Reading 2024
Book 57: Baby X by Kira Peikoff

Read this book from #NetGalley on my Kindle. There was a buzz about this book that drew my attention.

Synopsis: When any biological matter can be used to create life, stolen celebrity DNA sells to the highest bidder–or the craziest stalker–in this propulsive thriller.

Review: Well now this was a propulsive thriller. The book read quickly, and I stayed up until 1 am one night to finish the last 30%. Making babies in a lab and then selecting the best one, WOW! So much speculation and head scratching possibilities. Will be recommending this book to others looking for a good thriller, my rating 4.25⭐️.

This was surprisingly waaay better than I expected it to be! It takes a page out of the Twilight Zone/Black Mirror speculative sci-fi genre and it did not disappoint! 80% into the story and I’m wondering how is the author going to wrap this up without rushing and taking away from the story, but it was a success! The author did an incredible job with this one. There are tons of issues to discuss with this one and I think it’d make for a really good book club selection.

Baby X is an intriguing exploration of the near future. I loved the way the author used known up-and-coming tech to add to this near future society. They definitely did their research. But that’s kinda where the positives end.

The premise was so interesting, and I even started having dreams about this world. The plot was cheesy. It read like a YA novel. Maybe it is YA? It also felt a liiiittle too close to eugenics without touching on this. I couldn’t suspend my disbelief that far… See why it felt YA? It avoided difficult questions for the sake of a plot.

Look, I’m not sure how believable genetically “coaxing” cells into sex cells is, but I suspended my disbelief. But what got me is that we’re supposed to believe someone could actually collect all fallen DNA from a person in public? Do you know how much skin cells, hair, and spittle we lose every day? It felt incomprehensible to me that you could just have someone follow you around to collect all of it, with 100% accuracy.

The biggest issue to me, however, is the huge lack of diversity and lack of racial awareness in this novel, especially within the intersection of health and technology. No talk of health equity, no talk of race, no talk of how we got to this time where none of this is even touched on. The timeframe and history of all other health tech aspects were touched on (universal healthcare, screening for diseases), but there was no explanation of health inequality, disparities, and race.

To me, it seems glaringly obvious that the author didn’t feel it was necessary to expand on racial tensions and disability equality in the US and how it can change in 50ish years. If all the other timelines of large cultural aspects were explained, why not this? It felt ignorant, and honestly, it upsets me the more I think about it.

Was I entertained? Yes. But it had a gaping hole in the middle of its world — one that was a serious issue.

Thank you yo NetGalley and Crooked Lane for this ARC!

Wow, I am pleasantly surprised by this book. The comparisons to Blake Crouch and Black Mirror are warranted, but I found it more enjoyable in the sense that it’s not extremely disturbing like some episodes of Black Mirror and the female characters are written much better than in Blake Crouch novels.

Baby X is delightfully tense. I liked the different POVs, and I think it added to the tension.

I highly recommend this to anyone who loves fun, thought-provoking science fiction with plenty of twists.

A mind-bending and thought-provoking near-futuristic tale.

I loved the changing narratives between three women and the link that binds them all. Very suspenseful and an unexpected twist at the end, this book really drew me in and was progressively difficult to put down!

Rating: 3.5

I was first drawn to Baby X because of the Black Mirror feeling I got from the blurb.

A multi-POV book, set in the not too distant future where people can create the perfect offspring with the help of science. The world building is great, with a technological future built on top of our vastly developing society. The ideas behind how humans have progressed and the future we could possibly take it laid out.

However, there is a lack of development that stunts the overall enjoyment of this story. There were a few things that were quite predictable, the characters were OK but nothing memorable or special,

Overall, it was a decent read, but not something that really sticks out.

If you enjoy John Marrs’ speculative fiction books or the TV series Black Mirror, then you need to read this book!

Baby X is set in the near future where babies can be conceived from almost any kind of your biological material. It doesn’t have to be from male or female gametes. Science can now produce those from any DNA; hair, spit, skin, etc.

Also with the advance of science, humans live much longer now and can have children much later in life than ever before.

The problem that arises is that gametes of major celebrities are being sold on the black market and a person, just by picking up a discarded water bottle, can get the DNA from that major celebrity and have their baby.

I loved this concept. Baby X is told by 3 POVs and is a thriller that kept me turning the pages. I can’t wait to see what Kira Peikoff comes up with next!

*Thank you so much to Quick Brown Fox & Co., Crooked Lane Books, and NetGalley for the gifted eARC!*

This was a decent speculative fiction read. If you enjoy sci fi, futurist fiction, and authors like John Marrs, you will like this book.

I read it pretty quickly due to the short chapters and the twists that kept me hanging on, but something was missing for me. It was pretty out there at times and it didn’t always connect well. But I think a lot of people will enjoy this book!

3.5 star read. Delightful educational read. In light of where society, as a whole, is going this book couldn't have come at a better time. The characters are intriguing and seeing how different situations were handled was fascinating. This really was a enjoyable read and I can't wait to see what the author will come up with next.

#BABYX. #NETGALLEY #KIRAPEIKOFF

This Gattaca meets TMZ speculative fiction novel starts out strong with an interesting premise and vision of the future. But its cartoonish bad guy degraded the story for me and I'm not sure the book stuck its landing. Still, the story was engaging and I would read more from this author.

If Black Mirror was a book, this would be it! Read this if you like sci-fi thrillers and stories set in the near future, where technology takes a turn that could very well become reality.

With different POVs (which I always love), we follow the individual perspective of different women living in this near-future reality where reproductive technology has become so advanced that parents can now select the health traits of their children. Since this new technology is only possible via artificial insemination, natural pregnancies are rare and a thing of the past, because why would you risk having a baby with 80% chance of having cancer when you can have one that has 0% chance?

Furthermore, now any piece of DNA can be used to create illegal reproductive cells, so a black market emerges to purchase those cells to have babies with the DNA of celebrities.

Extremely interesting and intriguing, this story had me guessing the entire time and deserves all of the hype. Anxiously waiting for more books from Kira Peikoff.

Thank you Netgalley and the publishers for sending me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

You can’t see me, but I’m standing up and applauding because I LOVED this book!!!! I love speculative and science fiction and Baby X delivers! But this is also a thriller and the combination of these genres had me enthralled. ENTHRALLED (all caps necessary for emphasis). I could not put this book down! Baby X is set in the near future, in a more technologically-advanced USA where DNA theft and eugenics are the norm. I actually was a surrogate once and so I was very interested in the themes this book raised surrounding reproductive rights and ethics. Baby X is doubly successful in that the experience of reading it was a ton of fun AND its ideas made me think.

I highly recommend Baby X. It would make a great book club pick, I think it would lead to fantastic discussions.

Baby X reminded me of a Black Mirror episode. The novel felt like it could have happened in the next few years. The ambience was really uncomfortable and kept me uneasy which is a good thing for this kind of story. Right when you think you are understanding the plot and know what will happen next, Peikoff pulls the rug from underneath you. Brilliant author. I am a sucker for a good novel with dystopian flavor, and Baby X really hit the mark for me. The only thing that did get to me was that the dialogue could have used more work. I felt at times it was jusy overly dramatic. But I didn't feel that way often, just a few times.

I will recommend Baby X to several of my friends who are thrill seeking readers. Perhaps my book club can pick this up later in the year because there are a lot of topics to touch on that can be interesting in a group setting. Great job. Thank you for providing me with the opportunity to read this ARC.

Phenomenal….if you are looking for a futuristic book with all kinds of GREAT twists, THIS is the BOOK!! Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this in exchange for an honest review!

An excellent speculative angle with great world building that unfortunately falls short in plot development.

While the technological and societal landscape was rich, what we get in the interpersonal narrative was more shallow and melodramatic. I would have preferred a different story be spun on this setting.

Thank you to NetGalley for my copy. These opinions are my own.

Kira Peikoff creates an intriguing future where all you need to reproduce is the cells of another individual. As parents you can choose the one with the health and intelligence you want which leads others to go after those who possess the greatest abilities. In a well-weaved plot between the past and the present told so well you do not even realize they are separate until the end. Lucy seeks to understand her birth and why her mother went to prison while her mom and dad seek to have another child. As the two stories converge a beautiful love story and a crazy past come into one with a beautiful ending. One must ponder if you could choose the perfect person would for health or wealth so their lives would be perfect. How much power might we have in deciding one's future? In the end, one is left to ponder if our genes are in control or in the end do we decide ultimately who we become. A wonderful science fiction/love story that had me engaged to the last page. I am looking forward to reading more by Kira Peikoff.

BABY X By Kira Peikoff

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the e-arc


This book was such a surprise!

I really liked the futuristic dystopian vibes- it reminded me a ton of Black Mirror. In this world there are AI politicians, drone food delivery, and selecting your own baby based on DNA is the norm. The idea that this would make a lot of diseases and illnesses irrelevant is so appealing! Obviously we're humans and people would take advantage and it would cause other issues... but a neat idea to think about. Plus there is the very present idea that people are stealing DNA to have their babies.... YIKES.

This book was more than just typical dystopian- there was a thriller sense to it too- particularly the second half. I did not see the ending coming- I was shocked when everything fell into place.

Read if you like: Black Mirror or The One by John Maars

This was a cool vision of a future that could come to pass. I enjoyed the story, the characters, and the subject matter. I’ll look forward to reading more from this author.

Baby X was a fun read with a super interesting concept: A future where advances in genetic-technology has led to potential children being 'selected' for conception based upon their predicted character traits, abilities, and future health. Consequently, the threat of celebrities' stolen DNA being used to conceive children against their will or knowledge becomes a significant threat needed to be guarded against.

While the book is written more as a Thriller than a Sci-Fi novel, it was clear that the story's unique Eugenics concept is still at the forefront of politics, news, and everyday life within the world of Baby X. The plot was engaging with a number of 'twists'; some more easily foreseen than others, but nevertheless, they kept the story interesting and steadily moving forward throughout its duration. For the characters, I felt that Ember and Quinn were written a bit too similar to one another, as well as not always having clear motivations. Despite these 2 characters were key players in the main plot, I felt that their roles and perhaps even shortcomings were well balanced with Lily's character, as she was written with more unique voice, being mostly separated from the main plot events.

Lily's character allowed the reader to dive deeper into how the world has been impacted by advances in gene-technology / child selection. Essential to this was her own struggle with being an 'unforeseen' birth, raising many of the book's interesting philosophical and bio-ethical questions, such as: How much of what makes someone themselves is predisposed? Is it fair to select someone for an advanced ability / trait at the risk of them developing more negative one's? And how much knowledge / control over this ought we give to parents on the child's behalf? I would have liked the book to dive deeper into these questions as a main commentary of the novel, beyond Lily's experience.

Overall, I am looking forward to Kira's next book, with hopes that she experiments leaning more deeply into the unique, Sci-Fi aspects, more so than the thrilling events they spark.

This story was told in three different points of view that in the beginning don't seem to converge but by the end they come together perfectly. The genetically engineered babies created with stolen DNA plot line was new to me and kept me interested. The concept of designer babies does freak me out quite a bit and the idea of selecting embryos based on how they score on certain traits scares me. Overall I found this to be a great book and found that I struggled to put it down.