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4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
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2 star
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tszweb
1.0 out of 5 stars Social Justice
Reviewed in the United States on October 25, 2019
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I am so tired of the Politically Correct (insert Swear Word).
I have to get it from my Daily Reading & Watching of the News, so I don’t appreciate it being thrown at me from Books I buy to get away from it ! The Author made it clear what his Political Leanings are , if I wanted to know I would have bought Non Fiction. I will never Buy another book from this Guy again & I’ll research who the Publisher is & take a look at them .
By the way I read at least 5 books a week & this is the very first I’ve ever commented on. So that must tell you how I really feel about it !
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cosmikat
2.0 out of 5 stars This author has Trump Derangement Syndrome
Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2020
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The hero of the story obtains a Medal of Freedom, but then complains of the nasty, dirty figure of the President putting it over the hero's neck. The President is not named, but the implications are clear. Fortunately, this comes at the end of the book, because, otherwise, I would have deleted the book the first time I read that part.

Although far-fetched, the story involves some biological science which makes it sci-fi-ish. Apart from that, the author's TV-viewing habits are on display with eye-rolling cliched dialogue and circumstances. The author states that this book is a "thriller", but there are no thrills. There are way too many characters so that paragraphs beginning with someone's name always made me stop to try to pinpoint who this person is in the story. I often could not figure out who it was and would just continue plowing through despite this character's presence and interaction with other unknown characters.

This book would probably be better categorized in the "young adult" genre. It is simple-minded and a bit vapid.
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Robert Enzenauer
5.0 out of 5 stars Medical, scientific thrille, NOT sun-of-the-mill sci-fi
Reviewed in the United States on June 4, 2019
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WOW! This is my fist book by M.A. ROTHMAN, and I am really impressed with this medical/scientific thriller. This book has a fascinating plot – involving the nefarious use of cutting-edge cancer research using gene therapy – the research stolen from the scientist and used by “bad guys” trying to create cutting edge bio-weapons. I like science-fiction, but this isn’t sci-fi – this is a medical, scientific thriller. This writer makes the science very understandable. And as a physician, the gene therapy is totally plausible. The characters are very interesting. The author interweaves at least three different plots, with the characters intersecting at various crossroads in the plot. The prose is excellent, and the dialogue is equally good. This reminds me of the best of Michael Crighton, and Robin Cook, and the very recent Tim Tigner's THE PRICE OF TIME .
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Einar the Viking
5.0 out of 5 stars Another Page Turner from MA Rothman!
Reviewed in the United States on February 25, 2019
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I am a fan of Mr Rothman's other works, and just finished his latest, Darwin's Cipher.

This book has several plots running through it, and all are tied together neatly. As usual, Mr Rothman's science is on point (with a bit of creative license for story purposes), and he crafts an engaging story and characters that will keep you turning the pages.

I highly recommend this book for fans of medical and techno-thrillers; a scratch team of researchers race to create the cure to a series of mysterious deaths as law enforcement struggle to find those responsible. An exciting climax and a great ride. I'm mostly a hard SF guy, but Rothman's books are worth stepping away from my beloved spaceships and lasers.
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Recluse
5.0 out of 5 stars Recommended for fans of Michael Crichton’s books
Reviewed in the United States on February 21, 2019
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This book was a pleasant surprise for me. “The Edison Cipher” is a thriller, a genre I have avoided lately because often a lot of the text seemed like CGI fight-scene filler. Not my cup of tea. Thankfully, there is none of that here. Sure, there are fights, bad actors, and a body count, but these elements are presented smoothly into the plot. The story is very well paced, enough to keep me reading “just one more chapter” until two o’clock in the morning. Chapters are generally short, but not so short that the reader becomes irritated by choppy changes into a new scene. The characters are well-developed enough to make it easy to keep track of who’s who, although they tended to be basic stereotype patterns. (Note: there is a splendid dog in the story to worry about; nothing bad must happen to the dog!)

However, the key element of a thriller (technothriller, to be more precise) is the plot, the tug of suspense, the puzzles. This story has all of those elements and more. Without summarizing the plot, risking spoilers, there is a great deal of content in this novel. It is heavy on science, but not incomprehensively so. For those who enjoy the detail found in forensic or medical TV dramas, this fits the bill. Add government conspiracy, the double-edged sword of genetic tinkering, and a mutated species of attack chickens, and the result is a very satisfying read. My only criticism there is that the ending seems very abrupt, but all the loose ends are tidied away, so I really can’t complain.

*Okay, there aren’t actually any attack chickens; you’ll have to read it to find out what this refers to. :) Enjoy!
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Badass
5.0 out of 5 stars My first time reading Rothman,Def worth it
Reviewed in the United States on March 13, 2019
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I picked up this book based on the name only.
Anything with Darwin in the title has to be good. This book fills in all the right Darwin issues. The author did good. The science is based on real science already being done daily. It's gonna b scary at first but once we deal with the scary birds,in the end we will all benefit Who knows how these issues will pan out in the future but Mike Rothman did great.i highly recommend this book
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Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Militarized Gene Splicing
Reviewed in the United States on February 26, 2019
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What would happen if a scientific breakthrough got into the wrong hands for the purpose of weaponizing organisms? What if the development proceeded without proper protocols? Bad? The situation gets worse...What if the wrong hands belong to a government? This techno-thriller takes place in an all too familiar setting of shadowy secrets too dark for even the FBI to know about. A biological bomb has been released and time is running out. Science fiction is a great vehicle to explore the use and misuse of rapidly developing technology. M. A. Rothman has enriched the genre with this precautionary tale.
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Top reviews from other countries

Andrew Johnston
4.0 out of 5 stars At last a good new techno-thriller, but maybe not murky enough?
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 20, 2019
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I like a good techno-thriller, but since the death of Michael Crichton and with Phillip Kerr moving onto German detectives and unpleasant tales of first-person murdering pickings have been thin. I have enjoyed the works of Daniel Suarez, and the more "techno" output from Preston/Child and William Hertling, but having exhausted their catalogues I was getting a bit desperate for my latest trip. That's when I found Darwin's Cipher, the second novel from M A Rothman.

The basic plot is a simple one: advanced gene therapy being developed as a cancer cure is surreptitiously diverted into potential military applications, and both the medical and military uses generate very dangerous side-effects, which have to be contained or reversed. The story romps along at a good pace, the "techno" elements are well developed and fairly believable, and you come to like the competent, well-meaning central characters, turning pages enthusiastically to see if they can avert the apocalypse.

The writing is perhaps a bit weaker on the conspiracy side of the thriller. There are lots of secondary characters with varying motivation: good, bad, and those doing the wrong thing for the right reasons. However these motivations are readily revealed and rarely change, and it lacks the sheer murk of a good conspiracy. Also whereas the technical elements are either tidied up neatly or left hanging deliberately, that's not so true of the darker plot elements, and several key aspects are left unexplained.

That said, these are minor complaints. I did enjoy this book and I'll definitely read Rothman's other techno-thriller(s).

In an afterword the author explains that it's very difficult to get traditional publishers interested in such material, despite the success of Crichton, Kerr and others. That's a shame, because it's a genre which continues to intrigue me, and does have an audience. However it looks like we have to continue to go hunting to find the good ones, even before trying to discern the plots of the stories themselves.
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Mr. M. D. Horne
4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable technothriller that could've been a bit darker
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 24, 2020
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Really enjoyed this one from an author unknown to me. It's a well-plotted techno/biological sciences thriller about gene therapy and what happens when it goes wrong. I did find, occasionally, that things were a *little* convenient in terms of which characters knew who, but it did mean that the plot rattled along at a good pace. The Kindle version is a bit odd because %-wise, it finishes around 89% with a *lot* of post-analysis and notes. It meant that the book felt like it finished a bit abruptly. It didn't, actually, it just felt like it!
I look forward to reading more from the author.
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A Scary Man
5.0 out of 5 stars Really enjoyed it
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 30, 2019
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An excellent read which got very close to the creepy vibe that Michael Crichton produced in his best works.

It was sufficiently well-written that suspension of disbelief for the fiction side of the science-fiction was readily available. More could have been resolved at the end but I suspect the author left that out knowing his strength didn't lie in that sort of writing.

More please.
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ER Harding
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 28, 2019
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I liked this technothriller, partly because it has the most original plot I've read in a long time, and partly for the thoroughly believable characters. But what put the absolute icing on the cake for me was the last page. I really approve of that ending! Superbly written and crafted, and highly recommended.
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Tailspin
2.0 out of 5 stars Ridiculous coincidences
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 13, 2020
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What are the chances that the daughter of the family with the unique dog stumbles across the unique island, then by chance bumps into the guy that started it all? About 1 in 7 billion squared I’d say. Lazy plotting - it ought to be possible to connect the characters and events more naturally. On the plus side the writing flows along quite well.
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