“A roller-coaster of thrills and suspense“

This first book in the Gamma Sequence series from one of my favorite thriller authors, Dan Alatorre, takes us from Tampa to Bali as the private investigator hero finds himself caught up in an international conspiracy involving genetic engineering and a wealthy corporate conglomerate. Hank “Dash” DeShear, the PI, is hired to investigate a possible murder spree targeting the executives of a genetics company called Angeles Genetics. The new client is someone who fears she is on the hit list. She’s not wrong, and soon she and DeShear are running for their lives while unknown assailants are shooting at them and burning down Hank’s apartment.

The story is a roller-coaster of thrills and suspense with a payoff involving grotesque activities by the evil genetics corporation. Like many thrillers, you have to suspend disbelief a bit and just go along with the premise, but here the writing is so compelling and the characters so interesting that it’s easy to sit back, roll along, and enjoy the ride. It’s fun, exciting, interesting, and thought-provoking. Everything you want, and it’s also the first in a series where you can totally imagine what’s coming next in this saga. Kudos to a wonderful author for developing such an intricate and interesting story.

I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Skye Stafford. I enjoyed the narration, although in a story featuring mostly male characters, the female narrator was sometimes a problem. One of the main male characters sounded exactly like Cloris Leachman’s voice of Nurse Diesel from Mel Brooks’ movie High Anxiety, while the voice of Hank, the protagonist PI, sounded like an 18-year-old boy. The gravely voice of the key villain was great, but often one could not tell whether the person speaking was a male or female. There were a few small glitches in the audiobook production, but the audiobook experience was fine and I was able to fully appreciate the story via this medium.

I highly recommend The Gamma Sequence for all thriller fans.