SPECIES

In this novel, which features a mix of genres, epochs, and life forms, Fundin takes readers on a vertigo-inducing trip from one corner of the globe to another. It takes a lot of ink to cover so much territory (mental and physical), but the book is so fast-paced that its 350-plus pages never get ponderous. The story opens during the Cold War in an East Berlin divided into politically opposed factions. Russian spy Igor Gerasim Klurov, a nuclear scientist and sergeant in the Strategic Space Forces, is perplexed when an anonymous driver picks him up at the airport and whisks him through the city streets as they head toward “the source of the secret.” What secret? That enigma swirls around a startling archaeological find: 40,000-year-old fossilized Neanderthal skeletons. Homo sapiens committed what is deemed to be the first genocide in history—the systematic extinction of the Neanderthals, with whom they shared the planet. Homo sapiens took over the world, but eventually they were threatened by vengeful neo-Neanderthals, determined to wipe them out. Modern-day scientists use the skeletons to map the Neanderthals’ genome, which poses a scientific and ethical dilemma: Should they be cloned? Thus begins a tumultuous mystery/thriller in ever changing locations and time periods as factions fight for control of the skeletons. Frightening covert medical research in a hospital, punctuated with murders and all manner of subterfuge, drives the well-crafted plot. With one unpredictable twist after another, things get even more complex when readers learn that many of the characters are not at all who they seem. Some have assumed false identities. The good guys are actually the bad guys—or are they? The book concludes with a philosophical and existential issue that is eerily reflective of today’s societal ills and encompasses the questionable future of humanity. Fundin’s skill in weaving seemingly unrelated elements into a cohesive, logical storyline makes for a novel that readers will quickly devour. Fans of Robin Cook and John le Carré will be spellbound.

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