I had a lot of fun with this book. It’s an interesting set up to what might turn out to be the Biblical Last Days. Marcus is a lead scientist on a team that plans to take samples from the Shroud of Turin and grow a clone of whoever was wrapped in that bit of cloth. Of course, the team meets with a lot of push back from religious groups and some average people. Nevertheless, they continue forward despite mishaps, death threats, and physical attacks. It’s a prickly subject for some and several sides to it were shown in this story.

Reggie was my favorite character. She’s a single mom with a pre-teen son, Seth, and they live with her father, Kyle, who runs a little automotive garage. She and Marcus have been friends for ages and the two have kept up a solid friendship despite them being on opposite sides of the Atlantic. She’s a fiery sort of personality in an average body. Her confidence makes her attractive and likable to nearly everyone. I loved her independence and while I don’t watch wrestling, I can appreciate that she enjoys it. I wanted to be her sidekick! Well, at least until the last quarter of the book where she doesn’t do much and is pretty much relegated to the Romantic Interest role. Sigh…. But she could easily bounce back from that in the next book. My fingers are crossed.

Kyle was quite the character too! At first, I just labeled him as a grumpy old man but he has more than that going on. I loved his teasing and his meddling in Reggie’s life. Herbie! Who wants to date Herbie? Ha! Kyle is well-meaning and that always showed through.

OK, back to the the science-thriller part of this story. So Marcus and his team know that the Shroud of Turin isn’t old enough to have been around in the times of Jesus Christ but they are still very curious to see if they can get viable DNA from t he Shroud and then also grow a living being from that DNA. The science itself is pretty loosey-goosey so just go with it and enjoy the ride. While I would have preferred more science, or at least logic, I managed to not nitpick the plot apart…. yet. OK, how many people have touched that Shroud or rubbed it all over their bodies in attempt to heal themselves of some disease? Honestly, there’s probably a veritable host of DNA on that cloth. A few well placed discussions along those lines would have made the science bits more interesting if not believable.

Marcus gets much more than he was expecting and the whole team is very surprised by how things develop. Other side characters, such as this Reverend of a southern church group and Pope, want to have a say in how things proceed but Marcus and his team do a decent job of repelling them until near the end.

The action really ramps up in the last quarter of the book where Marcus is seriously questioning just what he may have unleashed on the world. There’s drama, action, suicides, attacks, bombs! Yes, it’s quite the marathon of survival for Marcus, and Reggie is there for some of that. The ending wraps up most of the questions for this book and leaves the door open for the next book. 4/5 stars.

I received a free copy of this book.

The Narration: Rick Gregory had a great voice for Reggie, sounding both feminine and confident. He also had a good, distinct voice for Marcus. The two show several emotions throughout the story and Gregory did an awesome job of portraying those. His soft Southern drawl for the Reverend needed work and there were a few places where the sound varied. I loved his gruff teasing voice for Kyle. His pacing was perfect. 4/5 stars. ( )