The Mother Code

Starred review from December 2, 2019
Biochemist Stivers’s sweeping, cinematic debut raises probing questions about the nature of family and human connection. In 2049, a DNA-based biological weapon unleashes a lethal worldwide pandemic that threatens to end humanity. The only viable cure appears to lie in fetal genetic manipulation, leading the U.S. government to secretly create incubators in the form of flying robots programmed with a “mother code” that gives each a unique personality intended to allow each bot to successfully raise a baby until it’s safe to reintegrate the child into human society. Stivers splits focus between the scientists creating the program, in thrilling passages replete with government secrets and impossibly high stakes, and the uncanny bond between mother robot Rho-Z and her genetically engineered human child, Kai, as they navigate their isolated life in the desert in 2060. Each story line is emotionally resonant, leading to a devastating gut punch when they eventually collide. Stivers’s mythic vision and sound science will strike a chord with readers who fear for humanity’s future. This dystopia is painful, provocative, and ultimately infused with hope. Agent: Elisabeth Weed, The Book Group.

March 1, 2020
A team of scientists scrambles to preserve human life on Earth after a bioweapon unleashes a catastrophic epidemic. In 2049, the U.S. military releases nucleic acid nanostructures, called "IC-NANs," to infect rebel fighters in Afghanistan. Designed to kill quickly and leave no trace, the viruslike agent succeeds in its mission, albeit all too well: Finding hospitable hosts in desert archaebacteria, the deadly nanostructures mutate and spread at a voracious clip. Six years later, a human child is born inside the accommodating confines of a giant protective robot, called its Mother. Biochemist Stivers' propulsive debut novel bridges the intervening years, cutting between a small cadre of government scientists and their increasingly desperate attempts to derive a solution to the spread of the nanostructures and a child named Kai who wanders the deserts of Utah with his Mother in search of other child survivors like him. The format serves Stivers well, as it reveals the post-apocalyptic aftermath of the pandemic without giving away the secret to Kai's survival. This leads readers to invest seriously in the scientists, among them Sara Khoti and Dr. Rose McBride, who play critical roles in designing the Mothers while contributing more of themselves to the future of the human species than may at first seem obvious. And while some early dialogue has otherwise intelligent characters reiterating plot points for the reader's benefit ("So let me get this straight. The spherical NAN that you sprayed from the drone can infect human cells"), and one may wonder why only a few key people have been entrusted to handle an emergency of this magnitude, the sheer momentum and urgency of Stivers' prose will keep readers riveted to the page. Fast-paced plague fiction that weds realism and SF while posing truly profound questions about the nature of motherhood.

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April 1, 2020
In the near future, an ill-conceived attempt at precision biological warfare lets loose a deadly virus that threatens to decimate the world's population. While the U.S. government and military try to keep a lid on the growing pandemic, a group of scientists races to create genetically engineered children immune to the disease and safeguarded by intelligent robot mothers. The robots are launched into the deserts of Southern Utah, isolated from the troubles of the world, and the children grow and learn under the guidance of their protectors. Debuting author Stivers, a biochemist, blends hard science, emotional relationships, and artificial intelligence to produce a chilling and realistic narrative. While the plot is compelling and thought-provoking, it is the characters that shine as they come to terms with their own mortality while simultaneously trying to ensure humanity's survival. This story will appeal to readers who enjoy the cinematic style of Michael Crichton as well as those who may recall the unsettling combination of viruses and human evolution in Greg Bear's Darwin's Radio (1999).(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)