Quality DNA

by Beth Martin

He will do anything to make the perfect human.
She will do anything to uncover the truth.

In 2059, every person's DNA is recorded in the Genome Database. Even though Annette's perfect baby girl was the product of a one night stand, she knows the database will give her the name of the sexy stranger who fathered her child. Instead, her baby's DNA matches that of a man she's never met who died several years ago.

Irene works at the Social Department and is assigned Annette's case. When more and more instances of births that don't make sense and babies who shouldn't exist cross her desk, she realizes there's something deeper going on. Her investigation sucks her into a sinister organization with a single goal in mind.

Misguided matchmaking. Deranged medical experiments. Outright terrorism. All in the name of finding one elusive Quality DNA.

Beth Martin writes intense, post-apocalyptic and near-future thrillers full of grit suspense, and action. Follow her on Twitter at @BethMart07, and stay up to date with all the latest releases at BethMartinBooks.com!

231 pages, ebook

Published October 8, 2017

About the author

Beth Martin has her degree in mathematics and enjoys all things numbers. She's always up for a board game. Other hobbies include playing the piano and making quilts. Although she's terrible at video games, she loves watching her husband play.

Most of her time is spent chasing her two adorable children. She also has two fluffy cats.

Reviews

[Bethanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a free copy of Quality DNA through BookSirens in exchange for an honest review.

Quality DNA tells the story of a future in which a strict one child policy is enforced in the US. Both parents are sterilised following the birth of their child, and don't have another opportunity to have a child. When cases of men fathering more than one child become more common, Irene investigates the cause of this unusual trend.

This was a really interesting idea. China has had a one child policy (and a two child policy), so as the population increases a future that restricts the number of children people can have doesn't seem farfetched, but isn't something that I've come across in other books.

It took me a while to get into this, but once I did I enjoyed it. I thought the science seemed a bit iffy in a couple of places but overall most of it was reasonable.

Although this was described as science-fiction I would probably put it as a crime/mystery. The investigation, and going undercover with the FBI wouldn't be out of place in any TV crime drama. I enjoyed this part of the plot, while parts of it were complicated, it kept me really interested in the story as I tried to guess what was going on.

I'd recommend this book more to fans of crime mysteries than science fiction fans, but it was an interesting take on a future that I haven't read in other books.

[Lel Budge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quality DNA by Beth Martin is set in distant future, but not too distant and there is the now a one child policy all over the US.

Irene Crow, who works for the social department, is responsible for investigating when two babies have been born to one parent.

As DNA is taken from each child at birth and registered centrally, there is no bypassing law. As soon as a baby is born alive, both parents are sterilised to ensure that the law is upheld. How abhorrent, even the thought of this angered me, which is a credit to Beth Martin’s writing.

Irene finds there is an increase in babies being born with the DNA of a previously sterilised parent or even a dead man

With an ever growing population, while this is fiction, it doesn’t take much stretch of the imagination to envisage such a thing happening. A really thought provoking and very clever read.

[Stewart Hoffman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting read and a mostly entertaining exploration of our possibly overpopulated future, and the regulatory setup to control birthrates. Some elements in the story didn’t feel well researched (like how doctors talk to their patients) and other plot details strained credulity. The pace was good and it was the right length—spending just the right amount of words to properly build its world without boring the reader with unnecessary detail. Despite its problems, I never once thought about abandoning it, and overall, I found it very readable.

[Jeff Billington · Rating 5 out of 5]

A modern sci-fi thriller and is frightening on two fronts, and over reaching and controlling government and the unhinged fanaticism of a self-righteous opponent. The last forty or so pages are the best, with lot action and an exciting climax.

[Jamie Bee · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Softer Side of Sci Fi...Yet Thrilling...Futuristic Without Being Wholly Dystopian

I found this book to be an amazing read!

The book takes place in the year 2059 in Seattle. It is a world we would recognize, just with cooler gadgets, nicer apps (like one that lets a pregnant mom hear her baby's heartbeat and get other readings). But there is one key difference: In 2059, due to global warming, the US government legislated that each person may only have one child, even if a child dies. Unlike some dystopian books with this kind of a theme, people aren't severely punished for having more than one child; cases where the standard post-birth DNA testing of a child turns up a match to a person who is already a parent are investigated to see what has caused a person (the man, typically) to have "excessive progeny." One of the main characters, Irene is employed by the Social Department, and she increasingly finds her caseload to be about more and more of these incidents--and the DNA daddies are men who have been sterilized or are dead. As professional blends with personal, Irene sees that things just don't add up and starts investigating...and then things really heat up.

The author is skilled at drawing us in to the complex web of characters and subplots. The characters, like the setting, seem very much like us. We can recognize human struggles like we or others have faced: Annette choosing to have a child out of wedlock despite her family being against it, Jamie desiring to have a child with her wife. It is a pleasure to read a futuristic book where the characters are so human! Sometimes that goes by the wayside in futuristic sci fi. Not here!

I don't want to give away any more of the plot, but the twists and turns kept me on the edge of my seat and swiping left on my Kindle. Some definite surprises...and even shocks!

If you love futuristic science fiction with a heart....and a thrill ride, this book could be right up your alley.

BTW, don't be afraid of the cover here on Goodreads. It has a better cover now!

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Michele Benchouk · Rating 3 out of 5]

This author incorporated science and technology into the story, and there is definitely a readership for that - including me! That said, the premise of this book was promising but it left too many unresolved questions to be satisfying like a Michael Crichton or Andy Weir book would be. Why is procreation limited in this version of the world? How does it work when people get remarried and one has a child but the other doesn't? Wouldn't there be a need for anti-rejection medication? Don't men continue to create new sperm throughout their lives, which would contain the genetic material of that man? While this is a good effort, it is important to anticipate and answer the reader's questions, so the story doesn't lose credibility.

Then there is the personal side of the story.
Although the relationship between Irene and Jamie attempts to make the story deeper, it really is tangential to the novel and could have been cut out completely. Irene is alive enough on her own, especially after we find out about her medical history. Her interactions with her colleagues are enough to make her likeable. Like any cult leader, Aiden is odd but mysterious. We understand his motivations to fight against the procreation limit, but don't get enough detail on his unusual genetic background. Nor do I understand why taking out the database would fundamentally change society. Even if you can't prove who fathered a child, the Social Department would still see you raising siblings.

Overall interesting, but could have used more development and plot editing.

I received a free copy of this book to read and review. All opinions above are my own.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Set in the near future, America's answer to climate change is to impose a strict one-child policy. Sterilization is mandatory, for men and women, after the birth of their first child.

Annette becomes pregnant after a one-night stand with a sexy stranger. Everyone's DNA is listed in the Genome Database. It gives Annette the name of a man who she never met, who died several years previously (frozen sperm does not last for several years). Irene is an investigator with the Seattle Social Department. More such anomalies cross her desk. This is not just a "glitch" in the system; something is very wrong. Just to make things more complicated, Jamie, Irene's wife, really wants to have a child (much more than does Irene). Finding a suitable sperm donor is easier said than done.

Focus shifts to a very off-the-grid group called the Alliance for Quality DNA, or AQD. It is almost a cult, and is run by Aidan, who is charismatic, but nuts. Irene goes undercover, with help from the FBI. They are concerned about terrorism, but Irene is on to the reason for the birth anomalies. Does she become an unintended guinea pig for whatever the AQD has planned?

Here is a really good piece of writing. It's gripping, it's plausible and it will certainly keep the reader's attention. This is very much worth checking out.

[Randi Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is set in the near future (2059). There are lots of technological advances but there is a downside. Due to global warming, the country is severely overpopulated so reproduction is strictly limited to one child. After a man fathers one child or a woman births one child they must be sterilized and it cannot be reversed even if the child dies or they remarry. Unmarried women have an implant to prevent pregnancy until they are married. Irene works in the Social Department where every person's DNA is recorded in the Genome Database and she investigates reports of multiple children with the same DNA. She is shocked when her best friend Annette's new baby shows up in her caseload. During her investigation and in her quest to find a sperm donor for her wife, Irene is drawn into an off-the-grid organization called the Alliance for Quality DNA (AQD). This book is well written and fast paced. It presents a rather grim view of our future and the dastardly things that can happen. I love books about medical experimentation and I loved this one! Thanks to BookSirens and the author for allowing me to read an advance copy for free. I am leaving this review voluntarily because I truly enjoyed the book and could not put it down.

[Friscomama · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quality DNA is a quick and easy read.

The setting is 50 years in the future, and there is a one child only law for every man and woman. Irene Crow is a social worker for the state, assigned to deal with men who seem to have fathered more than one child. Irene comes across an underground group AQD which is rumored to be trying to undermine the data base which helps to investigate presumed violation of the one child law. There are a lot of scary things going on and Crow is in danger for much of the book.

At the same time, Crow is engaged with co-workers, good friends, and a wife who wants to have a baby, but is thwarted by the shortage of men wanting to donate their one child to a stranger. The social aspects of her life are given a deeper background than are found in many Sci-Fi adventure books.

Amazon has the book classified as LGBT Science Fiction and Lesbian Fiction.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Cynthia · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a world where every child's DNA is registered at birth, what happens when an infant conceived on a one-night stand is found to match a father who's been dead for seven years?

I had stuff to do today, and that stuff did not get done because this morning I decided to start this book with my coffee. I was a little unsteady at first with the worldbuilding and how all the characters were related to each other, but after a few chapters I was fully into it, could not put it down and LOVING it! The science is sound, the future social world is both disturbing and plausible, and the characters are genuine and relateable.

[Anastasia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I could not get into the book for the first 10 or more chapters and seriously considered DNFing it several times. The story was just so dry and dragged on until it didn’t. All of a sudden it picked up and everything happened at once. I did enjoy the second half of the book, I just wish the first half offered us a little more. I also wish that we got a bit more from the story in the end, like what really happened to AQD, why the FBI was so sketchy, Irene and Jamie’s relationship, etc. Overall, I enjoyed the story and the interesting futuristic world the author created.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Robin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is a futuristic sci-fi novel that focuses on genetics. Irene works for the Social Department, tracking the mandatory one-child-only law. When she discovers that the genetics of some newborns indicate their fathers have been dead for many years, she begins a dangerous investigation. The story’s premise is a good one, but the writing is confusing and not strong enough to carry the story. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Book Sirens for the free digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

A fast paced book set 50 years in the future. Quality DNA kept my attention from start to finish. It's scary to think that anything like this could happen in the near future. Only thing that kept it from a 5 star rating was the very end. Not a bad ending, just thought it could have been better.

[Melisa Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to this on audible. The story follows a detective caught up in an FBI investigation. In this world, couples can only have one child, and there are measures taken to be sure. Irene, our main character, discovers babies who share DNA with deceased or sterilized men. It leads her to chase a dangerous man who infiltrates Irene and her wife's life in ways that forever change their relationship. Thrilling and thought-provoking, I really enjoyed this sci-fi adventure.

[Joedarris · Rating 5 out of 5]

An uncomfortably familiar dystopia in which an overpopulated world forces its members to become sterile after having a baby. Quality DNA feels but a blink away from own world. Characters who are fully invested in the world kept me turning the pages! Check it out.

[Laurie Hayes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Twists and Turns

Wow!! This book was really good 👍. Have a new outlook on DNA and how it can be used. This book took a turn that I could not predict towards the end

[Anna Kopp · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great diversity, very real characters, and a suspenseful plot make this book a great read. An enjoyable book from start to finish.

[Cosette Puckett · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quality DNA by Beth Martin is a dystopic novel set in the near-future of 2059, in which to mitigate the crisis of global warming, the government institutes population control by limiting all people to having one child in their lifetime by enforcing oppressive methods of birth control through mandatory implants and permanent sterilization after a person sires a child. In addition to enforcing population control, the US government keeps a Genome Database containing the genetic information of every individual in the country, which is used for “predicting disease, identifying uncooperative individuals, and even solving crime.” (Chapter 7) The plot is driven by the protagonist Irene’s investigation of an increasing number of cases in which men are found to have sired multiple children, which leads her to the door of AQD, a sinister organization with the goal of breeding people who possess what they term “quality DNA”, and its charismatic president Aiden Stone, who Irene suspects to be more nefarious than his charms suggest. However, as the FBI recruits Irene to go undercover into AQD and she is increasingly drawn into her investigation, she finds herself in increasingly dangerous situations, while she fears for her wife Jamie as she becomes increasingly entangled with both AQD and Aiden, who promises a solution to her problems in finding a sperm donor so she can become pregnant.
In the spirit of the science fiction genre to which the book belongs, the author touches on a multitude of potential issues caused by the advent of the modern world and technologies, particularly (as the title suggests) our increased capacity to read and manipulate human DNA; however, the novel does not satisfactorily address the problems contained by the framework of its imaginary society. The book evokes the painful effects of its dystopic society’s solution to population growth would have on people’s everyday lives, primarily through the experiences of the protagonist Irene Crow as a social worker in her encounters with families who have to apply to the government to be allowed to have another child, through Irene’s wife’s difficulties in finding a sperm donor (as donors are unwilling to resign their chance to have their own child) and through the subplot of her friend Annette, who resorts to cutting out her own birth implant illegally and sleeping with a stranger to become pregnant. Several realities in the dystopian world coincide with moral dilemmas we face today, such as the practice of screening and terminating fetuses that have an inherited disease or defects, and the Genome Database (perhaps inspired by the existing Human Genome Project) itself is not outside the realm of possibility in the future, and hints at the legal and ethical questions being discussed today over the rights of privacy people should have over their genetic information, versus how much access the government or other organizations should have. However, the novel lacks a developed commentary on all these issues; the danger of publicizing the genetic information of individuals is addressed in a roundabout way in the obviously immoral eugenic practices of AQD, but horror over the organization’s actions seems to be inspired by their tactics of nonconsensual medical experimentation rather than their eugenic aims. Also, while the positives of the Genome Database are enumerated, in the government’s use of it to monitor crime and genetic diversity, the potential for misuse of such information is only obliquely referenced near the end of the novel. While Quality DNA comes close to providing a perspective on issues which are pertinent both to today’s soceity and our future, it unfortunately falls short of commentating one way or another on them.
The highlight of the novel is its engaging series of mysteries connected with Irene’s investigation, which is both interesting and well-paced, keeping the reader in suspense until the end of the novel, which climaxes in a series of thrilling action-packed scenes. Although the plot is occasionally subject to unbelievable coincidences, such as the random meeting of Aiden and Irene in a bar leading her to the discovery of AQD, and to rather predictable turns such as Irene’s troubles with Jamie leading her wife into the arms of Aiden and AQD, the very organization Irene wishes to protect her from, it is still interesting and enjoyable.
The novel possesses a diverse cast of characters, who for the most part are lively, interesting, and believable, despite two glaring exceptions. The best characters are Irene and Annette: the heroine Irene is interesting and resilient, and is presented with a slowly revealed backstory which maintains curiosity in her character, which is important as she drives the novel’s action and emotional core. Annette, whose pregnancy and birth occupies the novel’s subplot, is similarly strong, with the addition of a quirky rebellious attitude which makes her compelling. However, the novel falls short in the development of some of its key characters and their relationships. Particularly disappointing is the troubled relationship of Irene and her wife Jamie, the function of which is clearly more of a plot device and less as a believable and developed emotional relationship. The dialogue is repetitive and unimaginative, typically consisting of some iteration of Jamie unreasonably accusing her wife of being reluctant to have a child with her. Jamie is a two-dimensional, unbelievably melodramatic and stupid character who takes up a frustrating amount of narrative space, making it difficult to enjoy any scene in which she takes part. While the author’s choice to portray a lesbian couple is laudable, as such relationships are still underrepresented in modern literature, the execution of it is perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the novel.
Also, the novel’s antagonist Aiden is poorly constructed. A stereotypically attractive yet unstable villain, he oscillates between being charming, vaguely creepy, fanatical, and foaming-at-the-mouth violent without much cause, while his actions and words are nauseatingly melodramatic. His nefarious terrorist agenda and sinister actions where Irene is concerned lack a convincing motivation with regards to his backstory (revealed in a monologue near the end of the novel), which retrospectively cheapen the aspects of the plot which are driven by his villainy. Like Jamie, he clearly functions more as a plot device than a character in his own right, while scenes in which he is foregrounded become more annoying than entertaining.
In short, while Quality DNA is a mostly well-written book which opens with an intelligent premise and an adroitly constructed imaginative world, it falls short in carrying through a coherent moral message about its dystopic society, and instead exploits the world itself, in conjunction with the machinations of a disappointing villain, to create trials for the heroine Irene. And while the plot and some of the characters are enjoyable, these positive aspects are somewhat overshadowed by instances of melodramatic dialogue and the less refined characters.
Despite its flaws, if you are a reader whose enjoyment of mystery and the well-crafted scenery of a science fiction world, and a female hero saving the day, will balance out lapses in character development and dialogue, then you will appreciate Quality DNA. Although, if you are expecting a commentary on the ethical intricacies of eugenics and the collection of human DNA, or are greatly bothered by the flaws enumerated above, then I suggest you look elsewhere.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.