- Paperback: 352 pages
- Publisher: Voyager (5 July 1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0006483208
- ISBN-13: 978-0006483205
- Product Dimensions: 17.2 x 10.6 x 2.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,142,496 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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More About the Author
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
In the guise of a mainstream biomedical thriller akin to Ira Levin's The Boys From Brazil, or the novels of Robin Coma Cook, Nebula Award-winner Robert Sawyer has crafted a most ambitious tale.
As a teenager, Pierre Tardivel discovers that he has a 50 per cent chance of developing the hereditary Huntington's disease. The knowledge drives him to become a scientist working on the Human Genome Project at Berkley University, where he falls in love with Molly, a psychologist with the genetic "frameshift" for telepathy. A series of murders are traced to local neo-Nazis, someone is conducting an illegal experiment with Neanderthal DNA, and Department of Justice Agent Avi Meyer is hunting Ivan Marchenko, the concentration camp guard known as Ivan the Terrible, The Butcher of Treblinka.
What makes Frameshift remarkable is the sympathetic and realistic portrayal of a progressively disabled hero, together with the interweaving into the story of the hunt for a real Nazi war criminal. Here Sawyer skilfully draws on the scandalous persecution of John Demjanjuk, a man mistakenly tried as Marchenko in the 1980's, a case documented in Yoram Sheftel's powerful Show Trial.
Robert J. Sawyer has woven a labyrinthine novel encompassing sufficient themes and plots for a handful of ordinary thrillers. He offers complex and imaginative scientific speculation, a thoughtful examination of the ethical implications of genetic testing, a slow-burning but dramatic thriller with a blockbuster climax, and a touching love story with a genuinely moving ending. Frameshift is a griping, and ultimately inspiring novel.--Gary S. Dalkin
Review
From reviews of Illegal Alien:
‘SF and suspense mingle as expert worldbuilder Sawyer takes the action to our own planet. Recommended’
Locus
‘Absorbing and fascinating’
Publishers Weekly
‘Add another hit to Sawyer’s string’
Science Fiction Chronicle
‘Excellent, innovative and imaginative’
Washinton Post
‘A tour de force of intricate, puzzle-like complexity’
SF Age
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is the second of Robert J Sawyer's book that I've read. The style in both makes the books very easy to read. In fact if I were to be churlish, the only criticism I would have is that the style is just a little too simple.
However, I really would be being picky to say that! The story is just brilliant, Sawyer again has that Canadian element in the book, you get the impression that he's dead proud to be Canadian - and wants people to make sure they damn well know he's not from the States! I love the little reference he makes to Californians not saying "you're welcome", but rather "uh-huh". Something that always freaks me out!
The book has inspired me to buy a book on DNA (from Amazon of course!), look up info about war crimes against the Jews on the net (if you were ever unsure about how horrifically the Jews were treated, this leaves you in no doubt) and spend a day and a half solid reading the book.
I'd thoroughly recommend the book.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I thought this was a great story and liked the details about use and abuse of genetic information, something which appears to be happening more and more often these days (Feb 01: a UK insurance company has recently been brought to task about illegal use of experimental genetic screening).
It was pretty difficult to put this book down, and it's clear illustration of a few points about basic genetics were educational :)
Unfortunately amazon's main review of the book gives away some of the plot twists a little too early...
Format:Paperback
This was a fairly enjoyable read, but the plot involved 3 incredible things happening to the same couple at once, any of which would have made a good story, but including all of them was just unbelievable.
I won't go into too much detail so as not to give the plot away. But I can mention the fact of Molly's telepathy, as it crops up on page 3 of the novel. Molly, a major character in the book is telepathic. There is no reason for her to be telepathic, the events of the book don't happen as a result of her being telepathic, nor does her telepathy follow from the events of the book (so it is not a novel about her telepathy). It is just very convenient for the book that she is telepathic. Certainly, if I ever find myself facing a conspiracy of neo-nazi murderers I will hope that my wife is secretly telepathic, and hasn't told me yet.
It is said that good science fiction should contain just one fantastic idea, and the rest deals with the consequences arising from that idea. This novel had two ideas too many.
I won't go into too much detail so as not to give the plot away. But I can mention the fact of Molly's telepathy, as it crops up on page 3 of the novel. Molly, a major character in the book is telepathic. There is no reason for her to be telepathic, the events of the book don't happen as a result of her being telepathic, nor does her telepathy follow from the events of the book (so it is not a novel about her telepathy). It is just very convenient for the book that she is telepathic. Certainly, if I ever find myself facing a conspiracy of neo-nazi murderers I will hope that my wife is secretly telepathic, and hasn't told me yet.
It is said that good science fiction should contain just one fantastic idea, and the rest deals with the consequences arising from that idea. This novel had two ideas too many.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A gene for telepathy!
There's no doubt that Robert Sawyer can merge the most recent scientific concepts with fictional narrative flawlessly. Read more
Published on 15 Jan 2006 by Stephen A. Haines
A fun read but....
This book is a fun read but is a little too simple to be more than a page turner.
The story makes a very obvious twist about 3/4 through which makes it a little like a 50s Sci Fi... Read more
Published on 5 Sep 2000
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