The Genesis Code by John Case was originally published in 1997. My hardcover copy has 435 pages. The premise the novel set up actually had much more promise than was actually delivered in Case's novel, however, it is an enjoyable novel to read for escapism. Most readers will find the ending very predictable and, while reading, will begin to wonder when private investigator Lassiter will actually figure it out. It is also recommended for YA readers by the School Library Journal, and I concur. I recommend it and will look into reading more of Case's books in the future. Rating: 4
Synopsis from publisher:
In a remote hill town in Italy, a renowned scientist enters the confessional. A dying man, he pours out the secret that has consumed his life for years - a sin of such magnitude that the shocked priest refuses him absolution.
In a suburb of Washington DC, Joe Lassiter's only sister and her young son have been killed in a sudden fire that engulfs their home. The police believe it was arson; they soon discover that mother and child were brutally murdered before the blaze was set.
As Lassiter tries to find out why they were killed, he comes to believe others may have been murdered in similar fashion. And still more people may die if he cannot discover the elusive connection that links the innocent victims together.
Quotes:
"Father Azetti was tempted." opening sentence
"Having lived in the town for less than a decade, Father Azetti was an outsider, and would remain so into the next millennium. As such, he was suspect, and, being suspect, he was under constant surveillance, watched by the town's ever vigilant older residents, who pined for his predecessor." pg. 6
"Listening to the terrible and persuasive details, Father Azetti felt his heart lurch in his chest. What the man had done - what he had committed - was the most spectacular sin imaginable, a sin so deep and terminal that heaven itself might never recover from it." pg. 8
"The doctor was on a bullet train to hell, and fear radiated from him like a halo around the moon." pg. 9
"I'm saying, whoever it was - this was not a delicate job. It was obviously arson, and whoever set it didn't care who knew it." pg. 46
"He was losing someone who knew him in a way no one else ever would, someone who shared his childhood." pg. 65
"Virtually all cops spent some time in uniform and so, like actors and politicians, they expected people to react to them. It didn't matter if the reaction was negative - so long as it was there." pg. 71
"Your sister went to... one of those places? A clinic? She had, what - artificial insemination?" pg. 77
"Even so, there was something dark, and very disturbing, about listening to the details of your own family's catastrophe, broadcast as a thirty-second news segment between Howard Stern and a traffic update." pg. 78
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