FICTION REVIEW: Fragment - Warren Fahy

BOOK BLURB:

Jurassic Park meets Lost in this electrifying new adventure thriller. When the cast and crew of reality TV show 'SeaLife' land on picturesque, unexplored Henders Island it's a ratings bonanza. But they're blissfully unaware that the decisions they make there will shape the fate of mankind ! if they can only survive. For they quickly discover that the island is seething with danger. Having evolved in total isolation from the rest of the planet for millennia, Henders is home to host of vicious and exotic predators, terrifying creatures who live in a lightning fast blur of kill or be killed. A team of crack scientists is sent in to assess the situation and they are astounded by what they find. It soon becomes clear that if even the smallest bug ever made it off Henders island, life on earth as we know it would change very quickly indeed. The President is faced with the toughest decision of his career: take the risk of letting one of these creatures escape so that further research can be done, or nuke the island to protect the rest of planet Earth? Just when it seems the stakes couldn't get any higher, the scientists make a surprise discovery that changes everything!


REVIEW:

With the death of Crichton there became a huge hole in a specific niche of the market, that of fiction based on real science principles. Research was the key word with Crichton and when this offering landed on my doorstep I was intrigued enough to pick it up and see where it ran to.

Within the book followed a Darwinian evolution theory that utilised an insectoid based life-form over that of the mammals along with how the restricted ecosystem adapted to the challenges presented by island life. Add to the mix science based upon differing species and it really did tick all the boxes for me as a reader. One thing I did wonder about whilst reading this novel however was a slight change to the way it progressed as I’d have liked the evolution of the higher insectoid “primate” to have had a different route such as the utilisation of humankind as each genetic code warred with the other as if the insectoid RNA were a parasite. It had potential to follow that route yet the authors own choice did work on a level to tie the whole tale up with a nice flowing style. Definitely an author to watch and one whose next book will move straight to the top of my reading pile.