The Immortality Code

Let me throw out a confession before my review. I have read every one of Doug's novels. No one recommended him to me originally, I accidentally stumbled upon his writing and haven't looked back since. I think another review was complaining in a positive way about Doug's novels. There's something about his writing, the plots, the twists and turns, they seem to happen so fast just when you think the story has settled down, and then there's another twist. Every single time he does this, I can't put the book down because I want to know what happens next. And this is where I'm not quite sure Doug understands what happens to his audience (I say this only partly joking). Just like the other reviewer commented that he read the book in a few hours, I took 2 days. And now what? I've read all of his other books. I've yet to find another sci-fi author that comes close to doing this when I read their novels. So now I wait, in withdrawal, until his next novel appears. I read voraciously, so when I finish one of Doug's novels, even if the other is good, it's not Richards good.So what makes Douglas E. Richards novels so good in my opinion? There are several things. One, the majority of his stories you feel like they could be happening right now, not 20 years in the future. In some cases, some of the technologies are happening right now. His characters are relatable. I'm not listening to some alien monster with 16 toes coming out of their ears, his characters are often just like you and I, just with much higher intellect. And more often than not there's a little love story, but I like that. It's not too cheesy and my reaction when two of the characters get together I'm even more involved in what happens to both of them. Then there is always this with his novels. He introduces some technology that I've either never heard of, or just barely heard of, but it's really technology being worked on today, not 500 years in the future.Sure I like reading about space ships cruising the galaxies, but that's not going to happen in the next 5-10 years. But could someone develop a robust quantum computer in the next 5 years? It's certainly probable.I think this is why I'm hooked on these novels and it may be the first novel I've ever written a review on. Relatable characters, fast changing plots so you feel like you're going to really miss the next big thing if you quit reading, a little love story which gets you emotionally hooked into the characters, and last but not least, the technology. The near term science fiction, or is it even science fiction now? And that's my final point. Douglas always concludes his books with his thought processes on how he came up with the story, and for the technology and science fiction parts, he provides links where these near term scientific or technical events are being written about and researched right now. Each and every time I end up following the links he discusses because in all of his novels I always feel like I am learning something. After learning just a brief bit, then it really makes me think and wonder. What if China did get a hold of this technology before the US? What are the implications if these technologies are shared with everyone. This is the one thing that I think no one comes close to Douglas Richards. His near term sci-fi novels almost force you to think about what could happen, or perhaps it is happening right now but we just haven't heard much about it yet. Thus, even when I close the novel I'm not quite done with Douglas Richards because I then I am on this quest to become at least a little educated about the science and technology introduced. That just doesn't happen to me with other sci-fi writers.If you've never read one of Douglas E Richards novels, I highly recommend you do. I'd be really shocked if you said you didn't learn anything, the novel didn't make you think, and there's always going to be a character in the story that you connect with or want to connect with on some level. His novels move really fast, which is a good thing for me as I'm not patient. Stephen King may be one of the greatest authors or all time, but I can never finish even one of his novels because they start out so slow, then slowly, very slowly develop the characters, and then finally, finally, the story begins. I just have too much ADD I guess to be a Stephen King fan. I'm bored out of my skull with him. Great writer, just not for me.If you have read Douglas' other novels and have become a fan, then most of us are stuck on the same boat. We have to patiently wait until the next novel comes out. I've tried to find other authors who are similar to Douglas in his writing style and near term science fiction, and I have found very few. I can think of two of the top of my head, and in one of those author's latest book the human character is talking to an alien who looks like a centipede. Seriously. I may have enjoyed this book by another author at the end, but I'm not going to be bonding or rooting for a centipede. I say with 100% honestly that Douglas E. Richards is now my favorite author in any genre, and I just started reading his novels less than 1 year ago.

But not great. And I have grown to expect everything written by this author, Douglas E. Richards to be great. Don't get me wrong...it is a good read. And immortality is a subject to ponder, but until we can get people to eat healthy food, exercise, and cure diseases, it is not feasible.But even in this book, the suggestion is that immortality is achieved by cloning exact copies of the original, so that if something happens to you, your exact clone copy can take over for you without a hitch. This is just my description. Actually, Mr. Richards makes a good stab at making this sound realistic as science fiction should. In fact, many things that begin as science fiction do come true.But we are not there yet. The book begins with a frenetic pace that that revs up with the scientist who appears to have found a way to immortality being assigned a military protector to keep her safe. And they fall in love. Another military protector wants them moved to a safe house to keep others trying to steal the work from getting it.What could go wrong? Everyone wants it, including the Chinese, who attempts to kidnap the inventor and her protector. But that is not all, even Americans want the technology stolen.But after the inventor and boyfriend are kidnapped, the story kind of stalls out, at least for me. There are some then

I highly enjoyed this book, as much or more than I’ve enjoyed ALL of Douglas E. Richards’ books. And, as in most of his other best-sellers, the fiction part is based on “near-term” science and technology that has been envisioned but not yet realized. Richards has written about many highly diverse subjects, and he continues to amaze me with the depth of his knowledge and his research which is evident in each of his books.And this book is a THRILLER as well. After a brief, somewhat scary opening, there is a technical discussion about a room-temperature quantum cubit biomolecule that a genius girl, Alison Keane (Allie), may have theoretically derived, which would have a tremendous impact on quantum computing.The attractive Allie had previously suffered horrible injustices. Her professor stole her thesis work and published it as his own and, turning the tables, blamed Allie for stealing his work and got her kicked in out of grad school. But Allie made it back, got her Ph.D., and continued her theoretical research.Allie then posts a pre-publication summary of her work on the internet, leaving out the details. Colonel Sarah Hubbard of a black organization,Tech Ops, tells the ruggedly handsome Commander Zachery (Zach) Reed of Seal Team Six to protect Allie and bring those gaps in her post to her and only her, or else to terminate Allie. Reed has no intention to cary out the last part of that order.John Conway, CEO of a prosperous hi-tech company, contacts Allie with a fantastic job offer, along with two others who want her to join them. John said he’d been able to conduct an extremely difficult but key experiment that validated Allie’s theory.Okay, this covers only the first 8% of the book. To avoid making this review much too long, or to be a spoiler, I’ll try to just make a few general comments about the next part of this terrific book.Allie is kidnapped by troops of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) with Commander Zach Reed and his team in hot pursuit. The Chinese use very advanced weaponry, and a horrendous and incredible battle follows. Allie is wanted by Tech Ops with Zach providing security, by China, by companies, and by others to create a quantum computer that could penetrate any security system as well as provide impenetrable security for themselves.This review now cover a quarter of the book but, to continue even without revealing outcomes, would give this thrilling story away.Martin Fricke, Ph.D. (nuclear physics)

Absolutely brilliant as his other novels. He never fails to impress creating a thrilling story, technically complex yet entertaining. He always makes me hungry to know more of the fascinating details from the idea origins. Great book!

Very fast paced. Lots of intellectual discussion and moral theorising. Stunning technology revelations and gruesome action scenes. I’m fast becoming a massive fan of DRs storytelling.

Looking forward to the sequel. Always love book that expand your mind and make you think outside the box .

There are enough topics in this book to teach you more about the things that matter, than you would believe. Such a pursuit by yourself would lead in a wild goose chase, without clear understanding of these topics.Douglas E Richards remains a master storyteller, with enough suprises that would leave you spellbound. Story, characters and plot are all top notch. Kudos Mr. Richards!!

I really enjoy Douglas' novels - even though this one was the second appearance of a fantastically powerful alien artifact.