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When a pandemic strikes, members of the Chatfield family possess a crucial advantage. Guessing that their relatives on the other side of the world might also have escaped the devastating virus, and knowing that for their ultimate survival they must increase their gene pool, two members of the family's New Zealand branch embark on a perilous journey in a small yacht. The community they find on the other side of the world is a very different one, based on the rule of fear. Not only does it look impossible to take anyone back to New Zealand, but it may also be impossible for them to escape themselves.
445 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
47 people are currently reading
157 people want to read
About the author
Michael Green
6 books9 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Michael Green is a successful computer consultant and professional speaker. Author of two humorous books and one called Successful Speechmaking, he has also won many speechmaking competitions. Spending some of his time in the UK, some in New Zealand and some on the water on his yacht, he has been working on the sequel to Bloodline
Michael Green is a successful computer consultant and professional speaker. Author of two humorous books and one called Successful Speechmaking, he has also won many speechmaking competitions. Spending some of his time in the UK, some in New Zealand and some on the water on his yacht, he has been working on the sequel to Bloodline
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
May 20, 2015
I started off liking this book the story was good and interesting and scarily realistic. Then I liked the whole survival and living bits good and happy. Then the trip England was just crazy..Tudor costume, dictatorships, torture and slavery. I just found myself screaming and the book "just over run them". I got frustrated and angry. Glad I finished it but I did find it unbelievable that 49 people did not group together and take them!! Will watch out for the other two when they are selling cheap.
November 30, 2008
Uneven pace - dragging at first, then rushing. And then the storyline left unresolved for a sequel.
November 10, 2025
Lyndia La Plante DID NOT write this book.
Bloodline by Michael Green
Copyright 2008
An earlier edition first published 2006 as The Crucial Gene
An Arrow Book
Random house NZ
ISBN: 978 1 86941 980 6
First off, Michael Green can tell a story. The tag line of the book is: What if your family was the last left alive? And this story is about the Chatfields and their family is the last left alive after a ‘super-SARS’ virus ravages the planet. It kills quickly and with the advent of worldwide travel, it has no borders.
The book kicks off right in the middle of the action. Mark Chatfield and his wife are aboard a plane after visiting relatives in England, when the wife gets sick. Other people on the plane are sick as well and as the plane comes to land in Singapore, the passengers are not allowed off. The plane is refuelled and sent to New Zealand.
Mark’s wife gets sicker and sicker. By the time they land, many passengers are ill and on the ground the army is in full swing. No one is allowed to leave and as Mark is the only person not sick, he is constantly tested; blood, temperature, etc.
Everyone around is dying. Mark makes a daring escape and reaches his daughter’s house in Auckland. Jane is alive and well. His son Steven is also there and the two kids. All partners are dead.
They escape the army and road gangs as they looked for somewhere else to live and decided on Gulf Harbour.
And that’s just part one. It’s hard out, full-on, and uses a lot of flashbacks. I’m not a fan of flashbacks but to get a grip on the storyline, they are needed. There are four parts to this book. Part two is a search for a relative living in Wellington. Part three is heading to England on the premise that if they survived the English branch of the family may have survived as well. But the community they find on the other side of the world is a very different one, based on the rule of fear. Not only does it look impossible to take anyone back to New Zealand, but it may also be impossible for them to escape themselves.
It is from part three that the book gathers amazing speed and really kicks into gear. I won’t describe that happen from here, suffice to say: It’s one hell of an idea and executed well.
As I have mentioned, Michael Green can tell one hell of a story and it seems almost plausible as pieces of the jigsaw come together. But I must say I wasn’t impressed with ‘tell’ style employed to ‘tell’ this story. This happened and then this happened and so forth. Quote: He fell back in fear. Would something a little more intimate be better? For example: The knowledge burned into his soul forcing him back a pace as wide eyed, he stared at… In all the writing books and all the courses writers are told not to do this. Show don’t Tell is yelled at every new author the moment they hit the block. Was Michael told? Also there was a few terrible to read pages at the start of part four. These were told in omnipresent view and destroyed the mood of the story. It didn’t last long and I think it was the only way to let the readers know the story had passed through winter.
Once I had become accustomed the Michael’s style, I found the book fast paced, and enthralling and was a little disappointed in the ending. It came too soon!
Bloodline is a book that you are either going to love or hate. I don’t think there is a middle ground. I also think this book will appeal more to men.
Michael Green is noted for his humourous book: Big Aggie sails the Gulf and for a non-fiction book: Successful Speechmaking.
Bloodline by Michael Green
Copyright 2008
An earlier edition first published 2006 as The Crucial Gene
An Arrow Book
Random house NZ
ISBN: 978 1 86941 980 6
First off, Michael Green can tell a story. The tag line of the book is: What if your family was the last left alive? And this story is about the Chatfields and their family is the last left alive after a ‘super-SARS’ virus ravages the planet. It kills quickly and with the advent of worldwide travel, it has no borders.
The book kicks off right in the middle of the action. Mark Chatfield and his wife are aboard a plane after visiting relatives in England, when the wife gets sick. Other people on the plane are sick as well and as the plane comes to land in Singapore, the passengers are not allowed off. The plane is refuelled and sent to New Zealand.
Mark’s wife gets sicker and sicker. By the time they land, many passengers are ill and on the ground the army is in full swing. No one is allowed to leave and as Mark is the only person not sick, he is constantly tested; blood, temperature, etc.
Everyone around is dying. Mark makes a daring escape and reaches his daughter’s house in Auckland. Jane is alive and well. His son Steven is also there and the two kids. All partners are dead.
They escape the army and road gangs as they looked for somewhere else to live and decided on Gulf Harbour.
And that’s just part one. It’s hard out, full-on, and uses a lot of flashbacks. I’m not a fan of flashbacks but to get a grip on the storyline, they are needed. There are four parts to this book. Part two is a search for a relative living in Wellington. Part three is heading to England on the premise that if they survived the English branch of the family may have survived as well. But the community they find on the other side of the world is a very different one, based on the rule of fear. Not only does it look impossible to take anyone back to New Zealand, but it may also be impossible for them to escape themselves.
It is from part three that the book gathers amazing speed and really kicks into gear. I won’t describe that happen from here, suffice to say: It’s one hell of an idea and executed well.
As I have mentioned, Michael Green can tell one hell of a story and it seems almost plausible as pieces of the jigsaw come together. But I must say I wasn’t impressed with ‘tell’ style employed to ‘tell’ this story. This happened and then this happened and so forth. Quote: He fell back in fear. Would something a little more intimate be better? For example: The knowledge burned into his soul forcing him back a pace as wide eyed, he stared at… In all the writing books and all the courses writers are told not to do this. Show don’t Tell is yelled at every new author the moment they hit the block. Was Michael told? Also there was a few terrible to read pages at the start of part four. These were told in omnipresent view and destroyed the mood of the story. It didn’t last long and I think it was the only way to let the readers know the story had passed through winter.
Once I had become accustomed the Michael’s style, I found the book fast paced, and enthralling and was a little disappointed in the ending. It came too soon!
Bloodline is a book that you are either going to love or hate. I don’t think there is a middle ground. I also think this book will appeal more to men.
Michael Green is noted for his humourous book: Big Aggie sails the Gulf and for a non-fiction book: Successful Speechmaking.
August 23, 2019
A brilliant family saga that takes the readers all across the globe!
The story of Mark Chatfield as he tries to gather all belonging to his family blood line as they have something that is immune to a different kind of SARS that is claiming the lives of most humans on the earth. He avoids all attempts to snare him by government agencies all around the world, manages to travel back to New Zealand, gets his brother and the family with the special gene to where he has been living with his children and grandchildren.
Mark then sets out along with his son Steven to England to further unify the Chatfield bloodline. The situation when they get there, the feudal conflicts they face, the dictatorial regime that exists forms the content of the rest of this enthralling book.
Will they succeed in bringing down the regime, are they able to sail away and get back to New Zealand has to be found out by reading this book!
I am now off to get the rest of the two books in this outstanding trilogy!!
The story of Mark Chatfield as he tries to gather all belonging to his family blood line as they have something that is immune to a different kind of SARS that is claiming the lives of most humans on the earth. He avoids all attempts to snare him by government agencies all around the world, manages to travel back to New Zealand, gets his brother and the family with the special gene to where he has been living with his children and grandchildren.
Mark then sets out along with his son Steven to England to further unify the Chatfield bloodline. The situation when they get there, the feudal conflicts they face, the dictatorial regime that exists forms the content of the rest of this enthralling book.
Will they succeed in bringing down the regime, are they able to sail away and get back to New Zealand has to be found out by reading this book!
I am now off to get the rest of the two books in this outstanding trilogy!!
August 5, 2017
Great book!
This book is great. I was curious how the family tree came about, but the author made it plausible. Try it! What have you got to lose?!🍺🍺🍺🍺
This book is great. I was curious how the family tree came about, but the author made it plausible. Try it! What have you got to lose?!🍺🍺🍺🍺
May 20, 2021
I absolutely hated this book, not only was it written poorly but also the plot was weird and the further you go the shittier it gets. I won’t read the other two parts.
February 6, 2017
1.5 Sterne
Das Buch ist ein klassisches Beispiel dafür, wie man vom Marketing verarscht wird. Das fängt mit dem deutschen Titel an, der nichts mit dem Originaltitel zu tun hat und zusammen mit dem Klappentext einen Apokalypse-Roman suggeriert.
Die Charakterzeichnung ist äusserst schwach ausgefallen, mehr als Klischees darf man sich auch hier nicht erwarten.
Fazit:
Ärgerlich! Ein schlechtes Buch, weil es teilweise komplett unlogisch ist und sich endlos lange mit einer langweiligen und lächerlichen Pseudo-Monarchie/Diktatur beschäftigt, um dann abrupt zu enden.
Zudem erwartet man aufgrund des Marketings einen anderen Schwerpunkt.
Eines der schlechtesten Bücher, die ich seit langem gelesen habe.
Das Buch ist ein klassisches Beispiel dafür, wie man vom Marketing verarscht wird. Das fängt mit dem deutschen Titel an, der nichts mit dem Originaltitel zu tun hat und zusammen mit dem Klappentext einen Apokalypse-Roman suggeriert.
Die Charakterzeichnung ist äusserst schwach ausgefallen, mehr als Klischees darf man sich auch hier nicht erwarten.
Fazit:
Ärgerlich! Ein schlechtes Buch, weil es teilweise komplett unlogisch ist und sich endlos lange mit einer langweiligen und lächerlichen Pseudo-Monarchie/Diktatur beschäftigt, um dann abrupt zu enden.
Zudem erwartet man aufgrund des Marketings einen anderen Schwerpunkt.
Eines der schlechtesten Bücher, die ich seit langem gelesen habe.
June 20, 2014
This is my all time favorite, about a disease called Super-SARS and a family whose blood line has a immunity to this particular disease. The main character is called Mark, he and his wife were flying back to New Zealand from a trip to England when the disease hit; his wife died just after they landed and Mark was in distress. After being held 'captive' at the airport terminal he was finally allowed to go home to his children and grand-children. He moved into his daughter house where his son was also staying. The community slowly died down until they were pretty sure that they were the last people left. They had been attacked many times at that house and so they decided to move down the Gulf Harbor. When they got there they started to rebuild there life and they set up base on the water side. Mark was starting to miss his brother, Christopher, so Mark and Steven(his son) set off to wellington to find his brother. They succesfully arrived at Wellington and searched for days on end, Finally they came to the conclusion hat they had had the same idea as them and moved to the sea side. they then found two young girls who they recognised as there nieces (and cousins to Steven). So they went back home with Christopher and his daughters and there daughters. After 3 years Mark and Steven decided to travel to England and see if there uncles, aunts, cousins, nephews, and nieces were still alive in England; but mainly to find Mark's bother, Paul.. So after months of preperation they set off. When they arrived they had a look around and found Paul's house but there was noone in there and it seemed that no one had inhabited for a while. Steven found a note written to mark though that said... i don't want to spoil it and iv'e said to much so read it!
August 20, 2016
Awfully compelling… with the emphasis on awful. Like one of those made for TV movies which is so bad, that it sucks you in.
I read the whole trilogy - while some aspects of it were believable, others weren't - and the set up in England was just ridiculous. Maybe it would have been a bit more credible without the Tudor outfits and peasant shifts. Maybe.
I didn't find any of the characters all that sympathetic, more caricature than character, so it was hard to care about their fate. Mind you, the characters themselves didn't seem to care overly much about all the spouses who perished in the original epidemic, or indeed other family members who didn't survive the events of the book.
As the trilogy wore on, I got more irritated by the differing views on male & female sexual abuse. The author clearly thought that abuse of males was far more serious (a fate worse than death?) and must be prevented at all costs. On the other hand, it was perfectly fine for most of the women to be raped , many on numerous occasions - and none of them, even those who had been held as sex slaves, seemed to suffer much psychological damage as a result.
There was one 'continuity' error that I noticed in the third book - a child referred to the beheading of two other characters, one of whom he couldn't have known about as it happened after he had left England for New Zealand.
On the positive side, I did enjoy the descriptions of New Zealand and Misty the cat, who was the real star of the trilogy for me.
I read the whole trilogy - while some aspects of it were believable, others weren't - and the set up in England was just ridiculous. Maybe it would have been a bit more credible without the Tudor outfits and peasant shifts. Maybe.
I didn't find any of the characters all that sympathetic, more caricature than character, so it was hard to care about their fate. Mind you, the characters themselves didn't seem to care overly much about all the spouses who perished in the original epidemic, or indeed other family members who didn't survive the events of the book.
As the trilogy wore on, I got more irritated by the differing views on male & female sexual abuse. The author clearly thought that abuse of males was far more serious (a fate worse than death?) and must be prevented at all costs. On the other hand, it was perfectly fine for most of the women to be raped , many on numerous occasions - and none of them, even those who had been held as sex slaves, seemed to suffer much psychological damage as a result.
There was one 'continuity' error that I noticed in the third book - a child referred to the beheading of two other characters, one of whom he couldn't have known about as it happened after he had left England for New Zealand.
On the positive side, I did enjoy the descriptions of New Zealand and Misty the cat, who was the real star of the trilogy for me.
January 18, 2014
bloodline was the first book i ever read voluntarily(even though it was to impress a girl)i was gonna open it read the first few pages until the girl i liked left the library then i would go back to reading my graphic novels(and yes i did get the girl) but then i realised not only could i not put it down but that i was past 150 pages. normally it took me days to get to such a mile stone because most books i was forced to read by teachers were extremely boring. after finishing it i went to the library to find blood bond but they didn't have so i put in a request for it but it was a long wait so i went in search of another story that would fill the void while i was waiting in the 2 months that i was waiting i had read over 80 books and then a few months after that i started doing something only crazy people do. i started buying books(thats right paying for books). After reading blood bond i had to wait a whole year for blood roots but then i couldn't find it in store or online anywhere, if anyone has a copy of blood rooots please sell it to me, sell it to meeee!!!!!!!
December 22, 2011
Really good thriller by a New Zealand author, about Mark Chatfield, a 55 year old englishman who emigrated to NZ years ago with his brother. When a global SARS pandemic wipes out the global population, only Chatfield descendants are left alive. Realizing that such a small group has little chance of long term survival, he and his son set sail for England, to try and find the rest of his family. When they arrive, they discover that they have indeed survived, but are being held prisoner by Mark's cousin and his sadistic sons, and forced to work as slaves for them. I found this aspect a little implausible, that a large group could not have overpowered, poisoned or otherwise taken out a small number of men, despite their weapons, but that's my only real criticism. I found the whole premise intriguing, and once it got going the story was completely gripping - I'm glad there are two more in the series.
April 18, 2016
You can't pick your relatives
Mark one of the main characters and his wife Jane are coming back from England by plane when the SuperSars has affected the world His wife dies but he is immune to the outbreak. Society breaks down and everyone that isn't related to him dies. He doesn't want his bloodline to die off so he travels back to England. Where he finds troubling circumstances.
Mark one of the main characters and his wife Jane are coming back from England by plane when the SuperSars has affected the world His wife dies but he is immune to the outbreak. Society breaks down and everyone that isn't related to him dies. He doesn't want his bloodline to die off so he travels back to England. Where he finds troubling circumstances.
June 7, 2023
2.5*
Alle Menschen sterben, außer diejenigen, die der Blutlinie meiner Großeltern angehören. Klar ist das erste woran ich denke, wer mit welchen nahen/entfernten Verwandten Kinder zeugen kann, um die Menschheit nicht aussterben zu lassen.
Nee, wirklich nicht, ich kann das nicht nachvollziehen
Ansonsten fand ich die Charaktere nicht ganz so anstrengend, wie im zweiten Teil.
Alle Menschen sterben, außer diejenigen, die der Blutlinie meiner Großeltern angehören. Klar ist das erste woran ich denke, wer mit welchen nahen/entfernten Verwandten Kinder zeugen kann, um die Menschheit nicht aussterben zu lassen.
Nee, wirklich nicht, ich kann das nicht nachvollziehen
Ansonsten fand ich die Charaktere nicht ganz so anstrengend, wie im zweiten Teil.
February 18, 2009
I loved this book. It was well paced, full of action. You didn't know where the story was going to take you next. An execellent read and I can't wait for the sequel.
May 11, 2010
I really enjoyed this book and I still think of it now. Being from New Zealand - the descriptions of places in the story were good and brought the book closer to reality
May 16, 2013
Really enjoyed this book, I have always wondered how we would survive after some sort of apocalypse and this kind of summed up how scary it could get...
Cannot wait until the next book is out....
Cannot wait until the next book is out....
August 21, 2015
Endzeit Thriller nach Pandemie
September 15, 2016
Great book but extremely depressing
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews