Interesting premise, falls a bit flat in execution
I'll go ahead and bump this one up to 3.5 stars but it was a tough decision because I do have mixed feelings about this book. It was a quick read that did hold my interest but it got too outlandish for my taste towards the end. This might sound weird but if the author took away some of the psychological thriller aspects of the story and made this a straight up fiction book exploring ethical issues, I probably would have enjoyed it more.
Claire Abrams's son died due to a genetic mutation. She wants another child but doesn't want to pass on the gene that killed her son. That's where Dr. Robert Nash and the scientist working under him, Jillian Hendricks, can offer some help. They have figured out a way for Claire to carry a baby without passing along the deadly gene. Essentially it would mean the child would have not just two genetic parents, but three. They need to keep it under wraps though as this procedure is against the law. Flash forward 10 years later and Claire's daughter Abigail has submitted a saliva sample to one of those ancestry DNA sites and well let's just say that opens up a gigantic can of worms. The story alternates between the past and present day and follows a few of the key characters.
The premise for this one was definitely intriguing and I was fascinated by all the ethical issues brought up in the story. Unfortunately, such a big part of the story involves psychological thriller elements, and for me they fell flat. I'm not going to say you can figure exactly how the story will unfold but you can piece together enough so nothing in the end is all that shocking or surprising. I preferred the first half of the book over the second because towards the end, the story goes a bit off the rails. Although to be fair, over the top situations did create some unique dilemmas for some of the characters.
Overall this was an okay read that in my opinion started off strong but started to go downhill after awhile.
Thank you to the publisher and BookishFirst for sending me an advance copy in exchange for an honest review!
Claire Abrams's son died due to a genetic mutation. She wants another child but doesn't want to pass on the gene that killed her son. That's where Dr. Robert Nash and the scientist working under him, Jillian Hendricks, can offer some help. They have figured out a way for Claire to carry a baby without passing along the deadly gene. Essentially it would mean the child would have not just two genetic parents, but three. They need to keep it under wraps though as this procedure is against the law. Flash forward 10 years later and Claire's daughter Abigail has submitted a saliva sample to one of those ancestry DNA sites and well let's just say that opens up a gigantic can of worms. The story alternates between the past and present day and follows a few of the key characters.
The premise for this one was definitely intriguing and I was fascinated by all the ethical issues brought up in the story. Unfortunately, such a big part of the story involves psychological thriller elements, and for me they fell flat. I'm not going to say you can figure exactly how the story will unfold but you can piece together enough so nothing in the end is all that shocking or surprising. I preferred the first half of the book over the second because towards the end, the story goes a bit off the rails. Although to be fair, over the top situations did create some unique dilemmas for some of the characters.
Overall this was an okay read that in my opinion started off strong but started to go downhill after awhile.
Thank you to the publisher and BookishFirst for sending me an advance copy in exchange for an honest review!