Transhuman
*Starred Review* Luke is a 75-year-old cellular biologist who has been doing research on telomeres with some promising results in mice. (Telomeres are the part of the chromosome that control aging and cell reproduction. Most cells have a limit on the number of times they can reproduce, but cancer cells don’t.) When his granddaughter, Angela, is diagnosed with an aggressive and fatal brain cancer, he kidnaps her, convinced that he can save her with his new therapy. He takes her and her attending physician across the country to a private lab, where Angela can be treated, all the while dodging the FBI. Things get more complicated when his sole funding source and the White House conspire to try and keep his research and publications under their control, relocating him, Angela, her physician, and her parents to a military base isolated in Idaho. An exciting and action-packed book from start to finish, this could easily be turned into a movie. Plausible twenty-first-century medical research, the bond between a grandfather and his granddaughter, and political power all serve to make this book a must-read for those who enjoyed The Fugitive. A combination of thriller, adventure, and drama will enthrall. --Rebecca Gerber