Perfect People [Kindle Edition]

The first thing that attracted me to this book was the cover: It looked eerie and intriguing. Perfect People is a stand-alone thriller which was a perfect place for me to start with Peter James' books as I have yet to pick up one of the Roy Grace series (which I now intend to do).

According to the blurb, this book has been 10 years in the planning. When the idea first came to James about writing a book about designer babies, it was just that - an idea. Now it is a reality. That makes reading this book all the scarier - we may just be looking at our future.

John and Naomi Klaesson live in California and have lost their 4 year old son to a rare genetic disorder which made them watch him die a slow and horrible death. Still young and desperate for another child, the Klaesson's opt for paying a huge sum of money to geneticist Dr Leo Dettore who has promised them that he can prevent this child from being born with the same disorder that killed their son. What soon become apparant is that Dr Dettore can also offer them so much more scope in "designing" their next child.

This book poses so many questions and will undoubtedly make you think about what you would do in the same situation. Being faced with the option to make your child more empathetic (but would that make them a playground bully target?) or allow them to survive on only a few hours per night like many CEOs and politicians do (but would that mean that they may have sociopathic tendancies?) what would you decide? These are the dilemas that also face the Klaessons when going through page after page of tick-box options. The Klaessons are normal people, they have normal jobs, they live in a normal house and they only thing they really want is a disease-free child...but does that mean that they can't be tempted by anything else?

What makes this book so compelling is that it becomes apparant pretty early on that something isn't quite right. It's so difficult for me to be say anything more about the plot as it really would spoil it, but what I will say is that with fairly short chapters that have a tendancy to end at a point where you can't possibly put the book down, then this makes for one migthy page-turner.

Verdict: An amazing thriller. One that will make you question what you would do, one that will make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up and one that has sufficient twists to keep you on your toes and not get too comfortable...

I have been a great fan of Peter James's Inspector Grace novels, although in the last one, with its sadistic mafia hitman and strange development in the missing wife subplot, he seemed to be straying into Harlan Coben territory, if not the realms of fantasy. In Perfect People, he has embraced the fantasy element wholeheartedly.

John and Naomi, understandably anxious to avoid the heartbreak of losing a second child to a rare genetic disorder, borrow a huge sum and go to a dodgy doctor specialising in genetic modification. His clinic operates from an offshore cruise liner due to the illegality of what it does and threats from religious objectors (I am rather tired of the current trend to portray all religious people as homicidal nutcases, but to be fair, the scientists in this book don't come out much better). Naomi duly conceives, but from the first scan the couple begin to realise that they have not been told the whole truth and that they might be in for a few shocks. Once Naomi gives birth via a nightmare caesarian, she and John are briefly happy until threats from the murderous religious group necessitate their fleeing to England. Then the shocks come thick and fast, never letting up till the very end of this rather bleak story.

Mr. James is a good writer - his characters are well developed and you care about them. Ridiculous as the plot becomes - and it gets very silly indeed - you can't help reading on and wondering when or if this poor couple, who only ever wanted a healthy child, are going to get a break.

In a note at the end, Peter James says he researched carefully and everything which happens in the story is possible. Maybe so, and there is undoubtedly room for a novel which explores the risks and potential consequences of extreme genetic manipulation. However, Perfect People reads like Rosemary's Baby Meets The Omen in a Brave New World. It's a page-turner, but I didn't believe a word.

A very long way away from the Roy Grace detective series this is a superb stand alone novel by Peter James.
It's a classic 'page turner' I was itching to get to the end to see what happened and was not disappointed at all. Without giving anything away the final few paragraphs are poignant and unexpected. I had my own thoughts as to what might happen but never went down this track.
A great read in its own right, Perfect People will however make you think about what might just be happening behind closed doors and unfortunately it's not pleasant.
I hope it's a sign of things to come though (in the literary world!) as while I love the Roy Grace series this has proved again how much talent James has and I really hope there are more to come.