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Double Helix: A Novel
Slater Ellis is in the race-against time, a hit man, and a professor who plays God in his spare time. The results are a showdown with stakes no less than the future of the human race. A prophetic novel on the dangers of genetic manipulation and cloning.
320 pages, Paperback
First published June 16, 1995
8 people are currently reading
125 people want to read
About the author
Sigmund Brouwer
260 books407 followersSigmund loves going to schools to get kids excited about reading, reaching roughly 80,000 students a year through his Rock&Roll Literacy Show.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
May 10, 2018
It's so bad.
February 2, 2024
Welcome to a new Christian author of thrillers! (5 stars)
Slater Ellis gets involved when a mysterious naked child with a number tattooed on his forehead assaults him in the desert. Paige Stephens gets involved after her husband’s suicide when she begins unravelling cryptic suggestions that his company is involved with a sinister business of some kind. Their paths converge as they uncover the horrifying plans of Dr. Josef Van Klees, who operates the “Institute”, a secret clinic for genetic experimentation and cloning that exploits fetal tissue from abortion clinics and refugees from third world countries. The story is fiction, but the evil behind the characters is very real, and the scientific possibilities Brouwer explores are closer to reality than speculation - making the story even more chilling.
One thing is clear: Sigmund Brouwer knows how to write a suspense thriller. While there are no obviously Christian themes evident anywhere in the book (Brouwer is a Christian), this is a very clean and riveting thriller story. It equals the very best of Robin Cook and other secular thriller writers, minus the moral garbage. If Brouwer can produce more books like this, I’ll welcome seeing many more of his books on my shelves! Thumbs way up!
Slater Ellis gets involved when a mysterious naked child with a number tattooed on his forehead assaults him in the desert. Paige Stephens gets involved after her husband’s suicide when she begins unravelling cryptic suggestions that his company is involved with a sinister business of some kind. Their paths converge as they uncover the horrifying plans of Dr. Josef Van Klees, who operates the “Institute”, a secret clinic for genetic experimentation and cloning that exploits fetal tissue from abortion clinics and refugees from third world countries. The story is fiction, but the evil behind the characters is very real, and the scientific possibilities Brouwer explores are closer to reality than speculation - making the story even more chilling.
One thing is clear: Sigmund Brouwer knows how to write a suspense thriller. While there are no obviously Christian themes evident anywhere in the book (Brouwer is a Christian), this is a very clean and riveting thriller story. It equals the very best of Robin Cook and other secular thriller writers, minus the moral garbage. If Brouwer can produce more books like this, I’ll welcome seeing many more of his books on my shelves! Thumbs way up!
September 11, 2019
Good book
I remember reading this book years ago. I enjoyed this book - I do wish it could have flowed a little better. It seemed like God, prayer, and all Christian themes were kind of thrown in at the last minute for the last few chapters. I didn't see where any of the characters were struggling or contemplating these ideas. I gave it 4 stars but it was more like 3.75.
I remember reading this book years ago. I enjoyed this book - I do wish it could have flowed a little better. It seemed like God, prayer, and all Christian themes were kind of thrown in at the last minute for the last few chapters. I didn't see where any of the characters were struggling or contemplating these ideas. I gave it 4 stars but it was more like 3.75.
July 24, 2025
I thought that this was a really good book but did get kind of spooked by first chapter. If you don’t like thrillers, then this book might not be for you.
November 13, 2015
Even though this book is somewhere around twenty years old, I think it holds up well [overall]. In some respects, it is probably pretty mild. I think Michael Crichton even tried to go one further in his novel Next in which he writes a bitter diatribe about the horrors of genetic manipulation without any kind of conscience or legal parameters in place to protect people. In my opinion, this book was infinitely better than Crichton's drivel. It moves at a good pace as it takes place over a short period of time. I would have liked to have seen a sequel in which we see how the lives of the surviving protagonists have changed.
I thought it had good character development in it, overall. Paige goes from being a helpless widow to somebody who has discovered she has previously unrealized and untapped inner strength. Slater realizes he needs to 'man up' [as it were] and accept the consequences for his actions [especially if he is to have a future with Paige].
Van Klees is a man you cannot help but hate. I think the author did a good job with how Klees/Hammond/Tansworth is portrayed in the novel. An extremely wealthy man who feels he is above the laws of mankind; he is also a scientific genius well ahead of his time in terms of genetic experiments [especially those on humans]. [I have to admit, though, I found myself wondering if the character of 'John Hammond' was modeled after Crichton's character in Jurassic Park.] Prior to Pixar's movie The Incredibles, I never gave much thought to a villain monologuing in a movie or a book; since then, though, it's hilariously obvious when it occurs. And I never realized before now [it has been that long since I last read this book] that the villain has several monologues in the novel. It's kind of funny, in a way, but it does not detract from the novel as that is a part of Van Klees's character [his extreme arrogance always requires an audience to be wowed by his genius].
I was somewhat disappointed to remember that a couple of US Army generals were a part of the villain's plot [albeit from deliberate ignorance; they wanted the end goal without considering the cost or the path to reach that goal]. I know people in the military are 'people, too', and have their own dreams, goals, and desires. It just gets old to see the US Military portrayed in a negative light. At the same time, Crichton enjoyed portraying business and corporations in a horrible light, so there you go.
I nearly fell over laughing when I read Slater's comment[s] [thoughts] about how 'the people have a right to know' 'everything' that happens. No, the general public does not have a right to know everything. I was happy to see that some elements of the story remained out of the public's eye [as it were]. I felt it added better depth to the story, in my opinion.
I know some [if not most] of the science in the book probably seems pretty dated [and out-of-date] now, but at the time it was written it was cutting-edge in terms of the plot and known science at the time. I am sure the author also made other mistakes that could have been simply corrected, but it happens. One thing the author touches on is about how aborted babies are used for harvesting organs to sell. That has recently come to light, that this practice does occur. Kind of morbidly, disturbingly crazy.
Zwaan was a freaky crazy villain. I wish he had suffered more .
Despite being twenty years old, I enjoyed this book.
I thought it had good character development in it, overall. Paige goes from being a helpless widow to somebody who has discovered she has previously unrealized and untapped inner strength. Slater realizes he needs to 'man up' [as it were] and accept the consequences for his actions [especially if he is to have a future with Paige].
Van Klees is a man you cannot help but hate. I think the author did a good job with how Klees/Hammond/Tansworth is portrayed in the novel. An extremely wealthy man who feels he is above the laws of mankind; he is also a scientific genius well ahead of his time in terms of genetic experiments [especially those on humans]. [I have to admit, though, I found myself wondering if the character of 'John Hammond' was modeled after Crichton's character in Jurassic Park.] Prior to Pixar's movie The Incredibles, I never gave much thought to a villain monologuing in a movie or a book; since then, though, it's hilariously obvious when it occurs. And I never realized before now [it has been that long since I last read this book] that the villain has several monologues in the novel. It's kind of funny, in a way, but it does not detract from the novel as that is a part of Van Klees's character [his extreme arrogance always requires an audience to be wowed by his genius].
I was somewhat disappointed to remember that a couple of US Army generals were a part of the villain's plot [albeit from deliberate ignorance; they wanted the end goal without considering the cost or the path to reach that goal]. I know people in the military are 'people, too', and have their own dreams, goals, and desires. It just gets old to see the US Military portrayed in a negative light. At the same time, Crichton enjoyed portraying business and corporations in a horrible light, so there you go.
I nearly fell over laughing when I read Slater's comment[s] [thoughts] about how 'the people have a right to know' 'everything' that happens. No, the general public does not have a right to know everything. I was happy to see that some elements of the story remained out of the public's eye [as it were]. I felt it added better depth to the story, in my opinion.
I know some [if not most] of the science in the book probably seems pretty dated [and out-of-date] now, but at the time it was written it was cutting-edge in terms of the plot and known science at the time. I am sure the author also made other mistakes that could have been simply corrected, but it happens. One thing the author touches on is about how aborted babies are used for harvesting organs to sell. That has recently come to light, that this practice does occur. Kind of morbidly, disturbingly crazy.
Zwaan was a freaky crazy villain. I wish he had suffered more .
Despite being twenty years old, I enjoyed this book.
June 10, 2016
I started this book when a girl I had a crush on suggested it. For the most part I read it for her. The Dialogue was bad, the writing choppy, and the story had been told before a thousand times.
But, there comes a moment of wonder, something I never knew I could experience through a book. It was like when a small child notices something they didn't know existed and immediately wants it in every way; they want to feel it, touch it, hear it. and it was power in the words I read that made an ordinary book something more.
I'm not saying it's good and I'll probably never suggest it to anyone but reading this to me felt like getting a hug from the 4-10 year old second cousins and that I wont forget.
But, there comes a moment of wonder, something I never knew I could experience through a book. It was like when a small child notices something they didn't know existed and immediately wants it in every way; they want to feel it, touch it, hear it. and it was power in the words I read that made an ordinary book something more.
I'm not saying it's good and I'll probably never suggest it to anyone but reading this to me felt like getting a hug from the 4-10 year old second cousins and that I wont forget.
January 20, 2013
While some novels are timeless, this book read like the dated novel that it is. It was written in 1995 and unfortunately the names and the story line are dated. In addition, Mr. Brouwer did not do his homework very well. Even when reading fiction I expect scientific facts that are mentioned to be accurate. One scientist in the book explains how a baby and its mother share blood during pregnancy. This is NOT correct. Overall it was not a horrible read; it was just not up to par with other books by this author.
October 31, 2014
I remember loving this book as a teenager in the 90s. Rereading it now it doesn't quite live up to my memories - the tech descriptions are very dated, the science gets a little iffy here and there, the denouement is a bit far-fetched - but the characters, which are really the heart of what Brouwer does best (especially his villians), are every bit as interesting as I remember them being. Don't go in to this expecting an extremely thrilling or thought-provoking story, but do go into it expecting to see some really compelling characters, and two utterly chilling and memorable villians.
September 17, 2009
Very good book that pulled in various threads that have to deal with human trafficking for organs, bioethics, cloning, etc. It of course was an older book and did not include some of our latest technology, but it was interesting to see that what was predicted in the book scientifically came to fruition.
March 3, 2016
It could have been good. But it falls on all it´s cliches. A damsel in distress who falls for rich men. A villan who´s monstrously strong, ugly and can´t feel pain. And the author cant hide his personal opinions and ends the story by making it a broschyr for an anti-abortion campaign.
February 22, 2017
Apparently, Brouwer's adult books are not for me. I don't want so much death and darkness in my stories.
November 27, 2010
Couldn't even finish...
Want to read
January 13, 2012I read this back a few years ago but I don't remember anything about it...not a particularly good comment. Since I own it, I decided to put it back on my reading list. (I hate an unfinished book!)
June 27, 2015
So much plot-twisty goodness, though a little bit gruesome at times. I so enjoyed reading it -- could hardly put it down!
May 13, 2016
"Double Helix" - written by Sigmund Brouwer and published in 1995 by Thomas Nelson. A decent experimental genetics thriller - characters not fully developed.
August 3, 2008
Couldn't get away from it. Very engaging
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews