Chimera
by Stephen Gallagher
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The novel that inspired the headline-grabbing ITV series starring John Lynch, Kenneth Cranham, and Christine Kavanagh. A terrifyingly plausible journey into the disturbing nerve-centers of medical science where our secret future is formed today. When Peter Carson is invited to the pioneering Jenner Clinic by one of the lab assistants, he's naturally intrigued. But when he arrives at the remote site in the Cumbrian fells to find police roadblocks and official silence, he realises that he's show more stumbled onto a story that will do him no good at all. Dr Jenner's work matters to the government. Enough to warrant unlimited funding, high security, and the best technicians in the country. But something has gone badly wrong. The project that has no room for mistakes has produced a result so terrible that it must never see the light of day. And now the evidence must be destroyed, whatever the cost. "A rip-roaring chiller . . . a latter-day Prometheus both Unbound and bloody" (Time Out) "Genuinely creepy and alluring... Gallagher shows a classy, textured narrative style." (Kirkus) show lessTags
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Member Reviews
This book should really have been titled, Chimera: When Curious George Attacks.
Yeah, that basically characterizes both the basic plot and my general issues with its execution.
I read this a while ago; I remember it only as one of those unfortunate novels in which a nonscientist writer tries to create a scientific horror/scifi story. It is full of naive stereotypes of scientists and portrays them as uncaring, selfish tinkerers who wish to open Pandora's box for personal gain. Also has that practically superstitious phobia of science and technology. It manages to create the most ludicrously inane monster imaginable: apparently (honest, kids!) we've never been able to create viable hybrids. (Tell that to mules.) And somehow, the Evil show more Scientists (TM) want to breed half-monkey hybrids because they can be used as slave labor and organ banks and whatnot because somehow no sense of decency or compassion will apply to them. (Tell that to PETA). And then somehow THE MONSTER GETS LOOSE AND ATTACKS. That's right. A 5-foot half-monkey takes down about 20 people. I didn't know being half-monkey half-human gave you superpowers. Wow will this monster haunt my nightmares. I'm just shivering in fear of the prospect of a curious little monkey on a rampage. It just goes to show how evil Science is.
So why 3 stars? Well, first, this was written in the 80s, before I was born. Wikipedia for fast factchecking didn't exist. People still used encyclopedias. The scare feeling was very much in the style of the XFiles or Doctor Who or similar--where there is this tremendous fear of losing control of science. This sort of story nowadays points to a lack of understanding and research but in the 80s, I think science was more of an esoteric world, full of unknowns and potential armageddons. Despite my inability to shake my own POV, it seems unfair to rate it according to standards of now. Even so, this has got to be the least scary monster that it is possible to create. I'd go for killer plants a la John Wyndam over these. show less
Yeah, that basically characterizes both the basic plot and my general issues with its execution.
I read this a while ago; I remember it only as one of those unfortunate novels in which a nonscientist writer tries to create a scientific horror/scifi story. It is full of naive stereotypes of scientists and portrays them as uncaring, selfish tinkerers who wish to open Pandora's box for personal gain. Also has that practically superstitious phobia of science and technology. It manages to create the most ludicrously inane monster imaginable: apparently (honest, kids!) we've never been able to create viable hybrids. (Tell that to mules.) And somehow, the Evil show more Scientists (TM) want to breed half-monkey hybrids because they can be used as slave labor and organ banks and whatnot because somehow no sense of decency or compassion will apply to them. (Tell that to PETA). And then somehow THE MONSTER GETS LOOSE AND ATTACKS. That's right. A 5-foot half-monkey takes down about 20 people. I didn't know being half-monkey half-human gave you superpowers. Wow will this monster haunt my nightmares. I'm just shivering in fear of the prospect of a curious little monkey on a rampage. It just goes to show how evil Science is.
So why 3 stars? Well, first, this was written in the 80s, before I was born. Wikipedia for fast factchecking didn't exist. People still used encyclopedias. The scare feeling was very much in the style of the XFiles or Doctor Who or similar--where there is this tremendous fear of losing control of science. This sort of story nowadays points to a lack of understanding and research but in the 80s, I think science was more of an esoteric world, full of unknowns and potential armageddons. Despite my inability to shake my own POV, it seems unfair to rate it according to standards of now. Even so, this has got to be the least scary monster that it is possible to create. I'd go for killer plants a la John Wyndam over these. show less
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Author Information
71+ Works 1,956 Members
Common Knowledge
- Original title
- Chimera
- Original publication date
- 1982
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 41
- Popularity
- 713,139
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (2.71)
- Languages
- English, German
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 6
- ASINs
- 2
