A Breed Apart

by Pierre Davis

Book Overview

Lt. Elliot Elliot, aka E Squared. A botched drug raid yanks him off the street and into a cubicle at the Pearson Institute of Health Sciences, where he's reduced to hunting down stolen laptops. Then... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• ISBN: 1607519712
• ISBN13: 9781607519713
• Release Date: January 2009
• Publisher: Bantam Dell
• Length: 433 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.

Customer Reviews

survival of the fittest

I found this thriller to be completely engrossing; I picked it up at the grocery store for lunch-hour reading and had a hard time putting it down to go back to my desk! What I found particularly good: characterization; plot; action; and resolution. As the story unfolded, the author provided enough bits of each interwoven story to build into a coherent whole. At first I wondered where he was going with some of the elements, but by the midpoint it was clear where the relationships were. In the meantime, the individual characters (including the dog) were sufficiently interesting and sympathetic (with the exception of the killer - brrrr! - he was interesting but most definitely NOT sympathetic!) to keep me involved and patient for the next clue. I would disagree with the reviewer who found it slow-paced. It is, however, dense: not for someone who wants a quick, easy read or who is easily distracted. You will miss some good stuff if you don't concentrate. I am a reader who doesn't often try to figure out the endings of mystery novels, and since I don't try, I am a little disappointed if it's too easy to follow and predict what happens. This book definitely did not have that problem. The resolution of "A Breed Apart" sets up the possibility of a sequel, and I for one would be happy to read it.

Entertaining and well written

I would recommend this book to all-even those poor souls not obsessed with all things 'dog'. A different sort of canine story altogether.

A CLASS ABOVE THE REST

A BREED APART is one of the books I enjoyed most this year. As a scientist myself I had came to appreciate Pierre Davis' (aka Pierre Ouellette's) crisp writing, tight plot-lines and cutting-edge science - which is not only well understood but also well explained. This book is an excellent example, although it may not be the author's best. A disgraced cop with a lot of ex-girlfriend baggage; an escaped dog with a lot of extra genetic baggage; a sadistic assassin with a Mongolian fixation; homeless honor and corporate greed and (lack of) ethics; a reclusive puppet-master billionaire clinging to life; and an ironic twist in the arguments both for and against stem-cell research. If you are a fan of late Michael Crichton, view this as the baby that JURASSIC PARK and RISING SUN would have had: A real page-turner technothriller with philosophical hooks. The book could use more subtle location separators within the pages (three stars would be as effective as those thick black lines) and a better cover-art. But one shouldn't judge a book by its cover. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Author's Other Books

Pierre Davis is actually Pierre Ouellette, author of The Deus Machine and The Third Pandemic.

Couldn't put it down!

This book combines mystery, suspense and science in a really novel kind of way. The characters, especially the detective at the center of the story, are vivid and well-defined. But the real hero of the book is the dog, which the author manages to bring to life in a most convincing manner. Throughout the book, he manages to take the most high-flying of concepts and bring them down to earth so that they constantly propel the story along: Advanced stem-cell research, animal intelligence, and various neurological diseases, some of them quite exotic. The pace never falters and the ending provides a very gratifying payoff.