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Mutant: A Book Review
"Mutant", written by Peter Clement who was a physician who headed an emergency room at a major metropolitan hospital, is a medical novel, that when you're coming right down to it, basically warns us about the dangers of genetic tinkering . In this case,a "genetic vaccine" which is to be inserted into corn by a virus gets out of control; the virus jumps the species barrier. People and animals who eat contaminated corn get sick, and some die from Ebola. Those who look into this state of affairs find out that the key villain is, by means of terrorist attacks, forcing the American public to talk about the issue of genetic engineering, above all the relocation of genetic material from one species into another species. The malevolent one takes advantage of unsuspecting environmentalists to sustain his plot, and causes more than four hundred to die.

"Mutant" hurdles from today's headlines into the heart and mind of its reader. Calling attention to these problems is a worthy goal. However, the paragraphs of technical explanations will go above and beyond the heads of most readers. His characters are solidly realized and intensely real, although these two main activists seem implausibly irresponsible and thoughtless. While the action scenes are written effectively, the love and sex scenes are unconvincing.

"Mutant" had all the makings of a great and wonderful medical thriller, but then fell downright flat. Authors have the ability to push their plot action to its extreme limits but Dr. Clement has gone far beyond that by twisting and turning his plot and making it tedious and difficult to tag along. It seems that many writers are having a hard time thinking up of original plots that have not been used yet, especially in this kind of field. This book is an example of this, because in reading this story you can see that it does not always work. Although much of the novel is, on the most part, believable, grouping together too much scientific terminology does not make for a very amusing or enjoyable read, and breaches our sense of reliability.

This kind of language is used in this story probably because this author is a genuine M.D., so he most likely thought that his readers would have the capacity and knowledge to understand all of the medical lingo being used. On this he was wrong, I myself know none who can read this book from beginning to end and understand half of what has been written. In my opinion, medical novels should either maintain a low level of scientific terms, or provide context clues in order for the reader grasp their meanings, not just dish them out like Dr. Clement has done in this book. I find it almost unbelievable that any person can turn their back on something such as this literary experience without having been even partly stunned by the use of so much medical speech, so many plot twists, or so many reckless acts described in this novel.

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Whistle-blowing Can Be Fatal!
Ray Bradbury once defined Science Fiction as "a logical extension of reality". In his spell-binding, stand-alone thriller MUTANT, best-selling physician-author Dr. Peter Clement relentlessly takes his readers one horrifyingly-logical step beyond today's scientic realities of laboratory-controlled genetic manipulation into an absolutely plausible and terrifyingly probable consideration of their what-if's should amoral men deliberately set out to unleash cross-specie genetic mutations for purposes of mass destruction. His heroine, Dr. Kathleen Sullivan, a brilliant research geneticist, has become increasingly alarmed by the lack of environmental curbs imposed on multi-billion-dollar corporate enterprises which utilize unmonitored genetic alteration techniques on plants for commercial purposes. Her fears crystalize shortly after the sudden, horrible death of a child in Hawaii has been attributed to a deadly strain of "bird flu", a disease which has somehow passed from its chicken carrier to a human host. After she's almost killed while trying to uncover hard evidence to prove that genetically-tainted feed (which may have originated at Agrenomics International, one of her targeted corporations)was the lethal link, she shares her fears and suspicions with Dr. Richard Steele, a burned-out ER doctor...in recovery from a heart attack brought on by overwork and personal stress...during a chance encounter at a convention and piques both his professional and personal interest. Once he becomes convinced that her fears are entirely justified, they join forces only to discover that whistle-blowing can be deadly business as the appalling, utterly damning evidence begins to emerge from a tangled web of false leads and corporate misdirection. Caught up in what soon proves to be an international terrorist conspiracy, they ultimately find themselves in a race against time to stop the implementation of a doomsday scenario aimed at the heart and heartlands of North America. The cliff-hanger uncertainties of the will-they-won't-they ramifications of its final pages make this brilliant novel's unforgetable denouement a genuine milestone in the genre.

MUTANT quite literally leaps from today's headlines into the heart and mind of its reader. One of Dr. Clement's rare talents as a writer is his ability to make highly technical material completely understandable in lay terms without sacrificing any of the elements of superb storytelling. His characters are solidly-realized and intensely real; he has a positive genius for pushing his plot action to its utmost limits without ever violating our sense of cedibility, and I find it impossible to believe that anyone can come away from this literary experience entirely unshaken or unmoved by his shattering vision of an all-too-possible, near-future America.

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Alarming subject, uneven writing
This thriller is basically a warning about the dangers of genetic tinkering. In this case, a "genetic vaccine" which is to be inserted into corn by a virus gets out of control; the virus jumps the species barrier. People and animals who eat contaminated corn get sick, and some die from ebola. The amateurs who investigate this situation discover that the main villain is using terrorist tactics to force the American public to address the issue of genetic engineering, particularly the transfer of genetic material from one species to another. The evil one exploits unsuspecting environmentalists to support his plot and causes more than four hundred deaths.

Calling attention to this problem is a worthy goal. However, the paragraphs of technical explanations will go over the heads of most readers. The two main investigators seem unbelievably reckless. While the action scenes are written effectively, the love and sex scenes are unconvincing.