Sequence

Sequence is Lori Andrews first novel. She is an expert on law and genetics and the chair of the federal advisory committee dealing with the legal, ethical and social implications of the Human Genome Project. Needless to say, she had the knowledge to write a great forensic-style thriller.

The book's main character is Dr. Alexandra Blake, a geneticist at AFIP - the Armed Forced Institute of Pathology. She is working on a cure for the 1918 Spanish Flu to protect soldiers from potential biological warfare. Alex is forced to put her research on hold when a new presidential appointee takes over the AFIP. His plan is to turn AFIP into a mini FBI: solving murders involving the military. And it just so happens that at the current moment, there is a serial killer murdering women near military bases across the US.

Andrews has written a great first novel. The science is of course exceptional. Alex is an easy to relate to, likeable main character. And the plot, as one reviewer puts it, has a double helix sort of a twist.

Andrews, L. (2006). Sequence. New York: St. Martin's Press.