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Title/Author

The Genius Dilemma

Dustin Grinnell

Average Review Rating Average Rating 9/10 (1 Review)
Book Details

Publisher : CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

Published : 2014

Copyright : Dustin Grinnell 2014

ISBN-10 : PB 1-4959-9842-8
ISBN-13 : PB 978-1-4959-9842-3

Publisher's Write-Up

A team of scientists has invented a new smart drug named Trillium. A revolutionary medical breakthrough, Trillium enhances cognitive abilities, creating geniuses. But the researchers are horrified to discover that genius comes at a cost.

Leviathan, the CIA’s assassination team, has been tasked with eliminating global threats using any means necessary. When their superior General Beranger learns about Trillium, he believes he’s uncovered a distinct advantage in the fight against terrorism. After convincing the scientists to share the drug with his team, Beranger learns there’s just one problem - Trillium creates cold-blooded psychopaths.

The first casualty is CIA operative David Landry who snaps hours after taking the drug. When he goes rogue, it’s up to Special Forces, along with renowned neuroscientist Alan Pierce and psychiatrist Michelle Emmett, to stop them. Armed with a hastily concocted antidote, the team hunts Landry. His destination? Africa. Nasir Lwazi, the Kenyan president, has recently been murdered. Believing Lwazi’s son Thomas is a threat to national security, Landry is on a ruthless mission to destroy him and he doesn’t plan to let anyone get in his way.

Alan and the Special Forces team are determined to reach Kenya and stop Landry before he harms Thomas or any other innocent civilians. But can they get there in time? Will the antidote work? Or will Landry suffer the same fate as their other targets?

In the unforgettable climax, an epic battle for power ensues as the Special Forces team attempts to thwart Landry’s homicidal tendencies. Written in a style reminiscent of Michael Crichton, The Genius Dilemma is a science fiction thriller, action-packed with adventure, seeded with corruption, and stunning with its abuses of power. Expect the gripping conclusion to keep you compulsively turning pages way past your bedtime.

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Reader Reviews

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Review by Paul Lappen (300416) Rating (9/10)

Review by Paul Lappen
Rating 9/10
This novel is about an attempt to artificially enhance the abilities of the human brain.

Richard Powell is the CEO of Cerebrical, a high-tech company that has created Trillium, a serum that it says will create geniuses. To get much-needed venture capital financing, the company needs a well-known neuroscientist as its public "face."

Alan Price is a world-renowned Stanford researcher who has fallen on scientific hard times after switching to the "dead end" of investigating Alzheimer's Disease. The venture capital meeting does not go well. The US military has a secret unit called Project Genesis. Sophisticated computer algorithms are used to predict which politicians, or rebel leaders, around the world are going to pose a threat to America in the future. They are then assassinated before they can do anything.

Project Genesis is very interested in Trillium, and it is administered to the members of the team. It really does increase their IQ by a lot, but, naturally, there is a huge and unpleasant side effect. A member of the team kills the other members, and takes off on what he is convinced is a mission to keep America safe.

The latest victim of Project Genesis was Nassir Lwazi, the president of Kenya. He was a tyrant who pitted the two main tribal groups against each other. The whole country is on edge, just waiting for the spark to start a civil war.

Thomas Amani is a student at Harvard who does not know that Lwazi was his father. He feels compelled to go to Kenya to bring peace, even though he has no idea what he is going to say. The surviving member of Project Genesis is totally convinced that Amani is just as much of a tyrant as his father. Therefore, Amani must die, along with the American President, who is there as part of the "peace process."

Can he be stopped? Is there any way to reduce the influence of the side effect? Can Trillium lead to a cure for Alzheimer's Disease? This story works really well. It works as a regular political thriller, and the scientific part feels very plausible. I am not sure why the book was printed with every line double spaced, making it twice as thick as necessary, but it is still a first-rate piece of writing.
Paul Lappen (30th April 2016)

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