From Publishers Weekly
Veteran British author Stableford's Emortality series of future history novels (Inherit the Earth, Architects of Emortality and Fountains of Youth, which start in the 22nd century and end in the 26th) receives a near-future underpinning in this mid-21st-century puzzle of maneuvers in the face of impending doom. Police forensic scientist Lisa Friemann wakes one night to armed intruders in her highly secure dwelling. Nothing in all the information storage media the thieves steal seems important, or even work related. Events are hardly clarified by the news that prominent geneticist Morgan Miller, her graduate supervisor and longtime colleague, is missing. Does someone think Miller made a discovery that, contrary to usual practice, he had shared with no one in his field? And why would anyone want to bomb Mouseworld, the half-million-strong genetic library of rodent strains? Lisa's cityplex police and university colleagues enter the story one by one, followed by a confusing (to all concerned) array of other agencies and factions. Could there be a secret that will avert or postpone the expected world catastrophe, or at least give some people advantages over others? Stableford's background in biological and social sciences makes for convincing behavior and dialogue among the scientists, while long practice in the novelist's trade ensures a smooth and involving read. This series should remain more visible in the U.S. than his large stable of unjustly neglected past work. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
As the world hovers on the brink of a biotech war and social breakdown, an attack on forensic researcher Lisa Frieman, along with the disappearance of scientist Jordan Miller, leads to a search for a dangerous secret that could determine humanity's future. The author of Architects of Emortality and The Fountains of Youth continues to explore his vision of the future with this latest tale of technology gone awry and the efforts of ordinary heroes to put things right. Stableford balances issue-oriented sf with suspense-filled action to create a story that belongs in most sf collections. Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
With this mid-twenty-first-century story of bioengineering terrorism, Stableford adds a prequel of sorts to the future history series that springs from Inherit the Earth (1998). Forensic scientist Lisa Frieman is startled awake by intruders in nanotech "smart" bodysuits who have hacked her locks. They hold the genuinely puzzled 50-year-old at gunpoint while collecting her computer and paper files, then vanish. When she calls for help, a police colleague informs her she wasn't the only target. Her former lover and boss, Morgan Miller, is missing, and half a million lab mice have been atomized by a bomb. The factions implicated include a radical feminist group that fears the mice were harboring a biological weapon that worked only on women; the enormous business cabal known as the megacorps, which suspects Miller of developing an anti-aging process; and--a distant third--the British government. Stableford is long on dialogue and short on action, but the ethical and scientific puzzles he poses will be compelling to the fans of such cerebral sf. --Roberta JohnsonThe Empire State's most successful practitioners of pragmatic Progressivism in the first half of the twentieth century are the subjects of these enlightening studies. Roberta Johnson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Review
"Brian Stableford is one of the most inventive and original writers working today." --The Times, London

"Brian Stableford has triumphantly created his own niche of hard biological SF, containing the genre's most intelligently imagined marvels and nightmares." --David Langford



Book Description
This is a science fiction novel of enormous scope, filled with wonders. Set earlier in the same "future history" as Inherit the Earth, Architects of Emortality, and The Fountains of Youth, The Cassandra Complex is the independent story of events crucial to the creation of the universe in which the others take place. It is the twenty-first century, a world of rapid change and biotech threats and promises. World War Three, the biotech war, is on the horizon and the world as we know it is going to end. The fateful question is, who is going to choose the kind of future that will follow, and who gets to live in this new world to come?

Lisa Frieman, a forensic researcher working for the police, is attacked in her apartment. Jordan Miller, a distinguished scientist with whom Lisa once worked, has disappeared with a secret discovery. But what has he discovered that everyone wants? And why do the thieves, and their remote masters, think that Lisa has any knowledge of the secret Miller guards?

Profound scientific extrapolation combined with riveting suspense make this at once a futuristic thriller and a cutting-edge SF novel. The Cassandra Complex expands the scope of Brian Stableford's growing future history and adds another major accomplishment to his long list of triumphant creations.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

It is the twenty-first century, a world of rapid change and biotech threats and promises. World War Three, the biotech war, is on the horizon and the world as we know it is going to end. The fateful question is, who is going to choose the kind of future that will follow, and who gets to live in this new world to come?

Lisa Frieman, a forensic researcher working for the police, is attacked in her apartment. Jordan Miller, a distinguished scientist with whom Lisa once worked, as disappeared with a secret discovery. But what has he discovered that everyone wants? And why do the thieves, and their remote masters, think that Lisa has any knowledge of the secret Miller guards?

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Veteran British author Stableford's Emortality series of future history novels (Inherit the Earth, Architects of Emortality and Fountains of Youth, which start in the 22nd century and end in the 26th) receives a near-future underpinning in this mid-21st-century puzzle of maneuvers in the face of impending doom. Police forensic scientist Lisa Friemann wakes one night to armed intruders in her highly secure dwelling. Nothing in all the information storage media the thieves steal seems important, or even work related. Events are hardly clarified by the news that prominent geneticist Morgan Miller, her graduate supervisor and longtime colleague, is missing. Does someone think Miller made a discovery that, contrary to usual practice, he had shared with no one in his field? And why would anyone want to bomb Mouseworld, the half-million-strong genetic library of rodent strains? Lisa's cityplex police and university colleagues enter the story one by one, followed by a confusing (to all concerned) array of other agencies and factions. Could there be a secret that will avert or postpone the expected world catastrophe, or at least give some people advantages over others? Stableford's background in biological and social sciences makes for convincing behavior and dialogue among the scientists, while long practice in the novelist's trade ensures a smooth and involving read. This series should remain more visible in the U.S. than his large stable of unjustly neglected past work. (Mar. 13) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

VOYA

The world in 2041 is on the threshold of World War III. Everyone knows that science will determine the course of the coming war, which will not be fought by guns and bombs but by plagues and biotechnology. Lisa Friemann, a police forensic researcher close to retirement, must navigate a dangerous path between political factions, government operatives, and megacorporations when Morgan Miller, her former teacher and lover, is kidnapped. What secret has Dr. Miller kept from her all these years and how will it shape the future of the world's population? Stableford's latest novel is a prequel to the events in Inherit the Earth (Tor, 1998), Architects of Emortality (1999/VOYA June 2000), and The Fountains of Youth (2000). Although advertised as an independent story, the novel is too light to stand fully on its own. At its heart, the book wants to be a detective story, but it reads like a scientific treatise on population control. The text is a quick read, with all the action taking place within a handful of days, but it lacks any real tension to make it move along. The mystery is wrapped up too quickly and characters reach conclusions that are not explained fully. Strong language and adult situations are kept to a minimum, but the scientific terms and discussions can be confusing to the nonscientific. This book is recommended only for libraries with avid fans of Stableford and his series. VOYA CODES:2Q 2P S A/YA (Better editing or work by the author might have warranted a 3Q;For the YA with a special interest in the subject;Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12;Adult and Young Adult). 2001, Tor, 320p, $23.95. Ages 15 to Adult. Reviewer:Snow Wildsmith—VOYA, December 2001 (Vol. 24,No. 5)

Library Journal

As the world hovers on the brink of a biotech war and social breakdown, an attack on forensic researcher Lisa Frieman, along with the disappearance of scientist Jordan Miller, leads to a search for a dangerous secret that could determine humanity's future. The author of Architects of Emortality and The Fountains of Youth continues to explore his vision of the future with this latest tale of technology gone awry and the efforts of ordinary heroes to put things right. Stableford balances issue-oriented sf with suspense-filled action to create a story that belongs in most sf collections. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Another entry in Stableford's developing future history (The Fountains of Youth, 2000, etc.) exploring the possibilities of "emortality": what if humans, barring accident, could live for as long as they wanted? Forty years from now, in England, forensic scientist Lisa Friemann awakes to find armed intruders in her apartment, rifling her computer records; they assume (wrongly) that Lisa knows what they're looking for and why. Simultaneously, co-conspirators firebomb the famous and long-running experiment in rodent population dynamics, Mouseworld, set up by Lisa's boss, Morgan Miller-and abduct Miller himself. Before leaving, the intruders scrawl "Traitor" on Lisa's door. Clearly, Miller knows a big secret (concerning longevity research) but has kept it so quiet that he's never even told Lisa. Soon, Ministry of Defense investigator Peter Grimmett Smith co-opts Lisa onto the case. The conspiracy, larger than at first seemed possible, has its roots in various militant feminist movements of years past. Why, however, would Real Women and suchlike concern themselves with destroying colonies of mice? And what is it that Miller has known for more than 40 years, but hasn't told anyone else? Here, Stableford sidesteps his usual difficulties, relegating the exposition that too often congeals his work to stand-alone flashback chapters, while the narrative advances smoothly as a straightforward police procedural. The upshot, still strong on ideas and puzzles, should please and satisfy nearly everyone.