A book by Michael Cordy published in 1997 by Bantam Press. The Miracle Strain is a thought-provoking and exciting thriller. The main character is geneticist Dr Tom Carter, who receives a Nobel Prize for inventing the Genescope, a machine that can read the genes of a person in a matter of minutes.
As Carter walks out of the Stadshuset (Stockholm's Town Hall) after receiving his Nobel, his life is changed forever. His wife is assassinated by Nemesis, an androgynous, religious killer. In the aftermath, a Genescope scan finds that his only daughter Holly has an incurable brain cancer and will die within a year, unless...
Enter The Brotherhood, a mysterious religious conspiracy who require the help of Dr Carter's technology to complete a 2000-year-old quest. In return, they will offer Dr Carter the chance to perform a Genescope scan on the genes of the most famous healer in history.
The Miracle Strain is an engrossing techno-thriller; anyone who enjoyed Jurassic Park (the book) will probably like it. I felt that this books could very easily be made into a decent film, and indeed the film rights have been bought by Disney for one and a half milliondollars. Some bits that awoke the nit picky person with me however:
But this book does have some very interesting philosophical and scientific points to make. It's worth reading if you have the chance.
"They are in you and in me; they created us, body and mind and their preservation is the ultimate rationale of our existence...they go by the name of genes." --Richard Dawkins