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Jack Pascoe ended a well-earned holiday prematurely to pay an unscheduled visit to his laboratory. There he discovered that two of his partners, Sally and Liam Jennings, had taken advantage of his absence to steal the lynchpin of his cloning system, just when he’d been finally ready to share it with the world. In the days that followed, Jack would be assailed on all sides, as so-called friends and lovers joined forces with a disgruntled police officer and a shadowy character known only as The Dutchman, all determined to destroy him. Treachery, as Jack was about to discover, is a slippery slope. Until he found someone he could trust, something to stop an inevitable slide into the abyss, it seemed he would lose not only his laboratory and his freedom, but maybe his life too.
- GenresFiction
429 pages, Paperback
First published July 3, 2010
2054 people want to read
About the author
Tom Henry
1 book38 followersBorn in Belfast in 1963, the author survived 'The Troubles', studied in Manchester and has since worked in various professions and cities, including a five-year spell in Eastern Europe. Happily, whilst in Ukraine, the author met and subsequently married Svetlana, and the couple have now settled in the UK, with their eighteen-year-old daughter and a cross-eyed Romanian cat.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
February 21, 2012
I got this book from the publisher free as part of the Goodreads First Reader Program
This book literally starts out with a bang which is the sound of a gun going off and the target, Sally, being blown back with half her head missing. This came as a supreme surprise to Jack who had been talking to her, or rather yelling at her, just prior to the shot going off.
Roy, who was in possession of the gun at the time, claimed he was just trying to scare her, and get her to shut up, by whizzing a bullet past her ear. Evidently Roy is a terrible shot.
The book then travels backwards a little to detail the timeline just prior to the confrontation, and then proceeds forward in time after the shot rang out.
Jack had been onto successfully concluding a cloning process when he finds that Sally has taken his research and was in the process of passing it on to another group. This did not sit well with Jack thus prompting the above mentioned yelling match.
While Jack and Roy are cleaning up the mess Roy basically bolts and tries to distance him self from the murder whereas Jack is picked up by the police and interrogated in the murder which they think he did.
The second story line starts with Jack establishing his lab and research process and leads up to hid break through, after much trial and error which is another name for research.
An enjoyable book with lively characters and a compelling story line.
This book literally starts out with a bang which is the sound of a gun going off and the target, Sally, being blown back with half her head missing. This came as a supreme surprise to Jack who had been talking to her, or rather yelling at her, just prior to the shot going off.
Roy, who was in possession of the gun at the time, claimed he was just trying to scare her, and get her to shut up, by whizzing a bullet past her ear. Evidently Roy is a terrible shot.
The book then travels backwards a little to detail the timeline just prior to the confrontation, and then proceeds forward in time after the shot rang out.
Jack had been onto successfully concluding a cloning process when he finds that Sally has taken his research and was in the process of passing it on to another group. This did not sit well with Jack thus prompting the above mentioned yelling match.
While Jack and Roy are cleaning up the mess Roy basically bolts and tries to distance him self from the murder whereas Jack is picked up by the police and interrogated in the murder which they think he did.
The second story line starts with Jack establishing his lab and research process and leads up to hid break through, after much trial and error which is another name for research.
An enjoyable book with lively characters and a compelling story line.
March 9, 2019
Confusing is my first thought when I think of this novel. Not sure why but for some reason I found the beginning of the book hard to follow with all the action that was happening. There were a few characters that I just could not relate too in any way. There was some very good scenes and some great dialogue but the tempo seemed off.
July 22, 2017
This book was a little too hard for me to follow. It seemed to jump around a lot and I couldn't keep up.
April 12, 2016
I received this book for free via Goodreads First Reads.
I am not sure how I can review this book. It encompasses many genres and it is not easy to describe. The plot is varied and never feels rushed although the book takes place over just five days. In those five days there are deaths, very realistic violence (as well as hints of sexual violence), shocks, twists, turns, scientific breakthroughs, a parakeet and a whole lot of interesting characters.
There is a lot more here than there is in your average book. You can sympathise with some characters while disliking others due to the quality of the writing. There are some genuinely bad people involved in the story who will go to any length to further their goals. In many ways the characters carry the story better than the plot does (which I do mean as a compliment to the author).
I enjoyed the book and was intrigued by many parts of it. I would recommend it to any reader who is looking for something a bit different. I hovered over giving it 5 stars for a while but I think it gets a solid 4 stars. I hope to read more from the author in the future.
I am not sure how I can review this book. It encompasses many genres and it is not easy to describe. The plot is varied and never feels rushed although the book takes place over just five days. In those five days there are deaths, very realistic violence (as well as hints of sexual violence), shocks, twists, turns, scientific breakthroughs, a parakeet and a whole lot of interesting characters.
There is a lot more here than there is in your average book. You can sympathise with some characters while disliking others due to the quality of the writing. There are some genuinely bad people involved in the story who will go to any length to further their goals. In many ways the characters carry the story better than the plot does (which I do mean as a compliment to the author).
I enjoyed the book and was intrigued by many parts of it. I would recommend it to any reader who is looking for something a bit different. I hovered over giving it 5 stars for a while but I think it gets a solid 4 stars. I hope to read more from the author in the future.
July 23, 2015
This is not the sort of book I would choose but the summary compelled me to enter the giveaway.
I found the first chapter slow but once I had started the second chapter I was so hooked.
Following jack in his undivided determination to fulfil his dream of building a successful cloning machine. The twists and turns of murder and mystery as the murder of Jacks business and Ex girlfriend Sally is linked to a murder of one of Jacks fellow college boys years earlier.
Such an interesting set of characters and story lines makes this book very hard to put down.
Big thanks to goodreads First Reads where I won a review copy of this book.
I found the first chapter slow but once I had started the second chapter I was so hooked.
Following jack in his undivided determination to fulfil his dream of building a successful cloning machine. The twists and turns of murder and mystery as the murder of Jacks business and Ex girlfriend Sally is linked to a murder of one of Jacks fellow college boys years earlier.
Such an interesting set of characters and story lines makes this book very hard to put down.
Big thanks to goodreads First Reads where I won a review copy of this book.
January 9, 2015
I won this as a free book from Goodreads - many thanks!
My initial reaction was negative because I found the double spaced type and see through pages distracting. I thought it was going to be quite surreal, but then had to reread the first few chapters after working out that the use of the names of birds of prey was some sort of slang.
However, once I finally got going I really enjoyed the concept of the cloning machine, and would have liked the novel to concentrate more on that and less on the 'murder mystery' aspects.
It's well worth persevering with as the writing flows much more easily and readably after the first few chapters and the main theme is intriguing and involving.
My initial reaction was negative because I found the double spaced type and see through pages distracting. I thought it was going to be quite surreal, but then had to reread the first few chapters after working out that the use of the names of birds of prey was some sort of slang.
However, once I finally got going I really enjoyed the concept of the cloning machine, and would have liked the novel to concentrate more on that and less on the 'murder mystery' aspects.
It's well worth persevering with as the writing flows much more easily and readably after the first few chapters and the main theme is intriguing and involving.
November 28, 2014
I received the book for free through a Goodreads competition.
I have to admit that when I first started to read I struggled to keep track of the storyline due to the jumping around from character to character and had more idea of what Jack was wearing than what was happening in the story. Once I got past the first few chapters and Roy had done a runner, suddenly the story started to flow and I found myself in the middle of a very interesting read.
I found the characters interesting and it was generally a well written book, its well worth struggling with the initial few pages to get to the story.
I have to admit that when I first started to read I struggled to keep track of the storyline due to the jumping around from character to character and had more idea of what Jack was wearing than what was happening in the story. Once I got past the first few chapters and Roy had done a runner, suddenly the story started to flow and I found myself in the middle of a very interesting read.
I found the characters interesting and it was generally a well written book, its well worth struggling with the initial few pages to get to the story.
November 28, 2014
I have to admit that I wasn't to sure about this book at fiorst as the whole Scietific theme isn't me. However I was hooked after a couple of chapters. I found it full of pace and intrigue,justice and injustice and I have now passed it onto one of my students who is thrilled at the whole concept.
The only off putting thing I found was the actual layout of the text and the font,but I managed to get round that and enjoy it nonetheless.
A good Debut novel,plenty more to come from Mr Henry I suspect!
The only off putting thing I found was the actual layout of the text and the font,but I managed to get round that and enjoy it nonetheless.
A good Debut novel,plenty more to come from Mr Henry I suspect!
February 11, 2012
I won this as a free book from Goodreads. I found myself pleasantly surprised by Tom Henry's writing style. He paints a picture with words of Jack Pascoe and his world. I'm not sure how to classify this as a scientific murder mystery?? It kind of crosses a couple genre's for me anyway. I don't generally read this type of novel but I'm glad that I did the scientific knowledge wasn't too hard to grasp and the plot kept me interested. Over all I really enjoyed this read.
January 22, 2014
This book was a bit maddening to read but once I got the hang of the way the story read then I liked what I was reading this book is one of the them you can't put down and good strong characters plus very good story as for some of the characters where as you say you ether love them or loth them but all in all a very enjoyable read and will be looking out for more of this authors work in the future and as always happy reading to all from wee me.xxxxxxx
January 8, 2014
This book was pretty good. A plus was that there was some scientific knowledge in there (which I like) and it wasn't too hard to understand. It added to the book and made it more enjoyable as a book. I was surprised by how the book started: literally with the bang of a gun. I will admit that I don't usually read books like this and I thought this was a good book to break up the usual stuff I read.
*won on GoodReads First Reads*
*won on GoodReads First Reads*
February 10, 2014
**I received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads.**
Interesting story line, with characters that are either likeable and relatable or just pure evil. I loved the concept of the cloning machine that Jack came up with, but I wish that the story dealt more with the actual cloning system, rather than just focusing on . Overall, intriguing story!
Interesting story line, with characters that are either likeable and relatable or just pure evil. I loved the concept of the cloning machine that Jack came up with, but I wish that the story dealt more with the actual cloning system, rather than just focusing on . Overall, intriguing story!
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March 29, 2014My comments on this book were shared directly with the author, along with my thanks for the advance reader's copy.
January 4, 2015
I won this book on a goodread giveaway Loved the concept but found the overall novel plot very drawn out Many Thanks
September 28, 2015
A very good read.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews