Brilliant sequel to Panacea where Laura and Rick goes searching for Rick's missing brother. A search that takes them all the way to Madagascar. ( )

The second in the trilogy that begins with "Panacea," "The God Gene" is yet another adventure that combines Laura the Medical Examiner and Rick the bodyguard to a billionaire. They have just begun to get romantic together at the end of "Panacea," and this chemistry continues to flourish, with Rick becoming a favorite of Laura's recovered daughter. Now, Laura and Rick take off to an island off the coast of Madagascar, where every satellite map says no island exists. It's the home to a previously-undiscovered tiny primate with blue eyes, monkey-like, yet not, lemur-like, yet not. It's also extremely intelligent. Rick's brother Keith has disappeared, following his discovery of the animal, and Rick and Laura, searching for him, find his trail leads here.

Rick wonders if this little, impossibly intelligent primate, could have been"placed" on Earth to confound the path of humans, by the overlords of the universe.
P.137:
"early on she'd dismissed Rick's wild theory that sapience was so rare in the universe that it attracted attention - the wrong kind. As a result, humans had become the playthings of 'intellects vast, cool, and unsympathetic'-- a phrase he'd snagged from H.G. Wells. He claimed the Panacea--the ikhar--had been created by these intellects to throw a monkey wrench into all of humankind's concepts of a knowable universe by breaking All the rules.
Ridiculous, right?
But that Blithe certainty had been turned on its pointed little head. After seeing the ikhar cure a raging viral meningitis, a cardiomyopathy, and now end - stage MS, she had to wonder if maybe it had truly originated, as Rick put it, outside."

This author is a speciesist, like almost every single human in the Western world. They can't stand the suffering of the Animals we call our"pets," but every other Animal that can serve the oh-so-deserving (fuc*ing) human is fair game:
P.146:
"Laura said, 'does it ever bother you? The animals, I mean?'
Laura couldn't help remembering the dog she'd operated on in med school and finally had to sacrifice. Even though it was unconscious under heavy anesthesia, it damn near ripped her heart out when she tied off its main coronary artery.
Mito shrugged. 'It did at first. But my job is to see that they stay healthy and are treated humanely. You can't romanticize them, or anthropomorphize them.'
'hard not to when we share common ancestors.'
'look, they play an indispensable part in saving hundreds, thousands, sometimes millions of human lives.' "

Another example of speciesism, and a reason why the author lost one-half a star:
P.157:
"Knowing his life span depended on what happened next, Mahdi trembled as he watched the rat in horrid fascination.
'H-how long will the VX take?'
'not long. It's quickly absorbed through the skin. But I hate to call it VX.' he turned to the cage. Dear rat, you've just been sprayed with O - ethyl S - two - diisopropylaminoethyl methylphosphonothiolate. Isn't that a beautiful name? Why settle for a colorless abbreviation like VX when the full name has so much more character?'
Mahdi had no watch and wished he could check his phone to keep track of the passing time, but it sat on the table inside. He would leave it if he could and buy a new one in town. He wanted very much to be far, far away from this man.
The rat began to Twitch.
'see? The acetylcholinesterase blockade is spreading, causing uncontrolled muscle contractions. After a series of normal contractions, the super contractions start, effectively paralyzing the victim.'
the rat's breathing became rapid. Soon it was trembling all over.
'eventually the super contractions hit the diaphragm, and when the diaphragm stops working...'
suddenly the rat went into a prolonged fit -- Mahdi had seen an epileptic seizure once and this was very much like that, only worse. it ended in the stillness of death.
Mahdi let out a long, slow breath. The VX had worked...horribly. What an awful way to die, even for garbage - eating vermin."

Yes, I will read the next book in the series. For one reason, Jeukens, the South African who Rick believes is his brother Keith, gave us plenty of hints that he is not really Keith, leaving me with questions. And, I want to experience more of the travelogue-type scenery that these protagonists get to travel to. ( )

Enjoyed it enough to try another ( )

Book #2 in the ICE Sequence. Medical examiner Laura Fanning and ex-mercenary Rick Hayden are together again when Rick discovers his scholarly brother is missing. Even though there were both adopted, Rick decides he needs to find Keith, who has liquidated all of his assets and disappeared, after his adorable blue-eyed primate dies and is cremated. Laura joins him as emotional support, and they head to Africa after tracing his funds. Meanwhile, a rare animal smuggler and a mysterious South African are making plans to capture and sell the blue-eyed primates called "dapis" and study them, respectively. The dapis are the highlight of the book, but too much is unexplained: how they've gone undiscovered for so long? How they developed on a unique evolutionary path? why they are dangerous when they appear so harmless? At least we get answers to this last question. ( )

I should probably start off with a brief explanation of my review of PANACEA. I had mentioned that it was good to have Wilson writing more suspense novels. I wasn't trying to imply that he stopped. It was more a factor of Repairman Jack was finished (excluding the young Jack stories) and, at least to me, it was unclear what Wilson would be writing next. Done-in-Ones that were outside of everything else he's written? More Repairman Jack stories post almost the end of the world? So I was happy to see another novel that was in the vein of Repairman Jack but at the same time different. I am happy being a voyeur into the worlds and imagination of F. Paul Wilson. Anyway, on to THE GOD GENE. In this, the second of the ICE Sequence books, Wilson does another excellent job of weaving a fantastic tale full of mystery and suspense. The mystery this time isn't as immediately impressive as the all-powerful ichor from PANACEA but it is actually more impactful. But I get ahead of myself.

First, the story. Rick and Laura end up on another chase but this time it is for Rick's missing brother instead. Rick's brother has liquidated his funds and transferred them to an offshore account and then disappeared. When informed of this by his mother, Rick commits to finding his brother. Laura insists on being his rational angle to Rick's not necessarily logical approach. The two of them follow the money and the uncovered clues to an amazing discovery.

I didn't have as much of a problem with the follow-the-clues approach as I did with PANACEA; it was possibly because the search was more direct with less country hopping. Or maybe it just made more sense to me. I will admit that I was a little underwhelmed by the response to their genetic discovery. In my mind, it was huge. And while the characters addressed and discussed it, they also didn't do much about it. To be honest though, I'm not sure what else they could have done; they had evidence of ICE but in the big picture, it wasn't anything they could do something with. It was a good way to end an enjoyable book and leave the readers wondering what mystery was next. Oh, I will admit that I geeked out when the town of Monroe was mentioned. A solid entry into the world of Repairman Jack, but without Jack. ( )