Genetic engineering

The Hunting, Book One: Z. Rex

Jurassic Park meets virtual gaming in a blockbuster new thriller! You’re 14 and find yourself on your own. Your father, who has developed the worlds cutting edge research on virtual electronic game-playing, has been missing for weeks. And suddenly you’re being hunted by men with guns, your picture is on the news, and, worst of all, something seemingly impossible is chasing youa savage, man-eating dinosaur. How can that be? Why is everyone trying to capture you? And what is your strange connection with this 21st-century prehistoric monster? Steve Cole has created an absurdly gripping and kid-friendly thriller that will capture imaginations. If Jurassic Park were to meet Alex Rider, the result might well be this irresistible new novel.

Dusk

Dusk is more than just a girl—her DNA was fused with hawk genes in a military experiment to make the best warriors, resulting in traits like night vision. After 13 years of being held captive in a government lab, she escapes and hides in an abandoned town. There she lives in an uneasy truce with the other subjects who fled the lab: a horde of killer mutant rats and a clan of vicious guard dogs. Then one day, a boy named Jay stumbles into town. Will Dusk follow her human instincts and save Jay? Or will the hawk in her see an easy prey? In vivid prose, Susan Gates conjures a tale of science gone wrong that seems eerily realistic. As Dusk and Jay dance around both the local predators and each other, readers will find deep sympathy in their situation, even as they race through the pages to see what happens next.

Gemx

In a world where perfection rules, Maxo Strang is king. He is a GemX, a boy genetically manipulated to be flawless. Nobody is better looking, more intelligent, of better social class…or more lacking in human empathy. Until Maxo discovers a wrinkle in his face. This can’t happen to him! It happens only to the Dreggies – the wretched underclass of unenhanced ‘naturals’ who live outside the Polis. Terrified, Maxo begins a search for a cure. It is a search that takes him into the Dreggies’ world, a place unbelievably different from his own, where violence, poverty and ugliness are routine. There, Maxo meets Gala and Stretch, Dreggies who are searching for their father who ‘disappeared’ while volunteering for scientific research in the city. For some horrifying yet compelling reason, he finds himself attracted to Gala. Gala and Stretch will do anything to find their dad, and Maxo may be the key. His father was the last person to see theirs before he vanished. Now, they will use Maxo to get some answers – whether he consents or not. What none of them realises is that they are all pawns in a bigger game. The city’s Supreme Leader has plans – plans that will leave their lives hanging in the balance…