Ancestor

A Novel

By: Scott Sigler

Narrated by: Scott Sigler

Length: 15 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

“The ancestors are out there…you have to believe me.”

From acclaimed author Scott Sigler—New York Times bestselling creator of Infected and Contagious—comes a tale of genetic experimentation’s worst nightmare come true. Every five minutes, a transplant candidate dies while waiting for a heart, a liver, a kidney. Imagine a technology that could provide those life-saving transplant organs for a nominal fee...and imagine what a company would do to get a monopoly on that technology.

On a remote island in the Canadian Arctic, PJ Colding leads a group of geneticists who have discovered this holy grail of medicine. By reverse-engineering the genomes of thousands of mammals, Colding's team has dialed back the evolutionary clock to re-create humankind’s common ancestor. The method? Illegal. The result? A computer-engineered living creature, an animal whose organs can be implanted in any person, and with no chance of transplant rejection. There's just one problem: these ancestors are not the docile herd animals that Colding's team envisioned. Instead, Colding’s work has given birth to something big, something evil. With these killer creatures on the prowl, Colding and the woman he loves must fight to survive — even as government agents close in to shut the project down, and the deep-pocketed company backing this research proves to have its own cold-blooded agenda.

As the creators become the prey in the ultimate battle for survival, Scott Sigler takes listeners on the ultimate thrill-ride—and offers a chilling cautionary account of what can happen when hubris, greed, and madness drive scientific experimentation past the brink of reason.

©2010 Scott Sigler (P)2010 Random House

Critic reviews

"Sigler writes as if he is channeling a collaboration between Stephen King and Michael Crichton, as edited by H.G. Wells...He is gifted with the ability of explaining complex topics in an interesting, understandable and even entertaining manner, creates memorable characters who are likable and otherwise, and keeps the pace of the narrative moving so quickly that the pages should be soaked in flame retardant. This is one of those rare books that makes me wish that I could be stricken with selective amnesia, so that I could read it anew again."--Bookreporter.com

“A tremendously entertaining horror novel…the premise is thought-provoking, Sigler populates the novel with a lively cast of characters (unlike many thrillers, the heroes are as interesting as the villains), and the action is virtually nonstop—and, at times, quite graphic. If you combined Michael Crichton’s scientific exploration with Matthew Reilly’s lightning-fast pace and colorful characters, you might get something that feels like this book, which, incidentally, would make a great movie.”--Booklist

Pure entertainment!

What made the experience of listening to Ancestor the most enjoyable?

Fast pace and characters.

What did you like best about this story?

Love, love, love Clayton!

Have you listened to any of Scott Sigler’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes, I love all his books. No favorites.

Any additional comments?

Scott Sigler is awesome for getting away from reality. Scott you are th only one who can read your books. I love your voices.

Liked it a lot.

Great as usual by SS. I also enjoy his reading style but I know some folks don't like it.

Want bad but not refined writing or reading

I liked the premise of the story. And wasn't a bad book. But I have listened to hundreds of books so this gets low rating. The writing felt like a young college boy wrote it or a new writer in general. The reader didn't have a bad voice but doesn't make you feel the story like a really good reader can. Much like the writing the reader came across like a novice just reading any ole book outloud to himself.

No spoilers

Characters very one dimensional but it was fun story—predictable but entertaining. Unfortunately the narration came pretty close to ruining it. This is author-narrated as usual for SS, but it was super cheesy & the silly voices made everyone into even more of a caricature than their description. Just pony up and hire a professional narrator next time. PLEASE!

Marginal author bad narrator

This author does a marginal job writing. But he is the worst narrator I have ever heard.

great listening

Scott Sigler is my new favorite author..have listened to 5 of his books so far starting my 6th..love this guy!

Great author ok performer. Great imagination

loved it, other sudio books by Mr Sigler benefited from professional performers.

However, most creative author I have read since Preston and Child were writing stand alone novels.

Another success by Sigler

It was a little hard to get into at first. Seemed a little slow. But once the story started to move in its timeline about a quarter of the way in, it was as usual, hard to put down. Can’t wait for another book of his as I am now out of titles to read!

Your in for a treat!

this is one of my favorite books. Love Scott's voice! Your in for a treat. Just get it!

just amazing

This story is well written. keeping me on the edge of my seat theough the entire story. I cannot say enough about, not only the story, but the author as well. Recommend the reading of this book and all of his other works.