You had me at 'a medical theory.' I cannot tell you how much I enjoy a thriller plus science plus smart thinking. Golly. And this book delivered. Over and over again. I can't wait to read what Judy writes next.

You know how you sometimes see the TV bad guys get caught, but then you look at the clock and notice that it’s too early--there are still 25 minutes left in the show? That’s basically what happens here; the criminal investigation is just the beginning. The author has a journalist’s sense of pace and ability to tell a story clearly, and who can resist a mystery having to do with high-tech gene-editing technology that can be lifesaving or totally misused for horrible, unethical purposes? The protagonist, herself a journalist, helps uncover a horrific scheme in which IVF embryos are deliberately programmed to devastating effect, but the end of her investigation is not the end of the book. The second half of this novel features the criminal trial of the scheme’s perpetrator, whose defense lawyers raise various arguments about personhood. The ethical issues raised here are interesting, but the dramatic effect of the trial is weakened because the prosecution fails to raise certain obvious arguments/objections, making the whole scene feel contrived to present a hot-button issue. Nobody pointed out that the intentionally targeted victims of these time-release murders were actually toddlers. Nobody mentioned loosely analogous cases of assault victims who took years to die of their injuries, after which charges against the perpetrators ended up being upgraded to murder. The framing of the legal questions seemed imprecise; a real judge presumably would have given more specific instructions to the jury about whether the victim was the sabotaged embryo or the toddler who eventually succumbed. Far from undermining the point, giving both sides equally clever attorneys would have made this scene more compelling.

Thanks to Netgalley and Skyhorse publishing for a digital advance review copy.

Genre: science fiction
One sentence summary: Dr. Saul Kramer's IVF clinic produces miracle babies - but when three infants from the clinic die at the age of one, it turns out he's been using CRISPR for nefarious purposes.

I was in grad school when CRISPR got really big, and I'm kind of surprised there haven't been more sci-fi books that include it! I thought the setup of using CRISPR as a weapon was interesting, but I was really distracted by the scientific inaccuracies in the book. For example, Kramer repeatedly is concerned about running out of certain pieces of DNA - but any molecular lab would be able to synthesize that easily using PCR. Or you could order it from DNA synthesis companies. I do think Foreman did a good job capturing the newspaper investigation and the emotions felt by the affected families. 3 stars.

Thank you to Skyhorse Publishing for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

It was an interesting read, a bit lengthy but still okay. Maybe because I generally don't read much sciency books, so maybe that's why I didn't enjoy it that much. But the writing was basically good.

This was a fun science fiction read. I enjoyed the characters and the story line. It was fast paced and interesting

In this debut from Judy Foreman, she looks at the ethics of genetic manipulation.

"Dr. Saul Kramer is a well-known IVF doctor in Boston. Several babies from his practice die of a rare genetic disease. A reporter, Sammie Fuller, makes the connection to Dr. Kramer and his lab and now he's on trial fro murder."

There's a lot going on in this book. Foreman touches on a lot of different topics - gene manipulation, #metoo movement, abortion rights and even Nazis. Kramer is a briliant doctor with some serious mental health issues. It's a dangerous combination.
The book starts out in the courtroom so you think it's going to be a courtroom drama but it becomes something different. There's a lot of backstory with Dr. Kramer and the reporter, Sammie.
There's also a lot of science - much of it unecessary to the story. (two pages of protein sequences?)

The bones to be a great story are there but it never quite reaches that level. It's still okay and if you love science-y books you should enjoy this one.

This book pleasantly surprised me. While it is is fairly predictable, it felt like a Hallmark movie meets science mystery. It's a cozy mystery book. Being a scientist myself, I loved the fresh idea of using CRISPR for evil for an idea for a mystery novel. I also loved the feminism in this book and how SA and Roe v. Wade were tied into the story line, especially with the recent overturning of Roe v. Wade. Regardless if you are pro life or pro choice, this book makes you wonder what side you would chose under these very specific circumstances in this book and I appreciate how it made me see some things in a different light. My only con about this book is that I felt like quite a few names were introduced all at once and I found myself getting confused. I love how the book ended and give it an overall rating of 3.75/5.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster publishing for this ARC!

The summary of "CRISPR'd" had me very excited to jump into this medical thriller. Dr. Saul Kramer is helping women get pregnant via IVF at his fertility clinic. While he has helped many women struggling with fertility, he also has been privately selecting specific embryos to tamper with. These embryos are having healthy genetic information removed, and a deadly gene inserted, causing death of the baby within the first few years.

Unfortunately, this book was a big letdown for me. I found the characters to be very underdeveloped and very little time was spent getting to know these people. While the story itself was interesting, it came across almost as clinical and factual in its writing. There was very little plot building or any suspense, so there was no excitement in wanting to know what would happen next. I think this story also branched out too far for my liking. Instead of just focusing on infertility and the morality of a doctor, it branched into the #metoo movement, as well as thoughts around abortion. Instead of tackling one main issue, the author took on too many "hot topics" in my opinion.

This book is a pass for me, and I would give a trigger warning for anyone struggling with infertility, or in the process of IVF.

Boston geneticist Dr. Saul Kramer is respected for his IVF work, but he harbors a dark secret. He uses the gene-editing technology CRISPR to tamper with embryos, which leaves unsuspecting parents in deep grief. It takes a journalist Sammie Fuller to uncover the truth. How many more people will need to suffer?
This book tells the story of Sammie's investigation, Dr. Kramer's actions and the repercussions for the community. It includes plenty of technical terms and information about IVF. Readers also get an inside look at journalism.
The premise of this book is interesting. What am humans, including me, capable of doing with the right tools and a heart filled with revenge?
But the flow is slow and choppy. The flashbacks to different years was also confusing. And the writing is emotionless. I never connected emotionally with any of the characters, including the grieving parents.
It also seemed like the author was trying to push a pro-abortion, anti-gun agenda. Rather than entertain, this book felt preachy.

CRISPR'd A Medical Thriller by Judy Foreman is compelling yet horrifying read. Dr. Saul Kramer, a geneticist who runs an IVF clinic, is hiding a dark obsession selecting unsuspecting couples to exact his twisted revenge. Samantha Fuller, a young reporter, slowly uncovers the truth and seeks justice for the patients.

This was not my usual genre but I selected this book because I was interested in how CRISPR technology would be integrated into the story. Genetic engineering through the use of CRISPR has the potential to offer life saving cures yet at the same time poses ethical dilemmas as well as the risk of misuse. (I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy and all opinions are my own.) This book was thought provoking and one that I highly recommend.

In a world where it seems new ideas for mystery novels are few and far between and the same concept is recycled time and again, this book breaks the mould. A fascinating idea and well executed. Well written with care and time taken to ensure the credible execution of a pretty bizarre concept, the author has done a great job here.

When three babies die shortly after their first birthday, journalist Sammie Fuller senses a story. She soon discovers that eminent geneticist and IVF clinic director, Dr. Saul Kramer, has been using cutting edge technology to exact revenge on the presumed descendants of the Nazis that killed his great grandmother, using CRISPR gene editing to give them a deadly genetic disease. The book jumps around between different points of views and time points. I really wanted to like this book, but it was very disjointed and, as a scientist, I found just about everything related to the application and analysis of CRISPR to be ridiculously simplistic and woefully inaccurate. I found myself wondering why the author would not have consulted scientists with real-life CRISPR expertise to make the story more realistic. There were subplots that really didn't seem necessary. The concepts were interesting, and I liked the two perspectives on Kramer's trial, but I honestly found myself wondering if this was supposed to be a satire rather than a serious medical thriller.

I want to say first and foremost the concept is fantastic. I liked the writing. It was easy to follow along with and picture. My main issue is the whole point of the story is given away in the blurb. I feel like this could’ve been kept secret, 9 babies die from the same IVF clinic, no one knows why. Sammie Fuller investigates ect ect. Kremers tampering could’ve been kept a secret for the readers to find out. It would’ve been a phenomenal plot twist that would’ve easily brought the book up to a 5. This is my only complaint, other than this the book was good.

Boston geneticist Dr. Saul Kramer is on the cutting edge of genetic disease research. Revered among clients at his IVF clinic, he harbors a dark secret. In addition to helping infertile couples conceive healthy babies, Dr. Kramer is obsessed, for his own dark reasons, with an alternate mission as well. In certain patients, he uses the gene editing technology CRISPR to tamper with embryos, not to improve the health of the embryos, but to replace a healthy gene with a deadly mutation. A young female journalist, Sammie Fuller, begins to suspect what he has done when three infants conceived at his clinic die mysteriously, all at about one year old. She and a molecular biologist work secretly in his MIT lab to identify any genetic defects in the deceased children and together make a chilling discovery. Thanks to Sammie’s blockbuster stories, which go viral, Dr. Kramer is charged with murder and winds up in court. In the subsequent dramatic court scenes, his feisty defense lawyer stuns the world with her defense. Set in this uneasy time of genetic engineering with CRISPR technology, Foreman, spins a compelling tale of love, revenge, and murder.

This is a very gripping read.
Wonderful well written plot and story line that had me engaged from the start.
Love the well fleshed out characters and found them believable.
Great suspense and found myself second guessing every thought I had continuously.
Can't wait to read what the author brings out next.
Recommend reading.

I was provided an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher. This is my own honest voluntary review.

Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC of CRISPR'd.

I'll keep it brief, this book just didn't live up to what I wanted it to be. It never felt thrilling, but I did experience the sadness that these poor families did. Just was not the book for me.

While I enjoyed reading this book as I wanted to learn its outcome, I ultimately found it to be lacking and disappointing. I had been expecting so much more, and while the book calls attention to important issues, I also felt like it tried to be too topical and hit too many nails on the head at once. The writing felt a bit subpar and focused more on the science and medicine than on the characters and plot, though I might be interested in reading more of Foreman's nonfiction.

While I loved the idea behind this book, and I found the science really interesting, there wasn't enough suspense. I just didn't really feel any tension in this story and that made it easy to put down. I suppose I was thinking more along the lines of Robin cook. I also think the way this was told didn't really work. It wasn't a bad book, it just wasn't a good fit for me.

Thanks to Skyhorse Publishing for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Format:

eBook (Kindle)

Rating:

4 Stars

Summary:

Dr. Kramer slips into an obsessive, some would say murderous mindset to avenge his child's death under the guise of "saving other children" and loses his way. Sammy, a newspaper reporter finds her "big hit" story in uncovering the truth about the deaths of her friends' children. CRISPR'D is a sciency but approachable story that asks - What lengths would you go to, to avenge your child's death? What determines what is living and what is not yet alive?

50% Progress Check:

So, I'm hooked. So interested in what happens next, and see how the trial is approached.

Immediate Completion Thoughts:

Such a fast read due to wanting to see what happens! The first half of the story is stronger than the second and I wish it kept up that strength throughout the trial. Where it lacked in character development, the science was there and the moral questions were there.

Most Surprising Moment:

The ending.

Least Favorite Moment:

The relationship between Bob and Sammy. The interconnectedness between Bob and the case seemed a little too convenient.

This Book Reminds Me Of:

The Gene by Timothe Brown

I Wish I Could Ask the Author:

What would have been the outcome if the verdict were different? And what would have happened to Dr. Kramer after the trial now?

Overall Thoughts:

A thought-provoking book, and begged the question, when does life begin, and how much should we be able to edit with our genes? In my job, I've built out fertility clinics, and I have many friends and colleagues who have went on fertility journeys and I know that each one of them would go to great lengths to ensure they'd have a healthy child, and ensure that that the child has a fighting chance so some aspects of the book struck a deep chord with me. I've already recommended this book to a coworker, and we've agreed it should be a film.

Anyone looking for a hybrid—medical and legal thriller—is in for a fast-paced thrill ride as a cutting edge geneticist steps over the line in plying his trade.

This book should not be described as a medical thriller. There is absolutely nothing thrilling about this book. It starts off with heartbreak and then gets weird. The Dr’s convoluted reasons for doing what he did, a twist of the #metoo movement thrown in, and an attack against the journalist leaves me to believe that this author had an idea, but couldn’t write a full novel and then just stuck random things in. IF anything, this book should be touted as general fiction.

Additionally, the author clearly did not do any research when it comes to legal proceedings. In the description of the book, the author writes that the Dr.’s defense attorney “stuns the world with her defense.” Anyone in the legal field, especially a district attorney that’s been at it for a while, wouldn’t be stunned by the defense. Pundits, blogs, journalists, they would have all seen it coming. Additionally, through the discovery process, and pre-trial motions, discussions, conferences, usually defenses come to light before a trial. There’s no way in the real would, his defense would have been shocking. Moreover, there’s issues with the way evidence is presented. An attorney would never just tell the bailiff to hit the lights to show a video – there is a process to getting evidence admitted into evidence at a trial. Even if there was a stipulation, that would have been mentioned prior to showing the video. It was just all sorts of wrong.

I gave this two stars because I felt the heartbreak for the families. While I have not experienced infant death, I don’t want to even imagine. The author was able to write in a way that pulled at my heartstrings and made me cry.