While battling a cocaine addiction, Jake Helman starts a high-pressure position as the director of security at a controversial genetic-engineering company. As Jake delves deeper into this frightening laboratory, he unveils much more than unethical practices performed in the name of human progress. Original.
September 15, 2009
Lamberson, whose 2008 novel Johnny Gruesome was an out-and-out horror story, here blends the horror and mystery genres in a very evocative way. Jake Helman is a New York City homicide cop. While investigating the last murder committed by the enigmatic serial killer known as the Cipher, Jake quits the force (well, he doesnt really have a choice) and signs on as the security director of Tower International, a genetic-engineering company that controversially dabbles in cutting-edge research. Soon Jake discovers, in a particularly gruesome fashion (naturally), that the Cipher and Tower International are somehow mixed up together, and that the companys cutting-edge research involves some very frightening, even supernatural, elements. This is a highly imaginative novel, loaded with atmosphere and in-your-face imagery. Jake is a solid lead, an ex-cop dealing with demons both psychological and existential, and he undergoes a journey here that is terrifying, emotionally traumatic, and oddly uplifting. Very nicely done.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)