Kit McKee is the world’s leading genetic editor. Having run from an America where she is no longer welcome, she now develops lucrative cosmetic edits to the human genome from her secure laboratory in northern China. She has been working on a side-project in her spare time, keeping it a secret—or so she thinks.
Dallas Ward is a former civilian sub-orbital pilot who now flies contraband for a Hong Kong triad in a ground-effect stealth jet, not as a matter of choice. He has been tasked with a special delivery, this one with a time restriction.
Fong and Woo are two Hong Kong police detectives investigating a series of homicides that appear to take place only during typhoons. The bodies are found to be genetically edited, leading the detectives toward Kit, who has suddenly gone missing.
All three storylines weave together into a fast-paced, near-future techno thriller that raises intriguing ethical questions about genetics and the global distribution of power.
Kit McKee is the world’s leading genetic editor. Having run from an America where she is no longer welcome, she now develops lucrative cosmetic edits to the human genome from her secure laboratory in northern China. She has been working on a side-project in her spare time, keeping it a secret—or so she thinks.
Dallas Ward is a former civilian sub-orbital pilot who now flies contraband for a Hong Kong triad in a ground-effect stealth jet, not as a matter of choice. He has been tasked with a special delivery, this one with a time restriction.
Fong and Woo are two Hong Kong police detectives investigating a series of homicides that appear to take place only during typhoons. The bodies are found to be genetically edited, leading the detectives toward Kit, who has suddenly gone missing.
All three storylines weave together into a fast-paced, near-future techno thriller that raises intriguing ethical questions about genetics and the global distribution of power.
Through the windshield of his Arethusa, the GAFA sprawled in all its darkened desert nothingness—the Great African Fuck All. A staccato of shallow flora and fauna along a bare, wind-razored stretch of savannah, pimples on a barren landscape, short grasses scorched by a summer’s fierce sunlight. In the distance, the tendril-like fingers of a fiery-red sunrise crept up behind blackening thunderheads through the pre-dawn East African air, the rising sun illuminating their silhouettes with a background of blood-red sky.
Dallas Ward was running the machine at full thrust, the exhaust from her internally mounted gas-turbine engines actively muffled, cooled, and ducted above her twin-forked tail. He was flying low, as always, metres above the desert’s flat terrain in the camouflaging pink of a Serengeti morning. He glimpsed a curl of compressed water vapour escaping off the tip of the Russian aircraft’s thin, swept-back wing. A coiled ringlet of cloud corkscrewing into the protective darkness of a night sky they were rapidly leaving behind.
She’d be visible in the approaching light, those spinning vortices drawing a direct and conspicuous line to her rear. He felt it, felt the dusk ascending, exposing. He shuffled in his custom-molded seat, lying almost flat, his left hand on the thrust lever, his right resting on the stick. Through his visor’s interface, he watched the sun ascending to meet them. He reached out through the aircraft’s tech into her ailerons, gave her elevator a gentle nudge. A thought brought her rudders close. A glance and he was the engines, the thrust. In these moments he was the jet, the separation of man and mechanism removed, integrated into a 1000 kilometre per hour chimera of low-vis stealth tech riding the soft whisper of a black ghost in flight.
Ghastly ghouls move silent through the night.
The thunderheads would provide some cover through the dawn, till they hit the coastline at least. Rippling sand dunes flashed beneath the canopy, their ridges lit by the rising sun, its burning lip not yet visible on the horizon. It’s so different from down here, he thought, watching the terminator approach, the global divider between night and day, that same strip of brightening planet he’d gazed down on from the edge of space, back in a previous and now distant life.
The aircraft rumbled and shook in the turbulence of the morning’s warming air, the wind flowing over the undulating ground like a river over stones, its roiling eddies bouncing her like a truck down a bumpy dirt road. He coaxed her lower, and she smoothed at his touch.
He wiped a gloved hand along his thigh and looked through holographic optics at the darkening pillars of rain falling ahead. It was rare to see storm clouds on the continent this far east.
Thirty feet below, the savannah awakened. Where lions prowled and gazelle fled.
The Sequence is a dystopian tale taking place many years in the future, when genome editing is a thing among several other tech and scientific advancements. Despite the condemnation and restrictions from various fronts, Kit McKee is a leading geneticist, producing the best augments in the world, including a secret one that could change humanity forever. The question is: for better or worse?
The book weaves the stories of different characters together. Apart from Kit, we follow a Hong Kong detective as he tries to solve a series of strange homicides and a triad smuggler hired for a job that turns out to be harder and far more complicated than usual. All the characters are intriguing and well-developed.
The writing is rich and smooth, unravelling the plot very nicely. At times it does feel a bit too languid for the action illustrated, while also missing some opportunities for more depth in terms of important scenes and emotions, for example. Nevertheless, the overall effect of The Sequence is good. You can look forward to an immersive and thought-provoking experience.
To be exact, through the mystery, intrigue, and excitement, we get to think about the morality of gene editing. As Jurassic Park’s Ian Malcom pointed out, just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. But what if some augments actually save lives? Does it justify what Kit and other scientists like her do, not to mention the means used to reach their goals? Additionally, is the betterment of mankind worth delivering such innovations to people who happily abuse and weaponize them?
This novel is a worthwhile read, not just because of the great plot, characters, and style, but also because it makes very important points regarding human nature and scientific discovery. The Sequence is the type of science fiction that makes you think and feel while sweeping you up in smart and thrilling action that doesn’t go overboard. Quality work all-round.