Twenty years ago, software engineer Miles Cookson was a bright guy with big ideas - and no money. Strapped for cash, Miles went to a fertility clinic in New York and made a "donation" in exchange for some ready cash. With the money, he upgraded his computer, started inventing apps right and left, and now, twenty years later, he's a high tech gazillionaire. He has also been diagnosed with Huntington's, a genetic debilitating and deadly disease.
Miles never married and has no children in the conventional sense, but his diagnosis has started him thinking about that "donation" of his two decades ago. Surely there are biological children of Miles' out there. Miles feels the need to find them and let them know that they, too, might be subject one day to the same inherited illness that is now killing him, and he can will to them a part of his large fortune to help them. But how to find them? Well, with large amounts of money, you can pretty much get whatever you want, regardless of the wisdom or morality of the matter, and this is just one of the themes of this terrific thriller.
Miles soon learns that there are nine such children who have resulted from his donation, and it is only when he meets up with the first of them, a spunky young woman named Chloe (I want Saoirse Ronan to play her in the movie version of this book), that he comes to question whether he has made the right choice in seeking out these children. Oh, and yes, some of the other of Miles' biological offspring are disappearing and leaving behind absolutely no trace of themselves. They have vanished as if they never existed at all. The reader, of course, knows that these young adults are being killed. What you don't know is who is behind these killings and why are they taking place?
Along the way, we meet conniving in-laws, underworld hitmen, business people with questionable ethics, and a New York City mover and shaker who isn't named "Jeffrey Epstein" in the novel, but who clearly is, well, Jeffrey Epstein.
Okay, so what are all the cliches about books like this..."a real page turner"...."couldn't put it down"...."has you guessing to the end"...."a non-stop thrill ride"...well, that's what this book is. I loved it and read it in two days, and I hope that they do make a movie of it. With Saoirse Ronan.
Four Stars from The Grandstander.
By the way, this is the second novel of Linwood Barclay's that I have read in the last year or so, the other one called "A Noise Downstairs." Both are terrific, and the guy has a whole shelf full of books in the library and in bookstores. If these two are any indication, I'll be seeking out the others in the future.
Okay! I’ll try it!
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