Taming the Telomeres: A Thriller

By: R.N. Shapiro

Narrated by: Mikael Naramore

A survivor. A soul mate. A secret affecting telomeres - the protective tip of the human chromosome that controls cell life. And death.

High school senior Amanda Michaels suffers from amnesia with regard to everything before the jet crash that only she survived. She lost her parents and her memory in the aftermath but miraculously survived. While recovering, Amanda strikes up a whirlwind romance with a young hospital volunteer but recalls only a haunting series of flashbacks of her near-death experiences (NDEs).

Gold Award-winning fiction thriller - 2015 Readers' Favorite Int. Book Award Contest

©2014 Richard N. Shapiro (P)2016 Richard N. Shapiro

Critic reviews

Gold Award winning fiction thriller – 2015 Readers' Favorite Int. Book Award Contest "'A masterpiece' and 'spellbinding page turner' are just some of the praises showered on this cutting-edge biological thriller...and a highly unanticipated climax complete the thriller joyride." ( Bloomberg BusinessWeek)

Well, what's this book about?

Well, what's this book about? Part survivor story, part coming of age tale about Amanda, but I also learned how critical the research is about human telomeres, and why there might be high level espionage about this medical research. There are a number of characters that you "think" you know, but don't, as the story unfolds. Many unexpected twists. I like the narrator. He does a great job with this audio version. If you enjoy spy thrillers, I highly recommend this novel - and the last act absolutely rocks!

great spy thriller

Where does Taming the Telomeres: A Thriller rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This is in the top 3 for me.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

Captured me right away and especially at the end. Surprises I did not see coming too.

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

Had not heard him but I like him.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

The beginning was awesome and the ending and "chase" at the end was great too.

Any additional comments?

If you like Bourne Identity or Gone Girl, definitely get this.

Best Audiobook I've Ever Heard

A science-based tech-thriller built on a fabulous concept. Like The Martian, this has enough science to make things believable--without bogging down the story in a million little details. The best audiobook I've ever heard, by far. This screams to be a movie.

Brilliantly plotted - executed biological thriller

I enjoyed this book for so many reasons. As others have said, it’s a page-turner that cannot be put down. The story is well-executed and carefully plotted. Seventeen-year-old Amanda Michaels is the sole survivor in a plane crash. Her uncle, famed attorney Andy Michaels, who launched his career representing families of 9/11 Pentagon crash victims, is devastated by the crash. Ron Micheals, Amanda’s dad and Andy were as close as two brothers could be. Andy’s challenge: to mourn his brother, take care of his niece and use his knowledge of the law to investigate the crash, and ensure that the victims are properly compensated. As for Amanda, she has no memory of anything that occurred before the crash except her chilling near-death and dream-like experience. Her survival of the crash was miraculous and her rate of recovery beyond extraordinary. As the story progresses, the reader is exposed to twist after surprising twist, revealing that nothing is as it seems. All this progresses to an unforgettable and satisfying conclusion.

Shapiro demonstrates an in-depth knowledge of not only the law and legal procedure, but also the details about the practice of law. He gives us an insider’s view of the federal court system, and demonstrates knowledge about domestic operation of our intelligence agencies.

Shapiro is an inventor, and holder of a number of patents. This explains for me the reason that he was knowledgeable about the telomeres, something that I had never heard of prior to reading this novel.

As an aside, after reading this work, I felt compelled to look further and discovered that tellers really do exist, and in fact were the subject of the 2009 Nobel Prize in medicine won by Elizabeth Blackburm (Johns Hopkins) and Jack Szostak (Harvard Medical School). “Awarded for the discovery of telomeres, the repeated sequences of DNA at the ends of chromosomes that protect the integrity of the chromosomal DNA, and for the discovery of telomerase, the enzyme that builds the telomeres.”

Listen this book, The narrator was excellent, and I have not doubt you will love it as I did!

Garret Holms, Author of Grant Of Immunity

Too Many Characters & Hard To Believe

I don't listen to my audiobooks everyday so keeping all the characters straight was challenging.