Monday, September 16, 2013

Project Cain-Geoffrey Girard

Project Cain

Geoffrey Girard

Simon & Schuster, Sep 3 2013, $17.99

ISBN 9781442476967



When Jeffrey Jacobson was five he was in an accident in which his mom died and his memory was negatively impacted. He has three photos of his mom and has been told for years that she loved him.



When he turned sixteen he learned the truth from his father Dr. Gregory Jacobson the geneticist. Eight years ago, Jeffrey was cloned as part of a project creating super combat soldiers from serial killers’ DNA. His “father” was not the scientist, but Jeffrey Dahmer. Before he can be transferred from his “loving” home to the installation where he was made in Dahmer’s image, Fed Castillo rescues Jeff. The serial killer’s offspring agrees to help Castillo hunt down his peers who are living up to their infamous fathers; unaware that a new deadlier diabolical Dahmer pursues them.



This taut young adult thriller uses the premise that naturing in almost all cases supersedes nurturing as the bad DNA imprint overwhelms positive life lessons; which leaves fans to wonder whether Castillo should trust Jeff to have his back and not shoot his back. My husband, who worked for the Army, says the military would not want serial killers in the service; besides being loners psychologically unfit for a cohesive unit, think of the bad PR from news media telling grieving moms that their child died from a Dahmer clone killing Americans in a friendly fire incident. Mostly told from the shocked Jeff’s perspective, teenage readers and older curious fans who have read the adult version (see Cain’s Blood) will enjoy this cautionary tale.



Harriet Klausner

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