Adele Jones

This book was quite confusing as it was part of a series of books about cloning and genetic manipulation and I hadn't read the previous ones. There was only a page at the back of the book to tell me it was related to another book so I was cross when I finished it and saw it was part of a four part series!
In this book, Rennie and his half brother Blaine ( who is the main person in the other series) discover a box buried in Rennie's back garden after Rennie is hit by his abusive father. Rennie show more can't open it , but for some reason Blane's DNA does. Rennie is then accused of setting his parents house on fire and there are all sorts of tos and fros as Rennie agonises over no-one wanting him, unlike Blaine who has been adopted and is loved. show less

This book won a science prize in 2014. Basically tells the story of a young man called Blaine who was born with a severe genetic disability : mitochondrial disease - that left him unable to communicate with the world around him and unable to move for 17 years of his life. After experimental gene therapy, his doctor "cures" him on the proviso that he continues to take Dr Ramer's Cure. Set in Queensland, the story begins with Dr Ramer having mysteriously left the research facility and Blaine show more being held by Dr Melissa Hartfield because he is a genetically modified organism (GMO) and an illegal one, and he could be contaminated. Blaine must take Ramer's Cure every day or he will revert back to his vegetative state. Can he escape the facility where he is held despite his failing health (he rations his "Cure" to make it last). Blaine seeks help from his neighborhood friend who looked after him as a child . It has lots of scientific language and also looks at the issues of adoption of children with a disability AND the child's guilt as well as how someone who appears unable to communicate may actually be highly intelligent and fully aware of everything people say and do around them. show less