[.ca] Mount Dragon (ISBN 0765359960)

exciting technothriller from this dependable pair:
This is the second novel by the talented team of Preston and Child, and it is quite exciting. Following the initial success of Relic, they've brought forth a new cast of characters including Guy Carson, a scientist who is transferred to GeneDyne's top-secret genetic engineering research facility, Mount Dragon, in the New Mexico desert. He's not there long when an emergency situation makes him reassess the desirability of engineering the human genome, but by then things seem to have gotten rather out of hand. As usual, this adventure is filled with research, lots of tense situations and interesting characters. The one sex scene seems aimed to get a movie made, and does not ring true, but otherwise I enjoyed this novel, as I've enjoyed a number of other books by this very talented writing team.

another winning thriller from the Preston-Child engine:
Just finished Mount Dragon (now into Thunderhead) and could not put it down. These guys are good, I mean really good. They know how to create fully realized characters, in a believable setting, and then let all hell break loose. Ever since I read Relic, I have been devouring their other stuff.

Somebody's been playing in the gene pool again!:
Oh boy, I just love it when the scientists play around with things they do not know enough about. Someone always gets hurt when this happens, not always the supposed 'bad guys'. In this case, a genome outfit is playing with a 'super flu' (sounds like SARS), and most of the people working on it think it is for a good cause. Of course, the boss is willing to sell it to the military and to the highest bidder. He lost his moral code a long time ago, and he's out to make as much money of off his work as he can. Actually, he isn't the person working on this, so he doesn't realize there seem to be a few problems with even working with this flu type. Isn't it obvious that anyone working in the boondocks, i.e. Nevada, is usually up to no good. It's bad enough that anyone living downwind of the atomic testing in Nevada during the 50s and 60s, have either gotten cancer or hypothyroidism. You would think by now, that anything being done so secretly would ring a bell, wave a red flag, draw some type of regulation, right? Those of us who work in bioethics know better... Internal Review Boards are just that, people internally (of the business are regulating themselves). Doesn't happen very well... In this novel which is more along the line of a Tom Clancy novel, one of the newer scientists starts to notice irrational behavior on the part of other scientists who were more or less forced into using the vaccine on themselves. They get very paranoid for one thing, and scientists are paranoid anyway, that someone is out to steal 'their' idea. It's apparent that this idea of scientists working on morally-wrong projects is not new...I am seeing it more and more in the books I read for enjoyment. Unfortunately, all too often the public is willing to remain ignorant and allow the few to control the technological businesses, such as gene cloning, etc. What you don't know CAN all to often kill you. A pretty good story and plot line... Karen Sadler

Really good read:
It's not there best work, but even so, it's better than probably 95% of what's out in the genre and in general. Preston and Child do a great job with plot and character. I thought the "bad guy" was great, and I thought the climax was very, very good. These guys write damn good novels.

Bad science, average story.:
Preston/Child have fallen into a rut with mad scientists. As in Cabinet of Curiosities we are confronted with brilliant evil scientists who may cause the total extinction of mankind. All this to prevent the flu! The premise is absurd. The science is bad and boring. Why did they leave the supernatural themes of Relic and Reliquary where we could willingly suspend our skepticism for the sake of a good story. This is a very average work which could easily have been written by Robin Cook. If you want a medical genetics thriller try Greg Bear's Darwin's Radio.