Grant, Michael. Eve and Adam.

Grant, Michael.   Eve and Adam.     Macmillan/ Feiwel & Friends   291p  $17.99 978-0-312-58351-4      2012  hs    VG-BN       Science Fiction

Eve Spiker is severely injured in a car crash and is in a hospital when her mother sweeps in and takes her almost immediately to her private lab facility.  Here, Eve rapidly recovers (unnaturally so) and with the aid of her mother’s ward (and would-be genius lab assistant) Solo learns more about herself and the work being conducted at Spiker Biopharmaceuticals.

In this very interesting novel that brings genetics and biotechnology to the fore, Eve and Solo work together to uncover the heinous genetic research that has been conducted at Spiker Pharmaceuticals; research that makes the eugenics of WWII pale by comparison.  Ethics and family dynamics seriously come into play in the story, in which intrigue and romance play a role in Eve and Solo’s relationship, as well as in that of Eve’s friend Aislin and the genetically perfect Adam, who Eve created when she was playing with newly developed software.  References to sex, drugs, and alcohol, as well as some violence, make this a YA book for high school students and possibly adults.  Questions of ethics and morals presented in the novel will also ring true for adult readers of YA novels.       

Genetic Engineering–Fiction                                --Lynn Fisher