I often peruse other reviews before I post my own - not to change my mind, but to make sure I'm not forgetting anything I thought was important. When I did that for this book I was surprised to find a bunch of pretty strongly critical reviews. That wasn't my reaction at all. To me this is the best book I've read so far this year, and more than deserving of it's Hugo nomination.

After reflection, I think I see where the critics are coming from.

This book jumps right in with some all-out action, and sets up plot elements like Neo Nazis and telepaths. Quickly though, it seemly abandons all that. It switches to posing tough moral quandaries, against a backdrop of sedate modern day living and everyday people.

I think it's frustration with this bait-and-switch that turned off many readers.

It worked well for me because I could really identify with some of the characters, and it held my interest firm even when the story didn't go where I thought it should. Some of the later turns and twists I found delightful, not contrived or disappointing, and I was literally tearing up in spots at the end.

Obviously my experience wasn't everyone's, but I suggest if you go into this novel with your eyes open and "go with the flow", you'll be rewarded with a sci-fi tale that'll make you start questioning your own world, and your own values. ( )

Sadly poor although interesting, it hasn't aged well in terms of biology or genetics, and the interleaved story strands don't work together well, having little in common. It also features one of least favourite tropes that of a plucky amateur who can claim whatever assistance he needs from a network of spurious friends and contacts.

Pierre is a canadian geneticist working in a Berkeley lab as an associate professor. He discovers he has inherited the genetic disorder known as Huntington's disease. Before this becomes too severe he becomes dedicated on attaining (or at least discovering sufficient novelty) a Nobel prize. His target is that oft favourite of genetic novels, the introns in the human genome. Stretches of DNA that are not known to code for any particular protein. These days much as suggested (although from a different mechanism) they are thought to be involved with regulation of protein expression. Meanwhile in the same part of the world the Intelligence service is hunting for Ivan the terrible a guard at a concentration camp where genetic experimentation was conducted amidst the slaughter and torture. I've no idea why this sub plot was included it is highly improbable any camp guard would have any working knowledge or inclination towards genetics as a science. Also co-incidentally geographically contingent an insurance company is extending it's genetic profiling in ways designed to maximise it's profits. Pierre's boss a full professor is conducting research into human origins with the aim of proving racial superiority. And Pierre's wife has trouble conceiving their desired child, which seems to be unrelated to her own unique genetic profile and abilities.

It's all too much, too close together and would have nothing to do with Pierre. None of the strands is really strong enough to be a story in it's own right but because their integration isn't sufficiently inventive it doesn't work just cramming them together. The biggest failing is of course not really the author's fault in that he failed to predict the CAS-9/Crisper revolution in genetics that occurred a few years after publication. Whilst it doesn't eliminate some of the questions he poorly poses, it is a significant answer to many of them.

It is a pleasure to read heros who aren't all just perfect in every way, and the characterisations were really quite good, apart from the antagonists who made little sense. Some of the lab interactions especially with regards to the phD students ring very true to life. However none of this overrode the lack of consistency in the plotting. ( )

Became interested in this book after reading that the author used the real life saga of John Demjanjuk, an Ohio auto worker accused of being Ivan the Terrible, as one of his inspirations.

An interesting tale that interweaves genetics, the insurance industry, and Nazi war crimes in WWII. At times the genetic information becomes tedious, even to this biology major, which is why I only gave it three stars. ( )

I was pleasantly surprised with this novel. It's got a little bit of a science fiction element to it, but it's set in, presumably, the modern day. It spoke to my inner science nerd, which I loved. There were a lot of biological elements because Pierre worked on the Human Genome Project.

At first I wasn't sure how they were going to intertwine all the stories they started with, but it really worked out in the end. There's really not much I can say without giving away the story though.

The character development was excellent. You hated the characters you were meant to, and likewise fell in love with those you'd be expected to. You even learned a little French! Who knew, right?

Anyway, for fear of giving away too much, I'll just say that I highly recommend this book to my science-y people out there. It's not QUITE science fiction, but it's definitely got a bit of that genre mixed in. ( )

Frameshift is a thought provoking, well written sci-fi novel. Heavily centered on genetics and genetics research, Pierre Tardivel is a genetic scientist who suffers from Huntingdon's Disease working on the Human Genome Project. His wife Molly can read other people's thoughts. Early on in the story he is attacked by a man with a knife. He survives the knife attack. This sets into motion a number of seemingly unrelated events. Because of his Huntingdon's he wants to have a child but not pass on his bad genes. This leads to the in vitro fertilization of his wife with his boss's sperm. The boss, Burian Klimus, is a Nobel Prize winning scientist, who may or may not be Ivan the Terrible from the Treblinka prison camp. Meanwhile, Avi Meyer of the Justice department has been trying to track down Nazis and Ivan the Terrible in particular for years. There is also a sinister insurance company that figures into the story as these separate story lines converge.
This is the first Robert Sawyer novel that I have read, and I enjoy his prose and story telling style. The characters are well developed. There is a sufficient amount of tension in the story, and there is a decent mystery component to it. There were some flaws in the novel. I thought the genetics described in the book was a little more detailed than it needed to be. The beginning of the story jumps in time back and forth and was hard to follow. The story went a little too heavy into conspiracies, and in particular, the one involving the insurance company made me groan. That being said, this was a well written and enjoyable story that I would recommend.
Carl Alves - author of Blood Street ( )