The God Gene

The God Gene (The Ice Sequence 2) by F. Paul Wilson

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This is an entertaining page-turner, but it somewhat telegraphed its punches. I enjoyed it as part of Wilson's “Secret History of the World” series.

Rick Hayden and Laura Fanning return from Panacea. It turns out that Rick is from a dysfunctional wealthy family and that his famous zoologist brother, Keith, has gone missing. Before he went missing, Keith had been obsessed with a blue-eyed primate named Mozzi that had been unusually intelligent. Rick promises to find Keith and, so, he and Laura start out on an investigation that takes them to an undiscovered island off of Mozambique.

In a parallel story, a South African named Marten Jeukens is obsessed with finding an island where blue-eyed primates can be found. Jeukens secures the services of Amaury Lafitte, an animal poacher, and the two set off to find the island.

The resolution will further Rick's theory that “Intermeddling Cosmic Entities” (“ICE”) are screwing with humanity. It seems....and you should avoid this as SPOILER territory, these primates have the gene that provides human level creativity...which seemed obvious from the time that Mozzi is mentioned...but the kicker is that they have no “junk DNA.” Apparently, this is what kicked off Keith's disappearance and the subsequent events.

As Earth-shattering reveals go, this seems small by itself, but from the standpoint of the series, it seems like another piece of the puzzle. So, the enjoyment of this book depends on whether you are reading it as a stand-alone book or part of the series.

The book is an enjoyable read, but the pieces seem less significant than the overall book.