[.ca] Frameshift (ISBN 0765313162)

From Amazon.com:
There is a 50 percent chance that geneticist Pierre Tardivel is carrying the gene for Huntington's Disease, a fatal disorder. That knowledge drives Pierre in his work on the Human Genome Project, an attempt by scientists to map human genes. But a strange set of circumstances--including a knife attack, the in vitro fertilization of his wife, and an insurance company plot to use DNA samples to weed out clients predisposed to early deaths--draw Tardivel into a story that will ultimately involve the hunt for a Nazi death camp doctor. Frameshift shows why the New York Times calls Robert J. Sawyer "a writer of boundless confidence."

A real sci-fi/high-tech/thriller from beginning to end:
This book takes you on a rollercoaster ride that involves so many plot twists and surprises that you never know what to expect until you turn that page. And you know you MUST read on! This book has taken its rightful place with my collection of Old School sci-fi and cyberpunk: "Foundation", "Empire", "Stranger in a Strange Land", "Childhood's End", "Prey", "Snow Crash", "Neuromancer", "Cryptonomicon", and "Darkeye: Cyber Hunter".

Science fiction with an underpinning of real science!:
So much that is labeled 'science fiction' has only the very minimum of real science in it. It was this reason, in fact, that I pretty much gave up reading in this genre some years ago. But I came across Sawyer's recent 'Hominids' and was swept away. That one was about Neanderthals and was accurate in most respects. This one is about several things: the genetics of Huntington's disease (the disease that killed Woody Guthrie, to jog your memory about it), telepathy and the possibility that it could be a real condition with a genetic origin. On top of that the book is a thriller and a romance. And very well written, too. What more could one ask? I know I'll be reading more of Robert Sawyer's books now. Scott Morrison

Sawyer's earlier Neanderthal book:
When you think of Robert J. Sawyer and Neanderthals, you think of his Hugo Award-winning HOMINIDS and its sequels, HUMANS and HYBRIDS. But it turns out that he was writing about Neanderthals and characters who were geneticists long before those books, as this earlier Hugo Award-finalist by Sawyer demonstrates. The settings are Montreal, Canada, and Berkeley, California, and the template is that of a Robin Cook-style medical thriller (but with richer characterization than Cook ever provides). Interestingly for a science-fiction book, it's not set at all in the future. Rather, the setting is the Human Genome Project in 1997, where all is not what it seems, and people have dark secrets in their pasts. Wonderful stuff, would make a great movie.

Sawyer's Best Work:
I have been recently reading as many Sawyer books as I can get my hand on and have not yet been disappointed. I love the ideas he comes up with - some of them are remarkably plausible and his knowledge of scientific principles is clearly expansive. Frameshift has several strands of plot that are neatly weaved together that make for a very entertaining and captivating read. The mix of genetics, Nazi war criminals and big-business conspiracy theories kept me up late into the night wondering what was going to happen. What is particularly fascinating is Sawyers idea that there may be something to the "junk" DNA that all humans have and what they could mean. My only complaints are that Sawyers characterization of women does not seem quite accurate and that there are times where the plot takes some unbelievable twists. On the other hand, there is a great scene of a helicopter crashing that rivaled by description anything that I have seen in images in a movie. Read and enjoy!

Patchwork Effort:
I struggled with what rating to give Frameshift. On the one hand, there were a number of things that felt hackneyed. I thought the nazi war criminal/eugenics thread was way too neat-- too much of a point being made. It bored me. 2-3 stars then. On the other hand, there were a number of really excellent aspects. Sawyer has a really plausible hand with the paintbrush when it comes to depicting characters. I liked very much how he handled Molly's telepathy and Pierre as a French-Canadian. I also liked the respect for science that the book seems to have. 4 or even 5 stars taken altogether. In the end, I'm giving it 4 stars because there are an awful lot of good elements, but if I really had to go with my gut, it would be more like a 3. Anyhow, still a good read if you like scientific thrillers.