From Publishers Weekly
Having completed the Books of Confluence, his much-praised trilogy set in the distant future, Clarke and Dick awards winner McAuley (Shrine of Stars) here tries his hand at a near-future, hard-science thriller. The year is 2026, and the world is still recovering from the Firstborn Crisis, a virus that threatened humanity's continued existence until it was stopped by a team led by the brilliant biologist Dr. Mariella Anders. Now, however, a new plague has appeared a strange growth in the waters of the Pacific containing genetic material that apparently originated on Mars. With two other crack scientists, Mariella is sent to the red planet, where she soon discovers that one of her colleagues, an employee of Cytex, the genetic engineering company that's partially funding the mission, knows considerably more about what's going on than she does and has motives that are far from altruistic. Indeed, it eventually becomes clear that a number of private companies, governments and radical green organizations all want a piece of the strange Martian lifeform called the Chi. The author's main targets are corporate greed and left-wing Luddism, both of which he sees as antithetical to good science. Mariella, a misfit who, despite her fame, lives in a trailer in the Arizona desert and has a passion for both piercings and rough sex, is a thorny but believable protagonist. Although not quite the equal of his Confluence novels, McAuley's latest should appeal to fans of thoughtful hard-science fiction. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
In 2026 Earth is troubled by the usual mixture of corruption, big business, and twisted technology, but life goes on for biologist Mariella Anders. Her holistic approach, piercings, and blue jeans alienate some of her peers, but her brilliant solution to a worldwide fertility crisis can't be denied. When tapped to go to Mars to investigate rumors that the Chinese have discovered life at its poles, she goes with an adversary, scientist Penn Brown, who represents the conglomerate Cytex. Brown is to make sure Mariella doesn't pass the discovery (and attendant profits) on to NASA. The mission is tense and politicized, but things really go awry when the Chinese on Mars send a distress call concerning a deadly virus. Penn and Mariella struggle over the U.S. response but must really run the gauntlet when they return to Earth with Martian ice samples. McAuley thumps the pulpit for science and reason but always leaves room for the shrewd, passionate, ultimately hopeful human face in this vital contribution to Martian sf. Roberta Johnson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

FROM THE PUBLISHER

2026: A strange fungus-like organism is growing in the Pacific Ocean, threatening Earth's entire food chain. Christened "the slick," this bizarre lifeform contains alien DNA that may have come from the planet Mars. Dr. Mariella Anders is recruited by NASA to join an urgent mission to the Red Planet to search for life beneath Mars' polar icecap—and perhaps uncover the secret of the slick. But whom can she trust to safeguard one of the greatest scientific discoveries in human history?

FROM THE CRITICS

Kirkus Reviews

Near-future biological thriller from the author of the dazzling far-future Confluence trilogy (completed with Shrine of Stars, 2000), etc. In 2026, a huge invasive biological growth, the Slick, floats in the Pacific Ocean. Proof against all attack, the Slick may contain DNA that originated on Mars. (Previously, a Chinese expedition to the red planet found life but denied having done so.) Now, NASA organizes a voyage to Mars to find more of the Martian organisms (probably in a reservoir of liquid water beneath the planet's north polar cap) and learn how to control or destroy the Slick. A second Chinese expedition, however, is already on Mars, drilling into the icecap. NASA's team includes genius microbiologist Mariella Anders, who believes science should not depend on profits, and her professional and personal nemesis, Penn Brown of Cytex, for whom the profit motive drives research. Brown soon blackmails Mariella into supporting his leadership and, therefore, Cytex's monopoly on knowledge garnered during the trip. But as Mariella and Brown approach the Martian icecap, the Chinese scientists blow up their bore-hole and flee, having been infected with a Martian organism from beneath the ice. Mariella grabs samples and tries to reach Earth in the Chinese ship, suspecting that the Martian organism has incalculable significance for future human development. But can she outwit both Cytex and NASA? Spectacular ideas, life-sized characters, credible and provocative politicking and maneuvering: a pity, then, about the present-tense narrative, which intrusively smothers any developing sense of drama.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

The Secret of Life is an intelligent, enormously entertaining novel of an all-too-plausible future...Absolutely terrific. — Nancy Kress

The Secret of Life is a winner—a deftly told novel based on real science, with outcomes both alarming and uplifting. — Gregory Benford