Replica

by Lionel Saben

Scienc fiction, medical, cloning. 400 pages Pinnacle (April 30, 1997) English 0786004797 978-0786004799 Product 6.7 x 4 x 1.2 inches Shipping 6.4 ounces

Paperback

First published April 30, 1997

Reviews

[Phil · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have been reading this to help me sleep at night but I finally finished it. Replica is an early Zebra publication, my edition came out in 1978 and unfortunately, GR does not have the lovely cover on file here for it, which also has the blurb-- "More Diabolical Than Coma!-- highlighted on the front cover. Between starting this and writing the review, somehow GR now only has the 1997 Pinnacle edition on file; why they wanted to reprint this clunker I have no idea, nor do I know how they 'lost' the older edition.

This was a yawn fest almost from the start. Our main protagonist Alfred Eberhard embodies the classic mad scientist trope, a sociopathic brainiac always pushing to the limits science and ethics begone! Alfred begins his medical career as a research scientist at an institute devoted to cancer research. For the first 100 pages or so, we get drama as Alfred clashes with the head of the institute, etc., but finally devotes himself to a new mission-- cloning. Why cloning? It started as a research project to see why and where cancer starts, but, well, he just got hooked on it. Starting simple, after years of trials and tribulations, he and his research partner manage to clone a frog. Over the next 150 pages, Alfred manages to clone a rat. The obvious next step is to clone himself!

The details (and oh are they detailed) depictions of the scientific processes involved in frog and rat cloning take up lots of space here; obviously the author has some sort of medical background, and if you are into stuff like that, you may find some interest here. The brief prologue has Dr. Alfred getting ready to cut into his clone, which is about 16 years old. Unfortunately, we only return to the prologue with about 5 pages left, so you have to sort though almost 400 pages to get to the mildly explosive denouement.

I really hate to DNF books, but this came pretty damn close. Yes, the medical procedures had some interest, and I presume the political drama at the research institute possesses some air of truth about it. Nonetheless, Alfred is a protagonist you really cannot like; arrogant, self-seeking, and sociopathic. Yet, women throughout the book keep welcoming him into bed (and yes, some fairly lurid sex scenes also grace these pages). I have no idea how the editors of Zebra claimed that this was more diabolical than Coma; purely a marketing blurb to sell this clunker. 1.5 weak stars.

[Julia Voyles]

Cloning. We are able to perform cloning today but what you can not clon is the spirit and emotions.

[Korin Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intriguing story, very scientific at times. Can do without one of the scenes, but it added to the character traits.

[Mike Nyberg · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was hoping for a better read than this authors version. Can definitely tell it was written in the 70's. Plot very narrow and low tech. Disappointing ending.

[Boz Reacher · Rating 2 out of 5]

Undoubtedly one of the worst books I've read but I feel quite affectionate toward it. The first hundred pages, the guy clones a frog. It takes him another hundred and fifty pages to clone a rat. At every turn of the page you're thinking, "Ok, here's where we jump ahead twenty years and the guy has cloned himself and now he's gotta fight the clone, or something..." But it doesn't happen. The experiments continue. And then the ending, when it finally arrives, takes like twenty pages, the guy can't finish writing it quickly enough. The author, "Lionel Saben," is helplessly bored with every aspect of the story that doesn't take place under a microscope. But it kinda dawned on me about halfway through, I honestly don't care if this guy fights his clone or not, I don't care if anything happens - I'm just going to keep reading until I'm done because I've already invested like ninety minutes in this thing. That's the power of books.

[Bookcase Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a popular one it seems, but I liked the story a lot and it kept me hooked. While the story itself is interesting, I was particularly fascinated by the details presented in the clone-making process. It seems so realistic and believable - not to mention plausible - that I'd be very surprised if something like this hasn't already happened...gripping read, highly recommended.

[Josh Steele · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hectic and super graphic in places. Dark towards the end. Loved it.