding Depression with Dr. Raymond DePaulo of Johns Hopkins University. In 1996 Horvitz collaborated with Dr. Joseph McCormick and his wife, Dr. Susan Fisher-Hoch, both noted epidemiologists, on Level 4: Virus Hunters of the CDC. “Level 4” refers to a biohazard unit in the Centers for Disease Control where scientists examine some of the most lethal pathogens known to man. Horvitz has covered a variety of business, political, and social topics for general interest magazines including articles on money laundering, international organized crime, financial mergers, global trade, and fraud in biomedical research.

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    Reviews for SynBio

    2.5/5

    5 ratings2 reviews

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    • 2/5
      While SynBio by Leslie Horvitz had a great premise, the hacking of DNA, the plot deteriorated into something other than a science fiction thriller. While the suspense was still there, it became a novel about a series of hook-ups to gather DNA from various men and lost much of the initial excitement. In the end it was so-so and a forgettable book for me.


      Disclosure: My Kindle edition was courtesy of the author for review purposes.
    • 4/5
      3.25 StarsA medical espionage thriller with a good plot and plenty of potential; but the MCs need more depth and the writing needs just a bit of polish. It's gritty and fast-paced and the ending left the storyline open for a sequel. I loved the DJ's playlist at the club. Net Galley Feedback