The Curiosity.

Tue, 21 May 2013 17:08:38 GMT

Kiernan, Stephen P. (author).
July 2013. 432p. Morrow, hardcover, $25.99 (9780062221063); Morrow, e-book (9780062221087).
REVIEW. First published May 1, 2013 (Booklist).

In this smart, heady, and irresistible science thriller, award-winning journalist Kiernan’s first novel, newly credentialed scientist Kate Philo, who has cast her lot with the shamelessly egotistical and ruthlessly ambitious Erastus Carthage, makes an astounding find in the Arctic. With an eye on the lucrative field of cryogenics, the crew, including a pot-smoking Deadhead genius, is searching for marine creatures embedded in icebergs that they can reanimate. Instead, they find a frozen man. Back in Boston, in a classic mad-scientist scene, they succeed in resurrecting Jeremiah Rice, a Massachusetts judge who was believed drowned in 1906. Soon religious extremists are protesting the “blasphemous” Lazarus Project, and the media, including a lecherous journalist who believes he has exclusive access, are in a feeding frenzy. Carthage’s greed goes into overdrive, and defiant Kate insists that Jeremiah be treated as a human being, not a research subject. She and the judge grow close as they venture out into the world, and forthright, courtly, and deeply moral Jeremiah becomes the most curious of celebrities as he assesses the clamorous changes a century has brought. If only his life wasn’t, once again, in danger. Kiernan gets every element right in this breakneck, entertaining, and thought-provoking tale about time, mortality, the ethics of science, and the meaning of life. The film rights were instantly sold.

— Donna Seaman

Booklist Online - Review of the Day

The Curiosity.