Baby X
Books | Fiction / Thrillers / Psychological
4.3
Kira Peikoff
One of NPR’s 2024 Books We LoveWhen any biological matter can be used to create life, stolen celebrity DNA sells to the highest bidder–or the craziest stalker–in this propulsive thriller.With a vivid imagining of the future, Gattaca meets Black Mirror in Kira Peikoff’s Baby X.In the near-future United States, where advanced technology can create egg or sperm from any person’s cells, celebrities face the alarming potential of meeting biological children they never conceived. Famous singer Trace Thorne is tired of being targeted by the Vault, a black market site devoted to stealing DNA. Sick of paying ransom money for his own cell matter, he hires bio-security guard Ember Ryan to ensure his biological safety. Ember will do anything she can to protect her clients. She knows all the Vault’s tricks–discarded tissues, used straws, lipstick tubes—and has prevented countless DNA thefts. Working for Thorne, her focus becomes split when she begins to fall for him, but she knows she hasn’t let anything slip–love or not, his DNA is safe. But then she and Thorne are confronted by a pregnant woman, Quinn, who claims that Thorne is the father of her baby, and all bets are off. Brilliantly plotted and terrifyingly prescient, Baby X is an unpredictable and relentless speculative thriller perfect for fans of Blake Crouch and John Marrs.
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More Details:
Author
Kira Peikoff
Pages
336
Publisher
Crooked Lane Books
Published Date
2024-03-05
ISBN
1639106332 9781639106332
Community ReviewsSee all
"Baby X is a thriller that keeps all the thrills for the last quarter of the books. Despite not seeming like a thriller for much of the book, it kept me reading.
Baby X takes place in a near future where egg fertilization happens in a lab. Parents choose which of the resulting embryos will become their child based on their genetic sequence and a score of the probability of attributes including everything from symmetry to extroversion, to ability to do math.
It is told by 3 alternating narrators. Ember is in business protecting the famous from having their DNA stolen (by snatching a used glass or tissue). Her client Trace Thorne is a famous singer and heart throb. After being blackmailed to keep his DNA being sold to the highest bidder, he takes this issue seriously.
Quinn goes to a Trace Thorne concert as a push present. She had successfully finished a job as a surrogate, delivering a healthy baby to a gay couple. At the concert, she meets and becomes friends with her seat mate, Robert. The two become friends.
Lily has a fellowship at Vangaurd Magazine. She needs a big story to make an impression and get hired on as a journalist. Inspiration strikes in the guise of family troubles. Each time she thinks she is onto something, she only comes up with more questions.
These three stories come together in a most surprising (and well crafted) way.
Despite the fact that Baby X contains lots of scientific information, it never feels overwhelming or boring.
I recommend this to anyone who likes to read about possible future applications of science.
"
Brandi Always Reading
"4.5 ⭐️ <br/><br/>Once again, I am the outlier - but this gripped me from the first chapter and I truly had no idea what was in store for us."
Marissa Fielding
