Review: The God Gene by F. Paul Wilson

Author: F. Paul Wilson
Publisher:  Forge
Date of publication: January 2018

Rick Hayden and Laura Fanning of Panacea return in this next thriller by F. Paul Wilson and come across another impossible medical scenario--the gene that makes us human. Or does it?

Rick's brother, Keith, a prominent zoologist at NYU, suddenly liquidates his assets and walks out of his job never to be seen again.

The only clues they have are his brother's book which mentions "the God Gene"--a gene found only in primates that spontaneously appears in the evolutionary record and controls brain development--and the mysterious death of odd, blue-eyed primate brought back from East Africa.

Rick and Laura's search takes them to an uncharted island off the coast of Mozambique and the edge of evolutionary science.

The God Gene is the second book in the ICE series.  Once again, we follow Rick and Laura as the seek out another mysterious phenomenon,  as well as searching for Rick's missing brother.  It seems Rick's brother, Keith, may have found " The God Gene", something that has also been thought to be the missing link between primates and humans.  

I really loved this books.  It was fast paced and sucked me right in.  I loved the growing relationship between Rick and Laura. They have great banter and chemistry. We also get to learn more about Rick's background and what happened in Dusseldorf.  

The story waffles beween Rick and Laura's point of view and events involving poachers on the uncharted island.  There is a major twist that I didn't see coming. I loved the idea of the dabis.  After reading this it made me really think about what I would do if I found something like this,  Would I want to share it with the world, ignore that I found it, or destroy it completely?  Honestly, I still have no idea what I would do.  But I was satisfied with the ending and agreed with the choice that was made in this case.  I highly recommend this one as well as the first.  Both can be read as stand alones.  I will have a review up for The Void Protocol very soon.