Review: Eve and Adam

Eve and Adam by Katherine Applegate

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



GoodReads Synopsis: Sixteen-year-old Evening Spiker lives an affluent life in San Francisco with her mother, Terra, a successful geneticist and owner of Spiker Biotech. Sure, Evening misses her father who died mysteriously, but she’s never really questioned it. Much like how she’s never stopped to think how off it is that she’s never been sick. That is, until she’s struck by a car and is exposed to extensive injuries. Injuries that seem to be healing faster than physically possible.

While recuperating in Spiker Biotech’s lush facilities, she meets Solo Plissken, a very attractive, if off-putting boy her age who spent his life at Spiker Biotech. Like Evening, he’s never questioned anything... until now. Solo drops hints to Evening that something isn’t right, and Terra may be behind it. Evening puts this out of her mind and begins her summer internship project: To simulate the creation of the perfect boy. With the help of Solo, Evening uncovers secrets so big they could change the world completely.

My Thoughts: The initial synopsis I read for this book gave me a completely different impression of the story. This book was not, in any way what I was expecting, but it was better than I was expecting also! Co-written by two well known authors, in their own right, who happen to be married. Katherine Applegate and Michael Grant. Grant writes the best selling “Gone” series, and Applegate who wrote the popular “Animorphs” series and “The One and Only Ivan”.

Poor Eve really has no clue about her Mom. They are two ships that pass in the night. That all changes when Eve get hit by a bus. Reading the bus scene was creepy and comical at the same time. It when she comes to at the hospital, post-op, that her Mom is in full form forcing the doc to release Eve into Mom’s care. Her mother is not beyond bullying and strong-arm tactics. Basically she is a witch with a capital B that puts the fear of God into everyone she encounters.

Eve is a typical kid, fighting to fit in. Sweet and smart she has only one friend prior to meeting Solo, and she is devoted to that friend. Eve is hesitant to tell her friend how she really feels or what she really thinks for fear of losing her.

Solo, meanwhile, has known all about Eve. He lives at Spiker Labs…literally lives at Spiker Labs. When his parents died, Terra was named his guardian. Which Eve is completely unaware of. Solo knows there is something going on at the labs, but has to be very careful how and when he digs around. Solo is lacking social skills because he never leaves the lab. All his schooling and social interaction is via the computer.

Solo opens Eve’s eyes to what is going on around her. Solo tells Eve all kinds of interesting information and reveals what he believes Eve’s mother is up to. Eve being the moral kids she is, agrees to help him. But not everything is as it seems. This was a well-crafted story with lots of twists and turns. You weren’t exactly sure what was going on until it was revealed…and the door was left open for what could be a very interesting sequel. Told from shifting points of view, we get to hear both Eve and Solo’s internal dialog which was really telling. I love being inside character’s heads and seeing how they tick.

This story is fast paced, and so is the action. It ultimately begs the question just how far we are willing to go towards saving people via genetic engineering, cloning, etc. Interesting questions for sure and it’s always to see how novelists tackle them via their stories. I hope this book does well and there is a sequel…I’d love to know what happens next to these characters.




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