cover image The Gemini Experiment

The Gemini Experiment

Brian Pinkerton. Flame Tree, $24.95 (256p) ISBN 978-1-78758-229-3

Pinkerton’s unpredictable sci-fi thriller is a dizzying compilation of action scenes and moral quandaries. Chicago lawyer Tom Nolan, who’s dying from Lowrey’s disease, hears from a neuroscientist friend who proposes an unorthodox cure: having his consciousness digitized and transferred into a robot replica by a privately funded team of scientists. Tom agrees, but before the transfer can be made, the robot escapes. Pinkerton employs many of the expected tropes regarding look-alikes as the robot flees to Florida, and spies intent on stealing the mind transfer technology enter the story. Surprising plot twists, exciting action, and Tom’s everyman characterization save this novel from veering into the ridiculous, but Pinkerton’s use of Christian beliefs as a framework to raise moral questions feels incomplete. The conclusion is a strange mix of incongruous cruelty to the villains and a tacked-on happy ending for the heroes. Pinkerton (How I Started the Apocalypse) wields fast pacing and an entertaining, electrifying plot to provide ample distraction from this novel’s flaws, but readers will eventually see through the sleight of hand. (May)