“Today we saw what madness can produce. It’s contagious, like getting a cold.”

The Immortal Gene is part sci-fi, part crime thriller following homicide detective Jake Wood as he joins the hunt for a serial killer. Things quickly veer off for Jake, when he finds himself in Brazil after receiving some distressing messages from a life-long friend. Bitten by a snake in the Amazon, Jake wakes up a year and a half later to a life, and a body, he no longer recognizes.

Recovering, and trying to figure out his next steps, Jake buys a house in the woods, far away from everything he once knew and loved. He quickly finds himself as a target of the mysterious Fortech Industries, the very people his friend was working for when his life was shattered. When his former partner asks him to help on the serial killer case from the past, they agree to help each other.

As both investigations progress, the only thing that’s clear, is that Jake Wood is no longer entirely human.

“There would be another time, another day to deal with what was happening to him. Today he wanted to deal with what had happened to him.”

The opening chapter grabbed my attention. We get the initial glimpse into the mind of Jeffrey Harris, the serial killer known as the Blood Eagle Killer. I love good crime thrillers, and The Immortal Gene felt like a good start into that genre. But when the plot takes a veer to the science fiction, I felt like it started to fall apart.

Warning, there may be mild spoilers here, so read with caution!

After Jake wakes up in the hospital, I felt like there is a lot of telling instead of the author showing me what was happening. I didn’t feel the suspense, or the build up as I have in other books where the entire time I’m wondering what happened. Instead, everything was explained as it unfolded. Interesting, but not breathtaking.

My other issue is the giant plot hole of Cindy. Here we have a woman who has been with Jake since Eight Grade, according to Jake. Yet, within a short eighteen months, not only has she gone through the grieving process, but she’s met and married another man? I don’t buy it. At all. It felt more like it happened so that Jake had nothing to return to, and those plot devices simply bother me. It’s just too easy, and doesn’t make any sense.

The rest of the book plays out in much of the same way. Things are explained rather than shown through the plot. The plot moves forward in very forced ways, where things happen for no logical reason other than that’s the way it had to. Fortech Industries is so powerful and wants to kill him, yet they operate through street thugs and don’t kill him when he’s in a coma? It just doesn’t make any sense!

All that said, the story itself is entertaining and interesting. I can see this being an entertaining movie, and for people who may not catch the plot holes, or care, I think they’d really enjoy the fast pace of this novel. If you enjoy books that read more like action movies, you’ll probably enjoy The Immortal Gene.

Thank You TLC Book Tours for my review copy and including me on this review tour!