Code for Carolyn: A Genomic Thriller

Carolyn's parents did not synthesize her genome in a lab, but she has known she is the Human Hoax since a high school genetics exercise revealed she has trisomy X. When her office and lab are ransacked, she finds that someone believes she has the results of her parents' last secret experiments and is willing to kill to get them. Carolyn only has her parents' genes, but she must find what else they may have left her before someone else does. In a society where corporations wield as much power as nations, the chase is on to unravel the mystery of her parents' final days and the deep consequences for the future of mankind.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 235 pages
Publication date: 12 February 2019
Publisher: Springer Nature Switzerland AG

Carolyns parents did not, after all, make genomics history by synthesizing her genome in a lab. She has known she is the Human Hoax ever since a high school genetics exercise revealed she has trisomy X—a chromosomal abnormality—yet no synthetically constructed genome would have such clear traces of natural conception. Many years later, as a molecular biologist, she hopes her colleagues never learn of her embarrassing origins. But when someone ransacks her office and lab, she finds professional embarrassment is the least of her worries. Someone believes she has the results of her parents' last, secret experiments, and is willing to kill to get them. But all she has from her parents are their genes—can she find what else they may have left her before somebody else does? In a not-so-distant society, where corporations wield as much power as nations and the line between corporate employee and state authority is blurred, the chase is on. Carolyn may have just too little time at hand to unravel the mystery of her parents' final days and to realize the deep consequences for the future of mankind.

This fast-paced novel is followed by an extensive science chapter where the author provides a non-technical primer on modern genetics and on the speculative biology behind Carolyns code.

Weight: 386g
Dimension: 235 x 167 x 14 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9783030045517
Edition number: 1st ed. 2019