PATENT TO KILL

Christofferson's typically adroit weaving of fast-paced action with exploration of medical ethics—cloning, illegal drug trials—unravels in this contrived adventure about biopiracy in the Amazon. At issue is the mysterious gene G32, which may be able to cure blindness, and is found only among a tiny tribe of people living deep in the Brazilian rain forest. GenChrom, a Seattle biotech company led by the ruthless Torrell Hughes, will stop at nothing, including murder, to extract DNA samples from the tribe's members. The company's four-man search team, however, includes Dr. Jake Skully, who doesn't approve of Hughes's criminal tactics, even though GenChrom's success could help his blind son see again. Also seeking to thwart Hughes is Asahel Sullivan, an anti-biotech activist who launches her own one-woman expedition into the Amazon to rein in GenChrom. After an initial misunderstanding, Asahel and Jake team up, and together—battling man-eating caimans, poisoned arrows, malaria outbreaks and flesh-stripping insects—the pair fight the good fight against corporate exploitation of indigenous people as well as abuse of the medical patent process. Christofferson develops both themes in some depth, yet her plot lacks the sharp edge of realism on display in her two most recent medical thrillers (Clinical Trial; The Protocol). This one, peopled with cartoonish villains and cloying heroes, is also weighted down with melodrama about many of the character's pasts—though Christofferson packs in plenty of murder and mayhem, too, in this attention-grabbing but overwrought thriller. Agent, Ken Atchity. (Aug.)