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Knockdown
Welcome to the underground world of garage biotech.
Owen Chancellor is a college kid biopunk with a garage lab, a circuit’s eye for recognizing patterns, and he’s had it with the stagnant state of medicine. His beloved brother is dying from an untreatable disease, already living off stolen time. Desperate and burnt out on the orthodox system of investigational drug testing, Owen searches on his own for a cure until an accidental self-injection changes the course of his research and the startling results have him running for his life…
His professor is shot dead, and Owen is the next target. His reflexes now changing in frightening, unexplainable ways, Owen races for answers only to learn he’s infected himself with a ticking bomb.
Built on up-to-the-minute scientific knowledge, KNOCKDOWN takes you headlong into this emerging world of revenge, redemption, and aspirations so vast they cannot be grounded.
Owen Chancellor is a college kid biopunk with a garage lab, a circuit’s eye for recognizing patterns, and he’s had it with the stagnant state of medicine. His beloved brother is dying from an untreatable disease, already living off stolen time. Desperate and burnt out on the orthodox system of investigational drug testing, Owen searches on his own for a cure until an accidental self-injection changes the course of his research and the startling results have him running for his life…
His professor is shot dead, and Owen is the next target. His reflexes now changing in frightening, unexplainable ways, Owen races for answers only to learn he’s infected himself with a ticking bomb.
Built on up-to-the-minute scientific knowledge, KNOCKDOWN takes you headlong into this emerging world of revenge, redemption, and aspirations so vast they cannot be grounded.
299 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 3, 2012
13 people are currently reading
209 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
June 10, 2012
Spiderman was bitten by a radioactive spider. Bruce Banner was the result of an experiment. Green Lantern got a magic ring. The list goes on and we roll our eyes but suspend our disbelief to enjoy the story.
But Doering's "superhero" is born from real science.
In today's age -- where the human genome has been decoded and heritable traits can be manipulated -- Doering crafts a story from current medical technology. Our protagonist is a garage biotechnician, experimenting with genetic manipulation in an effort to save his brother from a debilitating disease. In the process, he experiments on himself and we see the results of unlocked potential and heightened senses -- the impact of super-sized olfactory senses and rapid reflexes. How an ordinary person can smell deception.
What's great about Knockdown is the insight into aspects of biotechnology. And not just how it works but its impact on society and culture, how advancements could very well come from garage geeks instead of corporations.
Knockdown is a fun thriller that offers a glimpse at today's medical world. And what the future may hold.
But Doering's "superhero" is born from real science.
In today's age -- where the human genome has been decoded and heritable traits can be manipulated -- Doering crafts a story from current medical technology. Our protagonist is a garage biotechnician, experimenting with genetic manipulation in an effort to save his brother from a debilitating disease. In the process, he experiments on himself and we see the results of unlocked potential and heightened senses -- the impact of super-sized olfactory senses and rapid reflexes. How an ordinary person can smell deception.
What's great about Knockdown is the insight into aspects of biotechnology. And not just how it works but its impact on society and culture, how advancements could very well come from garage geeks instead of corporations.
Knockdown is a fun thriller that offers a glimpse at today's medical world. And what the future may hold.
July 8, 2012
Interesting science, but sometimes hard to follow. I'm still not quite sure how it all worked out...
Gritty writing helps to create the mood, but I can't say I loved it. Perhaps too masculine for me> I had some trouble following the story and characters, but I was reading it in bursts and then putting it down. That's always hard!
The main character, Owen, is a scientifically brilliant punk/rebel. He's working in a lab to have access to mice and equipment to continue experimenting on his own. He needs to find a cure for his soon-to-die brother that suffers from ALS.
He had a cool dude of a roomate, a loving but troubled girlfriend, and some people following him that either seriously don't approve of his experiments or want it. It becomes quite the chase and I had trouble following the "bad guys".
Medical/Scientific thriller. I enjoyed the scientific details, but I can see that it slowed the pace of the thriller aspect. I'm a huge Crichton fan, so I loved the science. However, it didn't all make sense to me. Lack of knowledge on my part, or huge leaps by the author? I don't know!
Gritty writing helps to create the mood, but I can't say I loved it. Perhaps too masculine for me> I had some trouble following the story and characters, but I was reading it in bursts and then putting it down. That's always hard!
The main character, Owen, is a scientifically brilliant punk/rebel. He's working in a lab to have access to mice and equipment to continue experimenting on his own. He needs to find a cure for his soon-to-die brother that suffers from ALS.
He had a cool dude of a roomate, a loving but troubled girlfriend, and some people following him that either seriously don't approve of his experiments or want it. It becomes quite the chase and I had trouble following the "bad guys".
Medical/Scientific thriller. I enjoyed the scientific details, but I can see that it slowed the pace of the thriller aspect. I'm a huge Crichton fan, so I loved the science. However, it didn't all make sense to me. Lack of knowledge on my part, or huge leaps by the author? I don't know!
June 15, 2012
Owen is failing university because all his time and energy is taken up with trying to find a cure for his dying brother. He has a garage RNA lab and stumbles across an amazing discovery and then accidently injects himself and a whole new deadly world opens for him. He then finds it’s a race against time to find out what will kill him first – his science or the people who are willing to kill to keep scientific progress a secret.
I enjoyed this novel, it’s a good thriller based on the way research into DNA/RNA is evolving in its own right. While there are some amazing discoveries in this novel there aren’t any ongoing superpowers. If you enjoy a good thriller with a scifi edge to it this novel is worth downloading.
I enjoyed this novel, it’s a good thriller based on the way research into DNA/RNA is evolving in its own right. While there are some amazing discoveries in this novel there aren’t any ongoing superpowers. If you enjoy a good thriller with a scifi edge to it this novel is worth downloading.
February 20, 2016
Awesome story
This was an excellent story. It had the smart kid trying to save his brother who has ALS with dna therapy plus throw in some unexpected organisms which I won't elaborate on. I don't want to spoil that part. A bunch of organizations trying to stop him. Just a fast paced story that could be believable. Who knows. I would recommend this to others. It sci-fi, action, suspense, and thriller all rolled up into one nice story. It would make a pretty good movie if you ask me.
This was an excellent story. It had the smart kid trying to save his brother who has ALS with dna therapy plus throw in some unexpected organisms which I won't elaborate on. I don't want to spoil that part. A bunch of organizations trying to stop him. Just a fast paced story that could be believable. Who knows. I would recommend this to others. It sci-fi, action, suspense, and thriller all rolled up into one nice story. It would make a pretty good movie if you ask me.
September 29, 2016
This is a fine piece of the kind of hard science fiction that lives just over the horizon. Doering knows how to get into the heads of his characters and gives us a set of interesting, somewhat quirky people with actual minds and souls. The thriller is fun reading without being ponderous. A few loose ends exist -- what happened to the helicopters? -- that could easily lead to a second book starring the mysterious Max and the Hand's Luddites.
Like Interfaced, Doering manages a book that moves quickly in edgy and interesting directions.
Like Interfaced, Doering manages a book that moves quickly in edgy and interesting directions.
June 27, 2012
This is a medical thriller. It is a good debut for the author. The passages about RNAi was sometimes difficult but I pushed through them and there were some acronyms that were foreign to me. If you like medical thriller's then it's worth reading.
January 16, 2013
I found this book interesting and compelling at times. The science was very well presented in an understandabe way. Unfortunately, the story itself, not the scientific explanation, was confusing enough at time that at several points I found myself skimming pages.
December 11, 2012
Kept going back to it, but just wasn't my cup of tea, as they say.
This is not to say, you won't like it. It just did not work for me.
This is not to say, you won't like it. It just did not work for me.
June 28, 2012
Well written but with too much scientific terminology and explanations - really slowed the pace. If ypou like reading about gene therapy, RNA and DNA, you'll probably like it better than I did.
May 30, 2013
I liked this book and its characters. I like science so I enjoyed the content as well. The denouement was a little too long in coming . Somehow the book seemed a little longer than it needed to be.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews