Booklist's critic called McEuen's debut, Spiral, the best thriller he'd read in 50 years of writing reviews. What bibliophile, mystery-lover or no, could resist? My only worry: Such a glowing report almost guarantees disappointment.
Too impatient to wait for my name to come up on the public library's hold list and too cheap to buy the hardcover, I ordered up a Kindle edition, which automatically uploaded last month. I've been neck-deep in another stunning debut, Skippy Dies by Paul Murray, however, and thought I'd finish that first before getting to Spiral. Down with the flu this weekend, I gave up and dove in. Spiral does not disappoint!
The tale moves along quickly, involves political, military and scientific intrigue aplenty. Although I'm not a scientist, I did not feel intimidated by the well-explained and well-used elements of biology, robotics, physics and chemistry. If anything, McEuen has done a fabulous job of making issues of scientific ethics the center around which his story spins and is frighteningly believable.
The tale begins in the Pacific Ocean at the end of WWII, when Liam Conner confronts the reality of the Japanese Camp 731 -- a historical reality in which horrific medical experiments were performed on prisoners. Sixty years later, Conner has become a Nobel prize scientist enjoying his great-grandson, but he holds a dark secret. His murder precipitates the non-stop race by his granddaughter Maggie and fellow instructor Jake Sterling to discover Liam's secret research.
Besides an intelligent and exciting yarn, Spiral is ripe to inspire conversation about whether or not science is always good. Or if scientific information should always be made readily available in the digital age. Or if discovers of scientific breakthroughs have a responsibility to keep their governments informed of their advances. And if a scientist feels obligated to somehow control the information he discovers -- how exactly does one go about that?
Although clearly written for an adult audience, McEuen's title will no doubt inspire young thinkers to dig further into any number of scientific disciplines. I doubt that this was McEuen's intention when he penned Spiral, but it's certainly a happy result.
Too impatient to wait for my name to come up on the public library's hold list and too cheap to buy the hardcover, I ordered up a Kindle edition, which automatically uploaded last month. I've been neck-deep in another stunning debut, Skippy Dies by Paul Murray, however, and thought I'd finish that first before getting to Spiral. Down with the flu this weekend, I gave up and dove in. Spiral does not disappoint!
The tale moves along quickly, involves political, military and scientific intrigue aplenty. Although I'm not a scientist, I did not feel intimidated by the well-explained and well-used elements of biology, robotics, physics and chemistry. If anything, McEuen has done a fabulous job of making issues of scientific ethics the center around which his story spins and is frighteningly believable.
The tale begins in the Pacific Ocean at the end of WWII, when Liam Conner confronts the reality of the Japanese Camp 731 -- a historical reality in which horrific medical experiments were performed on prisoners. Sixty years later, Conner has become a Nobel prize scientist enjoying his great-grandson, but he holds a dark secret. His murder precipitates the non-stop race by his granddaughter Maggie and fellow instructor Jake Sterling to discover Liam's secret research.
Besides an intelligent and exciting yarn, Spiral is ripe to inspire conversation about whether or not science is always good. Or if scientific information should always be made readily available in the digital age. Or if discovers of scientific breakthroughs have a responsibility to keep their governments informed of their advances. And if a scientist feels obligated to somehow control the information he discovers -- how exactly does one go about that?
Although clearly written for an adult audience, McEuen's title will no doubt inspire young thinkers to dig further into any number of scientific disciplines. I doubt that this was McEuen's intention when he penned Spiral, but it's certainly a happy result.
