I've been a fan of Bear for a while, but Quantico failed to engage me, and unfortunately Vitals left me cold about half way through. It's a conspiracy theory based around a scientist's search for immortality, as a result of modifying bacteria in the body. It starts early, with shock after shock, building credibility with Bear's usual factual and informed approach to fiction. However, midway the story starts to rotate the central character, and although this is a vehicle to accelerate the plot and offer anther angle, it created a disjointed approach. As the end approached I had lost interest in the actual characters, although I was still intrigued enough regards the actual story to continue until the finale. ( )

Getting to the guts of eternal life.

A researcher, employing a lot of lateral thinking and investigation of other areas is looking at life extension techniques and methodology. When it appears he is getting close, attempts are made on his life, and the good old shadow conspiracy type of story starts to happen, which also apparently includes his brother.

Here it appears that Bear is turning into some sort of speculative thriller writer, so with half a dozen of one and half a dozen of another, not hat satisfying a book, overall.

http://notfreesf.blogspot.com/2007/10/vitals-greg-bear.html ( )

http://www.amazon.com/review/R1GXS1QW... ( )

To my mind, Bear can never top his _Eon_ and _Eternity_ novels of the early '90s.

Reading Vitals, Greg Bear's dark, suspenseful, paranoid thriller of high-tech bioterrorism, would be terrifying even without real-world anthrax attacks. But the news stories of late 2001 add layers of resonance to the book.

You'd think the secret of eternal life would be an eagerly awaited boon to humanity. Yet when cutting-edge researcher Hal Cousins travels deep below the ocean's surface in a two-man submersible, seeking primitive lifeforms that may hold the key to immortality, his pilot attacks him. Barely surviving, Hal maneuvers the sub to the surface--and finds a fellow scientist has shot up his research ship. Then his lab is destroyed, his twin brother leaves a mysterious message saying they're both being pursued by an unknown force, and his sister-in-law calls to tell him his twin, who is also researching life extension, has been murdered. Someone or something has already discovered the secret of eternal life. It has immense power and influence, and it will stop at nothing to protect its secret. --Cynthia Ward ( )