Revelation

Cloning--of humans, dinosaurs and other critters--was suspense-novel fodder long before Dolly the sheep was created. Balling (Champion) makes the notion as tactile as goosebumps in his latest techno-thriller, in which fanatical groups vie for a bit of mummified DNA from the time of Jesus. Al Baretta, working for the highly secretive lay Catholic organization Opus Dei, recruits John Reese--widowed prep-school English teacher and onetime Green beret--and Lara Brooks--a one-legged DNA expert who takes Prozac--to retrieve a finger found in an ancient Samarian scroll by Lara's brother, a priest. Reese's daughter is comatose from a brutal attack by followers of televangelist Bobby Jordan, who stole the relic from her lab for nefarious use at Jordan's DNA research center, located on a rugged island off the Maine coast. Meanwhile, Kenji Hamada, Lara's colleague, seeks help from his Yakuza father to atone for his cowardice during the theft. Jordan's lab discovers what Lara and Hamada already know: the DNA has genes that don't exist in contemporary humans, and that the anomaly is located in ""the Y chromosome--the chromosome inherited exclusively from the father."" Did the finger belong to Jesus? The cinematic action--involving Jordan's hired thugs, Yakuza gunsels, Reese and Lara--on Jordan's island redoubt (in a rare hurricane) is fast and surprisingly credible, though the outcome is predictable. If there's a bit too much going on here (the Yakuza side plot is jarringly extraneous), Balling nevertheless draws the reader into his provocative premise with well-defined characters and accessible technical info. Film rights to Cannell Motion Pictures. (Apr.)