John F. Case: The Genesis Code

John F. Case

The Genesis Code

Fawcett Columbia, New York, 1997

Monika says:

Private eye Joe Lassiter receives word that his sister and his three-year-old nephew were killed when their house burned down. It seems to have been arson because when the fire broke out a stranger was in the house who got away only with heavy burns. Lassiter finds out that similar incidents occurred around the globe lately. Each time a young woman burned beyond recognition with her son.

His investigation takes him to Italy on the trail of an obscure sect called Umbra Domini and to Clinica Baresi in the small town of Montecastello where his sister conceived her son by artificial insemination. Here lies the key to the arson attacks, but Lassiter doesn’t see the connection between the women who where treated in the clinic.

THE GENESIS CODE begins with a confession, the content of which remains a mystery until the end. The terrible secret Dr. Baresi confides to his priest is the centerpiece of the story that is to be told. Apparently the following story has nothing to do with the beginning, but by and by the connections are made. John F. Case deftly builds up tension and lets it culminate in more or less dangerous situations our hero finds himself in. Unfortunately the author sometimes abandons logic, which in a book is less forgivable than in a fast-paced action movie. For example Joe keeps sending sensitive material via e-mail although somebody broke into his computer before and it is more than likely that unauthorized persons are reading his mail. This seems to imply that the author has no idea how the Internet works.

What happened in the clinic is revealed only in bits and pieces although the reader guessed it of course (?) from the beginning. Whether the ending really came as a surprise or not it made me put away the book with a smile on my face. In spite of a few weaknesses THE GENESIS CODE is an entertaining book even for people who don’t regularly read mysteries. The plot is a bit fabricated, but if you don’t look too closely you can enjoy it anyway.

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Monika Hübner

Last changes: 27-04-03