Breed

July 16, 2012
Advanced reproductive technologies prove just a new form of mad science in this timely, engrossing medical thriller from the pseudonymous Novak (Scott Spencer, Endless Love). Wealthy Manhattan couple Alex and Leslie Twisden are incapable of having children, it seems—until they avail themselves of the services of Dr. Kis, a dodgy fertility specialist in remote Slovenia. Dosed with a concoction of extracts from the tissues of several aggressive animal species (including a cannibal fish that feeds on its young), Alex and Leslie produce twins, Adam and Alice, though at the cost of horrific side effects to themselves. Ten years later, Adam and Alice run away from home, terrified of their parents, who subsequently seek out Dr. Kis in order to get some answers and save their family. Novak writes with an energy that propels the reader through the novel’s unlikely science and subplots. He also winks enough to suggest that this all could be a black comedy on modern parenting.

July 15, 2012
A cautionary tale about the perils of fertility treatments turns into a gore fest for the strong of stomach. Now that Stephen King has earned acceptance as a literary novelist, what has been published as the debut novel by Novak represents a turnabout--a literary novelist of some renown and commercial success tries his hand at becoming Stephen King. The publisher doesn't conceal that the novel was written under a pseudonym by Scott Spencer (whose A Ship Made of Paper, 2003, was a National Book Award nominee), but fans who appreciate his typical balance of thematic depth and storytelling will recognize the marketing wisdom of publishing this under a different name. While he remains a fine writer, this descent "into the medical hell of infertility" is most noteworthy for its shock value and for a few truly spectacular deaths (which should challenge the special effects within the movie to which this plainly aspires). Alex and Leslie have everything--luxurious Manhattan domicile, fine jobs, each other--except a baby. Leslie seems more willing to adopt, but Alex is desperate to try anything. If he weren't, he might have had second thoughts after they traveled to see the mysterious doctor in Slovenia and were greeted by a dog whose "eyes are imbecilic with avidity, and a smell of meat rises from his flanks and loins....But they have come too far, and gone to too much trouble to turn back now." Bad choice. The doctor's assistant proceeds to inform them that he has had "great, great success--using tissue from some of the most vigorous and fertile beings on earth." Another red flag, but they proceed at Alex's insistence, subsequently indulge in some spectacularly animalistic sex, have twins (or more?) and develop a taste for rodents, household pets, fellow human beings and perhaps even their offspring. The twins are a little weird (and they discover a tribe of similar mutants), but it's the parents who become monsters. There may well be a massive popular readership for this gruesome tale (but not Scott Spencer's readers).

COPYRIGHT(2012) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

August 1, 2012
With their four-story Manhattan town house and tony professions, the only thing Alex and Leslie Twisden are missing is a child. A series of failed in-vitro treatments lead them to Slovenia, homeland of the whispered-about Dr. Kis and his fertility enhancement. It worksand how. After treatment, the Twisdens are in thrall to a base animal nature: obscene growths of hair sprout everywhere and they develop, shall we say, unusual appetites. It's a 50-page prologue tailor-made for the dropping of jaws, and literary horror fans will know they're in good hands with Novak (a pseudonym for National Book Award finalist Scott Spencer). The novel loses some momentum when it switches focus to the 10-year-old Twisden twins, but there are dark-fairy-tale pleasures aplenty as the kids flee from parents who, increasingly, can barely restrain themselves from gobbling up their young. Smart and brutal, this joins the ranks of such elegant domestic shockers as Lionel Shriver's We Need to Talk about Kevin (2003), John Ajvide Lindqvist's Let Me In (2007), and Justin Evans' A Good and Happy Child (2007).(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)