The Genesis Code [Book Review]

This is the second book review. There's some religious stuff in this book which might be sensitive to you so you can choose not to read it. No offense anyway....


The genesis code is a thriller written by John Case. It is published in 1997 and it was the New York Times bestseller.


Father Azetti is a priest in a church in Montecastello. Having lived in the town for less than a decade, Father Azetti was an outsider, and would remain so into the next millennium.


The church he worked in was a gloomy one. There is a confessional in it. One day, Doctor Igmazio Baresi, a most distinguished resident in Montecatella came to him for confession.


Doctor Baresi is Father Azetti’s friend and they would always come together over a chessboard on Friday. Lately, however, the doctor’s comings and goings had been less frequent due to his illness. After listening to Doctor Baresi’s terrible and persuasive details of his sins, Father Azetti was shocked. It was a sin so deep and terminal that heaven itself might never recover from it. Doctor Baresi walked out of the confessional and shot himself.


Father Azetti closed the church to meet the cardinal Orsini. He told him about Doctor Baresi’s confession. The church decided to do nothing about it. Soon, the news leaked out and when Umbra Domini, the “secular institute” who sought the more elevated status of a “personal prelature” leaned about it, they decided to take action of the matter.


Keswick Lane was one of those streets about which it is always said that “nothing ever happens”. The street was lined with $ 400,000 homes, BMWs, and the best gas grills money could ever buy. However, a terrible fire happened at one of the unit. The firemen found the bodies of a woman and a small child in their beds.


The woman is Kathleen Anne Lassiter and Brandon Lassiter. The deputy chief informed the victims’ next kin, Joe Lassiter. He is Kathleen’s younger brother and Brandon’s uncle.


Joe Lassiter owns a company called the Lassiter Associates. Lassiter Associates is a company always looking for investigators who could write reports that could be sent to clients. Having to work in this field, Joe found the fire suspicious. The house of his sister is practically new, and everything ----- the stove, the wiring, and the three-zone heating system was top of the line. Joe had gone along the home inspection himself. There were smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors everywhere and there are even fire extinguishers.


A fire that started due to an accident is almost impossible. Joe Lassiter wanted to find out more. He met up with the medial examiner, and learnt that it was an arson case. Kathleen was stabbed in the chest and Brandon’s throat was cut all the way from ear to ear. Kathleen and Brandon both died about one hour before the fire.


Not long after, Brandon’s body was being dug out of his grave and his body is being incinerated further and all that was left was just bone litter. Joe Lassiter was disturbed by the events that happened. His sister and nephew never offended anybody and led a peaceful and quiet life. Why would anyone wanted them to die so horribly? Joe is determined to find out who was the murder; and why.


After taking time off from his work, Joe narrowed down his search and found out that his sister is not the only one who died like that. There are other women, together with their child, died in the same manner. They are being drained of blood, and then burnt to ashes. Those women have one thing in common. They went to a research centre opened by Doctor Baresi to get themselves pregnant. Unlike other sperm banks, Doctor Baresi did not allow his patients to choose the sperms or eggs from any donors.


Joe tracked down Azetti, and he got a letter in Itailian from him. Not long after, Father Azetti was murdered. Joe escaped death narrowly. Joe conducted a search, and found out that all the women except one who went to Doctor Baresi for pregnancy were murdered. Joe decided to help the last survivor, Callista Marie. It was a difficult search as the woman is determined to disappear from the outside world. However, Joe found her at last and warned her about the murder cases that happened will happen to her as well. Joe got Marie to read him the letter from Father Azetti as he cannot read Italian. After listening to Marie read the letter, Joe found out that Doctor Baresi is trying to clone Jesus by reversing DNA differentiation, and one of the children that he had helped the women to conceive is the clone of Jesus. Umbra Domini thinks that it is a sin because nobody should try to create god, because god is the one who create them. Umbra Domini tracked down Marie and her son, Jesse, not long after Joe found them. In the act of self defense, Joe shot them to death.


It turned out that Jesse have the ability to heal, and to revive the dead.


I like this story as I like how John Case described the conversations, feelings, and the appearances of the characters in the book. The atmosphere and the plot of the story is extremely clever and well written as well. I’m glad that I did not give up reading the book while I’m halfway through.


My favorite character in the story is Joe Lassiter as he is extremely patient and clever. He has a lot of resources and he also has a considerable amount of friends that can aid him in solving the mysteries of his sister’s death. Joe Lassiter must have love his sister a lot to have gone through all the trouble finding who killed her sister and the reasons for why they want to kill her. I must say that Joe Lassiter is a good actor too, as he has successfully fooled a lot of people about his real identity without much effort. Joe Lassiter is quite civilized too. The amount of cursing of his, when compared to other characters in the book, is considerably lesser. He is a gentleman too, and never forgets to tip people for their good services. He is also willing to brave all danger just in search of the truth.


Kayin :]