Gun of God by David Cudlip: Good Concept, Poor Execution

First theorized in the early 1970s, gene therapy has been touted as the key to curing all human diseases.  It involves replacing the DNA sequence of a mutated gene with a normal one, carried into the body using a vector such as a virus.  Since its very conception, gene therapy has been an extremely controversial subject.  There are well-founded concerns that in the hands of unscrupulous persons, genetic manipulation could create a house of horrors with devastating effects on the world.

When one thinks of curing diseases, one of the first thoughts in many people’s minds is pharmaceuticals.  The pharmaceutical industry generates trillions of dollars a year in sales, leading to the question that is being asked frequently – do these companies actually want a cure for all diseases found or do they attempt to suppress such efforts to maintain their vast revenues?

The controversial nature of gene manipulation has long been rich fodder for authors.  Decades before the concept became reality, Aldous Huxley wrote of a society where humans have been engineered for perfection.  Several non-fiction books have been written about a machine, developed by a physician in the 1930s, which could cure almost every disease and was ultimately suppressed and destroyed.

Gun of God tries to intertwines all of these issues but the author does a poor job combining these ideas. The book is a compilation of very loosely connected chapters with characters suddenly appear in random places around the world.  Thomas Courmaine is a rogue among Jesuit priests – he’s also a geneticist whose scientific ideas are against religious doctrine.  He is supposedly banished to Africa, where of all places he discovers the key to gene therapy.  Not very believable place for major discovery and no real reason is given. 

When his discovery is made public, the pharmaceutical industry tries to bring him into the fold, but he refuses to play by their rules.  Funded by the only person willing to do so, his ‘gene gun’ soon fires – a shot heard round the world – but soon the intent of his discovery is adulterated.

Using his discovery, competition among people begins of who can become more – more beautiful, more intelligent, and stronger.  Courmaine watches his cure become a curse as the Law of Unintended Consequences wreaks havoc on society.  He must now attempt to undo what has been done, while being turned on by his financial backer and losing the woman he now loves.  Can he stop the madness in time and save the human race – and himself?

We will give this book two stars for a good concept but a poor execution.