From an award-winning writer and biomedical researcher comes a science fiction thriller about a man who braves the ruins of our genetic past—and awakens humanity’s sleeping destiny. Brilliant geneticist Howard Wake has one life-defining dream: to advance human evolution, starting with his own kids. Under the radar of agencies that have outlawed all but the tamest science, he builds a tool designed to probe the darkest crypts in the human genome for buried treasure. But rousing ancient DNA from its age-old slumber is a risky undertaking. To create his children safely, Howard needs to enlist Jacqueline Witt, who has engineered a secret of her own. Before he can convince his friend and colleague to help him, Howard is forced to disappear into the science underground. Deciding that it’s better to beg forgiveness than ask permission, he takes everything he needs with him. Eight years later, Howard’s kids are helping him run a garage lab in Massachusetts—but federal agents are only a step behind, the twins’ sleeping DNA is beginning to stir, and Jacqueline has tracked down the man who stole what she values most ... and she’s willing to do whatever it takes to get it back. Fans of Michael Crichton, Paolo Bacigalupi, and Octavia Butler will love this tale of genetic roguery in a world where free inquiry has become a rare and dangerous commodity. Eric Hoffer First Horizon Award Finalist, Grand Prize Shortlister, Honorable Mention BookLife Prize Semifinalist American Book Fest Best Book Awards Finalist National Indie Excellence Awards Finalist Readers' Favorite Awards Finalist Foreword INDIES Finalist Indies Today Awards Finalist Page Turner Awards Finalist PNWA Literary Contest First-Place Winner Chanticleer International Book Awards Semifinalist A Sci-fi with strong cinematic framing that promises to reshape its genre "CRISPR Evolution" is a heart-in-your-throat page-turner in the Sci-Fi genre by award-winning author Charis Jones. The narrative follows Howard Wake, a virtuoso in heredity and the variation of inherited characteristics in a futuristic world, who is determined to defy the government regulations and laws that have been put in place to tame genetic engineering that goes beyond the usual research scope. There is something simultaneously fresh and traditional in the novel's comfort with omniscient narration, and its relaxed style manages to beguile new readers to speculative fiction. It conveys the spinning sense of a future that outstrips a single existence and feels synchronously optimistic, poignant, and even celebratory. With a stirring preface, Jones employs her years of experience as a research professor in this narrative, perhaps using it as a medium of choice to pass on an explosive panorama of what makes up our genetic formation. "CRISPR Evolution" is a five-star read that provides conjectural ideation on genetic enhancement technologies, including their moral and civil implications through richly imagined characters and settings. The author is strong on atmosphere, illuminating vast tracts of imagery, and her uniquely supple and powerful style is even more clear-cut. Its enamoring ending and epilogue are decent and fulfilling, giving special send-offs to its characters. Wildly original and intelligently drawn, "CRISPR Evolution" will enthrall sci-fi fans. - Lily Andrews for Reader Views CRISPR EVOLUTION by Charis Jones is a beautifully moving book centered around humanity's relationship with genetic engineering. With a headstrong and intelligent protagonist in Howard, the book follows the lives of a family of garage biologists in a future world where genetic engineering is severely limited and monitored by the government. Understandable scientific terminology is adroitly interwoven with an engaging plot as one unlikely family battles against tough odds for survival. - IndieReader EDITOR'S PICK: This gripping and accomplished debut novel imagines a near future where, after the initial jolts of a revolution in gene editing, the federal government centralizes biomedical research and development, and independent geneticists like Howard Wake go underground. Jones spins this heady story in smart, engaging prose, attuned to her casts' individual perspectives, alive to the surprising details of an increasingly automated American future. The science is clear and persuasive—Jones is a biomedical researcher—but presented with an emphasis on its application. For all its family drama and on-the-run suspense, this is a novel about where we're headed—and how we might not be able to control what changes. It's a thriller but anchored in the literary wing of science fiction, driven by character, given to colloquies, and often evocative in its descriptions of diners and the mushrooms that, in a well-plotted jolt, prove essential to both the development of the story and our species. Through it all, Jones is committed to capturing what this future feels like—and to dra