Raising Abel

By Kathleen O'Neal Gear and W. Michael Gear

Book Overview

When Veronica Tremain's anthropologist brother Scott is brutally murdered, she can only recall that he had once mentioned solving a 60,000-year-old mystery. His son Abel is brought to her by computer expert Bryce Johnson and they realise that Abel is the key to a discovery from the ancient past.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0446610976
• ISBN13: 9780446610971
• Release Date: June 2003
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
• Length: 624 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 4.2" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

A wonderful read!!!!!!!

I picked this book up one day just wandering around the bookstore. I was getting a bit tired of reading the same old stuff and I wanted something with a new twist to it. I'm one of those people that almost immediately puts the book back on the shelf if I read "police detective so-and-so" or "news reporter so-and-so" because there's just so many of them! Anyway, this book tweaked my interest after reading the back. I had already read two of the Gear's books before (People of the Wolf and People of the Fire) and really enjoyed them so I figured I would give this one a try. Wow. It was great! I never got bored reading this. They did a great job of making me want to know what was going on, who was doing what, and what would happen next. If you're looking for something different and new, read this. A fair warning, though: If you are a very religious person, this may offend you. I'm not so it didn't bother me. I found the whole idea very interesting and happen to agree with most of it. I just finished it so it's still very fresh, but I believe this one's going down as one of my favorite books. Swan Song by Robert Mccammon still tops that list, though.

Loved It! Science, Suspense, Mystery, Murder, Has it All.

If you enjoy medical thrillers/suspense/mystery books, you'll love this book. I had a hard time putting it down. The twists and turns really hold your interest and the science in it is well explained so it doesn't slow the story down. And with all this is going on today w/genetics and DNA it's a very timely thriller.

If you're a religious fanatic you'll hate this book!

By now you know the subject of this intelligent thriller, so I'll just add some parenthetical comments. For one thing,these two authors work together seamlessly,but they've had lots of practice,as this is their 14th joint endeavor. Besides an absorbing plot that sugar-coats a lot of fascinating science, the characters they care to develop compel your interest and actually do change in striking ways. One of the bad guys --Paxton--also turns in a novel performance as an ex-hero with a conscience. "Raising Abel"'s true "villain" is religious zealotry, the kind that spurs book-burning and torture for people who voice unacceptable opinions. The authors don't hesitate to paint these fanatics as either crazy ignoramuses, or power-mad hypocrites. (See comments by the critic who can't spell "bigoted" and can't get his verbs straight, and you get the idea.) One amazing aspect is the book's length. it runs to almost 600 pages, but you won't be tempted to skip a single scene. If you like the story as much as I did, you'll eat up Lincoln Child's & Douglas J. Preston's "The Ice Limit" and "Rip Tide." Am I planning to read the Gears' other books? You bet!

Thrill Me!

"Raising Abel" doesn't waste any time delving into the moral issues surrounding genetic manipulation and cloning. And what a timely book, what with the cloning matters that are springing up in the media every day. A small group of secretive genetic scientists are hell-bent on proving Creationists wrong by cultivating DNA from a 60,000 year old neandertal found frozen in ice in arctic wastelands, perfectly preserved. Hypothetically, this idea isn't that farfetched. But when the scientists are found brutally tortured and murdered, the mystery begins!The husband and wife team of Michael and Kathleen Gear write a believable and thrilling journey into the ethics of DNA replication, the moral quandary that comes with it, and manages to deliver a brilliantly written slam-bang novel that doesn't relent for any of its nearly 600 pages. While obviously not fans of the "religious right", as the characters in the novel are fairly stereotypical, the Gears still thrill with "Raising Abel". This one will make it onto my "best reads" list, for sure!

exciting scientific thriller

Paleoanthropologist Dr. Veronica Tremain is stunned when the FBI informs her that her brother Dr. Scott Ferris was tortured before being burned to death. Scott's girlfriend Dr. Amanda Alexander is also brutally killed with the same M.O. Around the globe, other scientists have been viciously slain too. The only non-scientist among the dead is Elizabeth Carter, employed by the Atlanta based Apostolic Evangelical Church of the Salvation. She was killed to prevent her from talking to FBI agent Joe Hanson about her boss, televangelist Billy Barnes Brown holding a list of twenty-five scientists including three murder victims.FBI Agent John Ramsey investigates the Carter homicide while Joe continues to look into the dead scientists. Joe finds Veronica constantly in his face as she continues her quest to learn why her brother died. Veronica meets two associates of her sibling who also wonder and worry about the death of Scott. The trio accompanied by Abel, the son of Amanda and Scott, flee for their lives not knowing that it is the child's uniqueness that makes him the target of the murderous zealots.RAISING ABEL is an exciting scientific thriller that uses genetic engineering as the underlying theme for a global conspiracy. The story line remains in high gear throughout the tale as even simplified scientific explanation is cleverly blending into the plot without stopping the action for a lecture. Though the final disclosure seems too insignificant for the murder count, readers will delight in the latest offering of W. Michael Gear and Kathleen O'Neal Gear.Harriet Klausner