Perfect People
Peter James

John and Naomi are grieving the death of their four-year-old son from a rare genetic disorder. They desperately want another child, but they realize the odds of their next child contracting the same disease are high.

Then they hear about geneticist Dr Leo Dettore. He has methods that can spare them the heartache of ever losing another child to any disease.

At his clinic is where their nightmare begins.

They should have realized something was wrong when they saw the list. Choices of eye colour, hair, sporting abilities. They can literally design their child. Now it’s too late to turn back. Naomi is pregnant and already something is badly wrong…

When I spotted this book for sale in the Kindle store for a mere twenty pence, it was a no-brainer. Easy to read fiction with a slight sci-fi/dystopian slant, for less than the price of a cup of tea? I’m sold.

First I’ll deal with what I didn’t like. The writing style is dull. The plot is in turns predictable and ridiculous. The ending, for me, was a cop-out. And now that’s out of the way, I will say that I really enjoyed the book.

The novel opens on a floating clinic on a converted cruise liner, where a couple who tragically lost their first son are attempting to ‘design’ their second baby. At first they are adamant that the only genetic engineering they are comfortable with is the removal of the gene that caused the rare disease their son died of. However, Dr Dettore soon talks them into tweaking other elements of their future child: height, metabolism, sleep patterns.

Perfect People is fast paced and intriguing, despite its predictability. Before long, Naomi and John realise that their pregnancy has not gone exactly as planned and, fearing for their lives, flee from America to a secluded house in the Sussex countryside, which is where the nightmare truly begins.

The final chapters had me clinging onto my Kindle in the small hours of the morning, desperate to find out what was happening. When I found it, it was actually quite ridiculous, but suitably creepy. The very last chapter came as quite a shock, but seemed as though the author needed to find a quick way to wrap up the story that would leave no room for elaboration. But overall, I enjoyed Perfect People a lot and would recommend it to anyone who likes their fiction with a little bit of creepy science thrown in.

Rating: ★★★★★