Having been unflattering about the plot from outer space by Robin Cook (Invasion) I am back full of praise for his latest — Chromosome 6. If you want to understand the latest medical triumph about Dolly and cloning, this novel takes you to the underground I mean the underworld of DNA and mitochondria research and the “short arm” of chromosome six.
Dr. Jack Stapleton finds out that the body he has been doing the post mortem of has had a liver transplant. That in itself was not the issue: but his innocent attempts to find out where the operation had been done and who had performed it ran into a dead end. Why should that happen, and who would want to hide why they had performed the operation, even if the patient was a well known Mafia Boss, makes the story uncoil with a slow but sure footed grace of a master thriller-writer in his best form. Add to that the creation of characters like Kevin, the shy scientist in Africa; the buoyant vibrancy of Candace and Melanie; the menacing presence of soldiers and the hilarious antics of the Mafia bosses trying to maximize their profits from the grisly business of camouflaging missing livers — well, why don’t you turn to the book itself?
By the way, it might be a good idea to start it on a weekend. Once you give it a good 100-page bite, you will then go on to finish it. This might also be a tip to get most of those “wanted-to-read-but-didn’t-find-the-time” books read.