Have you ever distractedly picked up a paperback at random at a railway station or an airport with the intention of idling away some hours with reading not even certain that you will finish the book? Have you ever been brought up short by a story so breathtaking in its subject, scope and pace that you havent been able to put it down? This was my introduction to John Cases first novel.  
 
The priest's musing was interrupted by a familiar noise from the other side of the partition--the sound of a curtain pushed aside, followed by the grunt of an old man sinking to his knees. Father Azetti composed himself and opened the grille with a brush of his hand.  
 
"Bless me, Father, for I have sinned . . ."  
 
The priest listened, and the word burst from him in a gasp: "What!?"  
Dr. Baresi repeated what he'd said, speaking in a hushed and urgent voice. And then he began to elaborate, so that there could be no mistake about what was being said. Listening to the terrible and persuasive details, Father Azetti felt his heart lurch in his chest. What the man had done--what he'd committed--was the most spectacular sin imaginable, a sin so deep and terminal that heaven itself might never recover from it. Was it even possible?   CHAPTER 1  
 
So begins The Genesis Code. It is a fast paced, edge of the seat thriller. The plot remains well hidden through innumerable twists and turns and comes to a stunning and unexpected climax. I was very close to the final chapters before I realised the full magnitude of the scenario that was being presented to me. There are a few holes in the plot (why doesnt the baddy just shoot the goody in stead of talking at him and then letting him escape?) but these seem irrelevant as the roller coaster ride across two continents charges along.  
 
The hero, Joe Lassiter, is the head of an investigative agency. When his sister and nephew die in a house blaze he joins the investigation. Over the next 437 pages, he becomes increasingly ensnared in a world populated with assassins, medical experimentation, secret societies, arson, the church hierarchy, myth and mysticism, and multiple murder.  
 
John Case is the pseudonym for an investigative journalist. Much of the background content has been explored in meticulous detail. I would not wish to give away anymore of the plot but regardless of your beliefs, convictions and persuasions, this is one book that will challenge them all.  
 
I would agree with the quotes of the cover from Norman Mailer ([It] is one of the few science-mysteries I have read that is impeccable in plot, immaculate in story resolution and moves with high skill from locale to locale and from suspense to suspense) and Stanley Pottinger (A week after I finished reading it, I still woke up at three in the morning wondering: What If?). I completed the story six months ago and I too still wonder  
 
This is the best book I have read for many a year.  
