The scientific project Crime Zero was dreamed up by Alice Prince,
scientist-founder of the third-largest biotech company in 2008, whose
longtime supporters include Madeline Naylor, first female FBI director,
and Pamela Weiss, soon to be the first female president. The project's
animating idea is that, since men commit most violent crimes, the world
would be vastly improved if the 17 aggressive male genes were removed
or reprogrammed. Prince has worked out most of the needed methods,
aided by brilliant but naive young Kathy Kerr. Unbeknownst to Kathy,
government scientists have been working secretly with her ideas and
have proved their validity before she has even obtained FDA approval
for her work. Unfortunately, the secret workers have unknowingly
produced a lethal product. Cordy's novel is beautifully and
dramatically constructed, balancing a variety of subplots and
understandable but complex personalities in a spellbinding story. How
spellbinding? Well, when a novelist makes globally spreading smallpox
seem a good thing, not just scientifically but also for the sake of the
plot, he is a real wizard.