Book Review: The God Gene by F.Paul Wilson

The God Gene by F.Paul Wilson

Hardcover, 368 pages

Published January 2018 by Forge

The God Gene is the second book featuring Medical examiner Laura Fanning and mercenary Rick Hayden. Over the majority of F.Paul Wilson's long career he wrote stories in two different series the Adversary cycle and the Repairman Jack books. It eventually became clear that that They were apart of one huge universe that was threaded through 98% of of Wilson's books in a saga he calls the Secret History of the World.

Some novels are completely connected to the history some are connected by one small event or mention. It is easy to get lost in a discussion of how complex this fictional world gets, and how amazing the plotting involved it is. To me the secret history is more intertwined to Wilson's work as the Dark Tower is to King. I spent most 2012 reading the whole history in one year. So honestly I could write all day about it.

That said when the first book in this series came out I was excited for a novel by Wilson out of his saga (his last one that I can think of is the excellent vampire novel Midnight Mass). So I had mix feelings when a twist part way through the first book revealed that yes Panacea is about of the secret history. Look the way it connected was subtle and brilliant, and in this book the connection is even more intense. So yes I have to marvel at Wilson's genius. The thing is that reveal which comes in the third act is what makes the book awesome to me. I am not sure that this story will work at the same level if you are not a diehard FPW reader.

I am a die hard so this novel worked quite well for me.

Laura and Rick are great characters, and their connection to the story comes when Rick's brother Keith a famous zoolist goes missing. The biggest clue this unnatural smart primate he brought back from east Africa. Keith not only killed the primate but has taken huge lengths to erase any sign that the creature existed. Much like the first book we have a globe trotting thriller that involves exotic locales and big action scenes.

Wilson is a master of narrative slight of hand, and that is on display here with characters who have shifting and unreliable Point of views through the course of the book. The story might appear of the surface to be a simple thriller but the title suggest something deeper, and it is a huge part of the story.

What gives humans the ability to be creative and what is the thing that helped us make that leap from other primates. Oddly enough I just happened to pick a book by another Wilson at the library the same day. Unrelated Edward O. Wilson is a famous award winning biologist released a book called Origins of Creativity(my next review)that I picked up off the new releases shelf at the library. Having gone into the God Gene blind I was amused when I realized the novel and non-fiction book were on a similar topic.

The connection to the secret history is key for my enjoyment, but really the crafty thing FPW did here was write thriller about one of the biggest questions in human life. That thing that makes us creative, that gives us the ability to love and rise above instinct. I like to think of it as the reason we must be guided by compassion as it is a gift, but in this story that gene, that god gene is like a live wire. The question at had is can humanity handle the idea that those genes were created by something and not a mere accident.

F.Paul Wilson does it again.