Genre: Science Fiction, Dystopian Publication Date June 15th, 2011 Pages: 266 Where to get: B&N, Amazon, Website: Christine Amsden The Immortality Virus - Goodreads
In the mid-21st century, the human race stopped aging. Those who know why aren't talking, and the few who are brave enough to ask questions tend to disappear. To an elite few, The Change means long life and health, but to the increasing masses, it means starvation, desperation, and violence.
Four centuries after The Change, Grace Harper, a blacklisted P.I., sets off on a mission to find the man responsible for it all and solicit his help to undo The Change – if he's still alive. To complicate matters, Grace's employer is suspected of murdering his father, and when the police learn of their connection, they give her a choice – help them find the evidence they need to convict Matthew Stanton, or die. But if they discover Grace's true mission, they won't hesitate to kill her in order to protect their shot at immortality.
(goodreads.com)Four centuries after The Change, Grace Harper, a blacklisted P.I., sets off on a mission to find the man responsible for it all and solicit his help to undo The Change – if he's still alive. To complicate matters, Grace's employer is suspected of murdering his father, and when the police learn of their connection, they give her a choice – help them find the evidence they need to convict Matthew Stanton, or die. But if they discover Grace's true mission, they won't hesitate to kill her in order to protect their shot at immortality.
"How much are you selling him for?" Grace asked, as though only mildly interested. The mildness wasn't a stretch.
"Who said we're selling him?" Blondie asked.
"Why else would you have him here?" Grace asked.
"Decoration?" Blondie suggested. "He's just so handsome."
An old timer. Grace hadn't realize that he was one of the few remaining people who had already been old when humanity stopped aging.
The Immortality Virus is a dark dystopian Science Fiction novel by Christine Amsden. It's an action-packed, fast-paced and thrilling book, spiced up with mystery and sprinkled with a tiny bit of romance. Everything is perfectly balanced, making this book a great treat for every Science Fiction fan.
The story takes place in the far future, sometime around the year 2450, which is 400 hundred years after The Change, an event that caused people to stop aging and dying from natural causes. The world is in chaos. People are forced to live on the streets. They're dying from cold and hunger or they end up being slaves on the farms outside the city. The planet is overpopulated, the Rebellions are bombing public places, in hope to kill as many people as possible. It's a dark, violent and deeply depressing world, in which only the rich people, The Establishment, can live a long and healthy life. Everyone else lives in constant fear and poverty.
Grace Harper, the heroin of this story, is a private investigator, who once worked for Kansas City Police Department. Many years ago she saved a female reporter from being killed by two vagrants, killing one of the attackers in the process. Unfortunately for Grace, as it later turned out, the "vagrant" he killed was actually a son of one of the wealthiest people in Kansas City, and, as we all know, people like that have the power and connections to easily get anyone killed. She was lucky enough not to get a death sentence, but her carrier was undeniably over. Grace was officially blacklisted, which meant she would never be able to get a legitimate job for any company owned by The Establishment or the government.
The story starts with Grace being offered an investigation job, by a CEO of a Medicorp company, Matt Stanton. Mr. Stanton wants Grace to find Jordan Lacklin, a scientists who once worked for Medicorp. He was working on a cure for Alzheimer's disease for his wife, who was diagnosed with it. In the process, he discovered that aging, linked to all kinds of conditions, including Alzheimer's, was caused by humans own generic structure and that it could be turned off. Not long after this discovery Jordan disappeared without a trace and the humanity stopped aging. Matt offers Grace a very generous amount of money for finding Jordan and bringing him back to Medicorp, so that, as he claims, he could ask him to reverse the effects of the "immortality virus". Grace, knowing that refusal equals death, accepts the offer and agrees to take the job. With that starts a thrilling roller-coaster ride, filled with danger, mystery, life-threatening events and unexpected twists and turns, all leading to a bone-chilling and surprising conclusion.
It took me 4 days to finish the book. Not because it wasn't engaging enough or it failed to hold my interest, not at all! Quite to the contrary, I was very captivated by the story, to the point that I often found myself just sitting in the room, and pondering upon the issues raised by this amazing book. It made me wonder how our lives would look like if we really managed to stop the aging process completely? What would happen to the human race, to the Earth? How would this affect us? Christine's book is so brilliantly written that I found myself totally absorbed in the world of 2450. It was a disturbing and disquieting read, a delicious dystopian treat! I would definitely recommend this book to all Science Fiction and dystopian fans, you can't go wrong with it! And don't let the cover put you off! It might not be the most gorgeous cover we've ever seen, but trust me when I say, the content of the book is absolutely fantastic!
The story takes place in the far future, sometime around the year 2450, which is 400 hundred years after The Change, an event that caused people to stop aging and dying from natural causes. The world is in chaos. People are forced to live on the streets. They're dying from cold and hunger or they end up being slaves on the farms outside the city. The planet is overpopulated, the Rebellions are bombing public places, in hope to kill as many people as possible. It's a dark, violent and deeply depressing world, in which only the rich people, The Establishment, can live a long and healthy life. Everyone else lives in constant fear and poverty.
Grace Harper, the heroin of this story, is a private investigator, who once worked for Kansas City Police Department. Many years ago she saved a female reporter from being killed by two vagrants, killing one of the attackers in the process. Unfortunately for Grace, as it later turned out, the "vagrant" he killed was actually a son of one of the wealthiest people in Kansas City, and, as we all know, people like that have the power and connections to easily get anyone killed. She was lucky enough not to get a death sentence, but her carrier was undeniably over. Grace was officially blacklisted, which meant she would never be able to get a legitimate job for any company owned by The Establishment or the government.
The story starts with Grace being offered an investigation job, by a CEO of a Medicorp company, Matt Stanton. Mr. Stanton wants Grace to find Jordan Lacklin, a scientists who once worked for Medicorp. He was working on a cure for Alzheimer's disease for his wife, who was diagnosed with it. In the process, he discovered that aging, linked to all kinds of conditions, including Alzheimer's, was caused by humans own generic structure and that it could be turned off. Not long after this discovery Jordan disappeared without a trace and the humanity stopped aging. Matt offers Grace a very generous amount of money for finding Jordan and bringing him back to Medicorp, so that, as he claims, he could ask him to reverse the effects of the "immortality virus". Grace, knowing that refusal equals death, accepts the offer and agrees to take the job. With that starts a thrilling roller-coaster ride, filled with danger, mystery, life-threatening events and unexpected twists and turns, all leading to a bone-chilling and surprising conclusion.
It took me 4 days to finish the book. Not because it wasn't engaging enough or it failed to hold my interest, not at all! Quite to the contrary, I was very captivated by the story, to the point that I often found myself just sitting in the room, and pondering upon the issues raised by this amazing book. It made me wonder how our lives would look like if we really managed to stop the aging process completely? What would happen to the human race, to the Earth? How would this affect us? Christine's book is so brilliantly written that I found myself totally absorbed in the world of 2450. It was a disturbing and disquieting read, a delicious dystopian treat! I would definitely recommend this book to all Science Fiction and dystopian fans, you can't go wrong with it! And don't let the cover put you off! It might not be the most gorgeous cover we've ever seen, but trust me when I say, the content of the book is absolutely fantastic!
