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	Curiosity may have killed the cat, but Cerri Ellis never let a little thing like fear stop her from playing sleuth. When she's not snapping photos of ghosts, solving riddles or sifting through dusty tomes in library catacombs, she writes articles and book reviews for magazines and web sites. Her hobbies include reading mysteries, herbal gardening, and searching online and estate auctions for arcane curios. She is currently at work on a paranormal thriller set in Southern Appalachia. Ms. Ellis enjoys hearing from her readers. You can contact her at cerridwen_ellis @ yahoo.com Or stop by her blog: www.cerriellis.blogspot.com

THE ODYSSEY GENE
Kfir Luzzatto
Echelon Press, August 2006, $12.99, 280pp.
ISBN: 1-59080-473-2
www.theodysseygene.com

In the not so distant future, a rampant contagion threatens Earth's populace. Scientists discover a link between a gene found in certain people and their ability to resist the disease. Sweeping changes are made, dividing society into D-positives and D-negatives...the D-gene, so-named after Dr. Davies, the scientist who made the discovery.

Those with the resistant gene are social outcasts, second class citizens, unable to hold key positions at their jobs, forbidden to inter-marry.

John Hektor is a D-positive. His parents, his family and friends are all D-negative. His brothers shun him, his fiancée breaks up with him, and his soon-to-be announced promotion at work is a thing of the past.

Discouraged and angry, he hears about a ship leaving for the frontier in outer-space. It means a new start. A place where anyone can live in freedom and not be denied their individual rights. But, as with most things, nothing is perfect, and John finds this out the hard way.

THE ODYSSEY GENE, is an engrossing story--a saga played out amid the cold, fearful indifference of society, and the vastness of space. Treachery, treason and intrigue await John as he begins to understand his true purpose. Mr. Luzzatto writes with a sparse, stiff, albeit impassioned style, that I found hard to read at first. The novel starts a little shaky, some of the passages confusing, as he wove back-story into the plot as flashbacks. I'm happy to say the book picked up after chapter thirteen, almost morphing into a sinister thriller.

I admit the premise gave me a bit of a logic problem at first. I couldn't grasp why the D-positives would be the outcasts. Wouldn't it be more likely that the D-negatives--still susceptible to a recurrence of outbreak--be the shunned? And those immune be elevated to a higher status? Or did I entirely miss the point?

Since Mr. Luzzatto left readers with a tantalizing hook at the end, could there be a sequel in John Hektor's future?

Cerri Ellis

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