Genesis

By: Robin Cook

Narrated by: George Guidall

Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's summary

New York Times best-selling author Robin Cook takes on the ripped-from-the-headlines topic of harnessing DNA from ancestry websites to catch a killer in this timely and explosive new medical thriller.

When the body of 28-year-old social worker Kera Jacobsen shows up on Chief New York City Medical Examiner Laurie Montgomery's autopsy table, at first it appears she was the victim of a tragic yet routine drug overdose. But for Laurie and her new pathology resident, the brilliant but enigmatic Dr. Aria Nichols, little things aren't adding up. Kera's family and friends swear she never touched drugs. Administrators from the hospital where Kera worked are insisting the case be shrouded in silence. And although Kera was 10 weeks pregnant, nobody seems to know who the father was - or whether he holds the key to Kera's final moments alive.

As a medical emergency temporarily sidelines Laurie, impulsive Aria turns to a controversial new technique: using genealogical DNA databases to track down those who don't want to be found. Working with experts at a start-up ancestry website, she plans to trace the fetus' DNA back to likely male relatives in the hopes of identifying the mystery father.

But when Kera's closest friend and fellow social worker is murdered, the need for answers becomes even more urgent. Because someone out there clearly doesn't want Kera's secrets to come to light...and if Aria gets any closer to the truth, she and Laurie might find themselves a killer's next targets.

©2019 Robin Cook (P)2019 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"With Genesis, [Robin Cook] successfully sheds light on genetic genealogy and some privacy concerns involving its ever-expanding DNA databases.” (Associated Press)

Very Current & Relevant

This has so many relevant health issues encountered by families today, the overprescribing of drugs to treat ADHD in young boys and the preventive mastectomy+oophorectomy of women with high risk for breast & ovarian cancer. Plus the use of genetic genealogy to find adoptee or donor sperm parents as well as to catch a killer. It was so interesting & so current, I was hooked on the medicine and the case.

Having read a lot of Jack Stapleton & Laurie Montgomery’s books also made this feel like catching up with old friends.

Brilliant medical thriller from my favorite author in this genre. The narrator set the perfect tone for this story.

Worst dialogue ever

I'm a big fan of well written, natural-sounding dialog. This book has none of that. With virtually every sentence uttered by a character, I wanted to scream, "An acutal human would never talk that way!" Someone actually explained to a doctor the meaning of "paternal grandfather." Spouses converse in lengthy sentences with multiple clauses. Word choices are stilted. It is all just terribly unnatural.

This problem is exacerbated by the terrible, choppy narration. There is a pause every time the narrator starts a new line of text, breaking up each of the lengthy sentences into unmanagable chunks.

Finally, the plot it on the lame side, too. While familial DNA matching has been a TV trope for several years now, the whole arc of the story hinges on it being something new and virtually unheard of, that has to be explained to medical personnel in the most basic of terms.

Robin's Back/Guidall Isn't

Having been disappointed in the past few books by this author, I am happy to report that the old Robin Cook has returned. Good medical crime story, good characters, page-turning activity. I have but one complaint and since I am normally a big fan of George Guidall, I was very disappointed in the rapid, choppy, breathy reading of this book. I found it annoying and distracting but continued my listen because the actual story was quite good. Maybe I am getting picky in my old age but George...........get a grip. I probably would have given it a 5 star rating if the reading by Guidall hadn't been such a bummer. In my head I am pretending that it was really read by Scott Brick, hence the 4 stars.

Bad narrator

I can barley understand George Guidall. From now on, I will choose to read instead of listening to any books he narrates

Same old Cook!

If you have read all of his books more than once you can predict what happens next. I did but I would never miss one. I pre-order and purchase in paper form. There is nothing like the feel and smell of a brand new Robin Cook! I hope he lives to be 100 and continues to write.

Meh

Disappointing. Mr Cook has not really kept up w/the times. I also wondered why his editor didn't catch his repetitive phrases in the first part of the book. I listened to the whole book so obviously I was entertained somewhat by it however it was certainly not on the top tier w/his best books. I won't be quick to purchase another of his books. I was a fan of his older work. I usually like this narrator but felt as though he blurred words together quickly in the first part of the book or his word endings dropped into the next word. It did get much better a few chapters in.

Excellent story extremely wordy

I love these stories but they are so wordy most people would put the book down. It borders on ridiculous at times. That's why an extra chapter is added at very end to explain things. Please stop adding 2 hours to these books with unnecessary prose

Great as expected!

Robin Cook & George Guidall - the BEST of the BEST! You can't go wrong with these two !!!!

Narrator distracted from the story

George takes multiple breaths in a single sentence (even short sentences), which has the auditory effect of adding commas in random places. It chopped up the delivery so much that I had a hard time following the story and eventually it started grinding my nerves so I abandoned the book before it was finished. I love Robin Cook, so this was disappointing.

Great story telling little disappointing

I will write the first part of this review with no spoilers. I thoroughly enjoyed the medical aspects of the story and the suspense portion. The characters were well constructed and this was generally an enjoyable listen; however (SPOILER ALERT)

I was completely let down in the end. There was not enough build up of the relationship or backstory on the villain and his adoption story or true motives behind such a murderous spree. I get that his perfect life was threatened however this happens in real life every day and people don’t go on killing spree‘s. I would have enjoyed hearing more about his upbringing and maybe some kind of dark history with his birth story and adoption since he was apparently born of a socialite who gave him up secretly etc. Maybe he learned of this secret and it made him angry and he vowed revenge and something else happened or something I felt like in the end I was just kind of let down with a ho-hum motive of she was going to destroy my family and then I overreacted. I am a long time Robin Cook fan and I felt like the development of this villain was undercooked. This is just the opinion of one humble reader.