Ancestor

March 22, 2010
In Sigler's timely tale of science run amok, Genada, a renegade biotech firm, is striving to synthesize a proto-mammal similar to the prehistoric entity that all mammalian life sprang from as a source of transplantable organs that the human body won't reject. Pressured for results before the government shuts down her lab, the firm's lead medico, Liu Jian Den, introduces something unorthodox into the creature's genome. The result: oversized and ravenously hungry embryos that eat
their way out of the bovine wombs incubating them. A small band of scientists wind up trapped with the creatures on a Lake Superior island, where they become the prey of predators that pose a threat to life as we know it. Sigler (Contagious
) stuffs his story with an overabundance of speculative science, but the cinematic pacing keeps the action relentless and suspenseful. Its many pulpy flourishes notwithstanding, this is that rare horror B-movie of a thriller that compels reading until the final page. 10–15-city author tour.

May 1, 2010
Sigler, the author of the splendid alien-invasion thrillers Infected (2008) and Contagious (2009), veers off into new territory, with a tremendously entertaining horror novel about a motley group of genetic researchers, their maniacal sponsor, and the stalwart government agent whos determined to shut them down. The premise is thought-provoking: the researchers are trying to engineer an ancient human ancestor so it can be bred and its organs harvested for transplantation. The researchers get their ancestor, but lets just say they get a bit more than they bargained for. Soon blood and bedlam are everywhere on a small island in Lake Superior. Sigler populates the novel with a lively cast of characters (unlike many thrillers, the heroes are as interesting as the villains), and the action is virtually nonstopand, at times, quite graphic. If you combined Michael Crichtons scientific exploration with Matthew Reillys lightning-fast pace and colorful characters, you might get something that feels like this book, which, incidentally, would make a great movie.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)