The Gene Thieves

Maria Quinn

Harper Voyager 2009

Reviewer: Bob Estreich

This debut novel from Australian author Maria Quinn is set in the near future, when genetic engineering of babies is becoming not only possible, but popular. The genes for various appearance traits are being discovered and techniques are being developed to introduce these traits into embryos. Many people are now using the services of surrogate mothers to bring their baby to term. Sperm and eggs are routinely saved for producing future offspring. The laws about such matters have been gradually sorted out and tightened up, and the procedures are now pretty much standard.

“Piggy” Brown is a lonely genetic scientist who has made his money by developing a blue-eye gene that has proved incredibly popular with the Japanese. He has now been quietly and successfully working away on gene work to reduce the degenerative effects of old age – not quite an Immortality gene, but not far off it. The world’s big pharmaceutical companies keep watch on gene work in case there are profits to be made. They monitor professional publications, equipment purchases, and research work and indulge in quite a lot of industrial espionage. They are aware of Piggy’s work.

So is the United Nations’ Ethical Science Committee. This group prefers that work that could benefit humanity should be shared publicly, not held by one company for profit. Although they can’t match the financial rewards of the big pharma companies they can offer prestige, Nobel Prizes, and international fame as a reward. Jack Lee, their leading investigator, is dispatched to approach Piggy and see if he can be persuaded to go public with his work.

What they are not aware of is that Piggy has a private agenda. Since he was a child, Piggy has been ostracized as a freak because of his stunted, pig-like appearance. Piggy believes it was due to a genetic accident on his father’s side, and his obsession is to use saved eggs and sperm from his parents to produce a perfect child – his brother, in fact – that he will bring up free of the suffering he endured as a child. This is still illegal. He has engaged a lawyer skilled in the genetics laws to clear the legal obstacles. The lawyer owes Piggy a debt – he was one of the kids who mistreated Piggy so badly in his youth.

Piggy’s baby is kidnapped to put pressure on him to give his research to one of the pharma companies. Can Jack Lee get the baby back without revealing the legal problems of its parentage? The people involved must all reassess their lives in this close examination of the developing problems of surrogacy and babies on demand.

The story puts pressure on currently established beliefs, particularly religious ones, but presents a plausible scenario where the legal problems of genetics can be overcome. The human side of the story shows that far from being a mechanical process, parenting can still have room for love and compassion. In some ways the story takes up where John Wyndham’s “Trouble With Lichen” leaves off. This story from 1960 dealt with the development of an immortality drug and the legal, ethical and social disruption that it caused. Genetics has the same potential, and Maria Quinn’s novel deals with these problems on a more personal level.

The science fiction, mystery and detective story angles are covered with the same skill that I would expect from a British author – there is no Buck Rogers here, just a good solid story built up on a logical base of the current technology. This is something the British excel at, and Maria Quinn has shown herself to be their equal. It is excellent work for a first book. The story never gets boring, the science is clearly explained where necessary, the characters are skillfully drawn and believable. I look forward to seeing more of Ms Quinn’s work.

This review will appear in Volume 2 No.2 (2009) of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.

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