BKMRSTRN.RVW   980405

"The Miracle Strain", Michael Cordy, 1997, 0-688-15508-1,
U$24.00/C$31.75
%A   Michael Cordy
%C   1350 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY   10019
%D   1997
%G   0-688-15508-1
%I   William Morrow & Co
%O   U$24.00/C$31.75 800-843-9389 webmaster@williammorrow.com
%P   367 p.
%T   "The Miracle Strain"

We got the old standard science versus religion schtick here, with a
search for a genetic basis for you-know-what two thousand year old
healer, plus a loony band of religious fanatics, and a thoroughly
nasty assassin.

First in the technical lineup, we have genetic research.  Now, this is
not my field, but I do know enough to know that the Genescope, as
proposed, would not render the Human Genome Project obsolete.  The
point of getting a database of the genome is not simply to get a big
long list of amino acids, but also to know what they mean.  What
happens when you replace these ones?  What happens when you eliminate
them?  The Genescope sounds like it would make a first rate automated
sequencer (de-sequencer?) and would thus be a great help in the human
Genome Project, but it would never replace the project itself.

By the same token, this business of genes outside of the normal
sequence is difficult.  A great deal of genetic material appears to
have no particular purpose.  (There is the standard joke that has
geneticists finally decode some of this material, only to find that
some great long string of codons reads "This space intentionally left
blank.")

The Gene Genie sounds reasonable, given a completed genome database. 
It could tell you hair and eye colour, height, bone structure, and
genetic diseases.  Wouldn't be able to give you much in the way of
weight or hair style, although I suppose it could tell you whether
someone had a natural wave.  (Of course, this is assuming that you are
trying to find an image of a man.  If you've got a female set of
genes, you *might* be able to determine the height.)

In terms of the data security stuff, there is no relation whatsoever
to reality.  None.  Zip.  Zero.  I'm sorry, you're wrong, but thanks
for playing and feel free to try again sometime when our topic is
"viruses."  (No, on second thought, don't.)  This is someone who has
seen too many movies or episodes of Tekwar or has read too many books
by William Gibson.  We have graphical interfaces at the system level,
security programs that helpfully identify themselves, no audit trails,
reprogramming of system security without bringing the system down (and
imposed while the cracker is yet without the gates), security software
that helpfully gives you sixty seconds to rifle the vault before
kicking in, and security traps that lock you into the system (and
presumably cause big claws to rise out of you keyboard and grab you so
that you can't pull the plug on the modem).  What we *don't* have is
companies in the same line of work being able to call each other and
say "Bonjour, Francois, how much for a query on your database for a
sequence we are looking for?"  "For you, a thousand francs."  "Thanks,
I'll send you an email with the string in fifteen minutes."

But what really struck me was a little problem of logic.  Let's say we
have an atheist trying to find genetic material from Jesus of
Nazareth.  We don't have any particular problem with relics since an
atheist would not believe that Jesus rose from the dead and ascended
into heaven, and therefore would not have left bits behind.  (Of
course, fragments of the "true cross" could be used to repopulate the
Sahara Forest, but that is only a problem in sampling size.)  But
since an atheist does not, pretty much be definition, believe in
miracles, then why go looking for genetic material in
transubstantiated wafers and the bleeding from stigmata?

This problem of religious topics really weakens the book severely. 
Cordy appears to be on the non-religious side, and gives us a
reasonable, non-supernatural, if somewhat facile, explanation.  (Good
juju, kid.  How do you get a protein to penetrate the skin and
stimulate the body to repair a massive trauma within less than a
minute?  Never mind.)  Good denouement, especially since it hoists the
bad guys very much on their own petard (not to mention hubris).  And
then he gives us a real wimp out mystical anticlimax.

copyright Robert M. Slade, 1998   BKMRSTRN.RVW   980405