Perfect People

Perfect People Lyrics: This song is not for you, if you've never cried a river / Or had your heart broken in two / This song is not for you, if everyday you wake up.
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When Troy Devine, a soldier returning home from Iraq and suffering from PTSD syndrome, encounters a vagrant on a subway train, it changes his life forever. The vagrant is actually a fellow In a world where ghosts, ghouls, and goblins are a common place, the InSpectres are the only exterminators capable of eliminating these supernatural nuisances!

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Desperate for answers, the A first time stand-up comedian gets his taste of the dark side of the entertainment business and learns that comedy can be a very serious and also seedy endeavor. Chris, an even-keeled newspaper writer and taxi driver, experiences a number of senseless violent tragedies in his life that push him over the edge.

Start your free trial. Find showtimes, watch trailers, browse photos, track your Watchlist and rate your favorite movies and TV shows on your phone or tablet! Enjoy unlimited streaming on Prime Video. There was an error trying to load your rating for this title. Aug 16, Cindy Ng rated it did not like it. I had high hopes for this book as the topic of genetic engineering and the issues surrounding it really interests me, and reviews all seemed pretty positive.

I also really enjoyed the movie Gattaca which is on a similar theme. However, just a couple of chapters in I couldn't believe how naive the two main characters were, and they seemed to be making stupid decision after stupid decision. This continued throughout the book and really affected my enjoyment of the story but I pushed on, partly bec I had high hopes for this book as the topic of genetic engineering and the issues surrounding it really interests me, and reviews all seemed pretty positive.

This continued throughout the book and really affected my enjoyment of the story but I pushed on, partly because I hate putting a book down midway but I was also curious as to how it would all play out. There was a lot of potential that was left unexplored, and the whole reason behind any of the events ever happening in the first place was explained in just a couple of pages. Overall it was disappointing, predictable, even irritating in some parts, and has put me off trying any of Peter James' other books. It is my favorite book of adult fiction, it has everything I have ever asked of the story.

Plus, as a geneticist myself and believer in transhumanism this is just a must read and must love and ah I am just going to take it into my bed instead of a teddy bear! Oct 11, Kaitlin rated it liked it Shelves: I picked up this book purely based on it having been long-listed for the WellcomeBookPrize and I am very glad I did actually because I ended up really enjoying it, even though it definitely has its flaws.

I've never read anything else by this author, and from what I understand he's mostly a crime-thriller writer, but this book has more of a pure thriller and action vibe to it. The whole way through the story was pretty intense and there was a lot of very interesting research involved to make it I picked up this book purely based on it having been long-listed for the WellcomeBookPrize and I am very glad I did actually because I ended up really enjoying it, even though it definitely has its flaws.

The whole way through the story was pretty intense and there was a lot of very interesting research involved to make it quite a unique read. I found I really enjoyed it. The story follows John and Naomi, a young couple who comprise of a Swede and a Brit who have married, had a child and then lost that child.

They are both carriers of a rare gene which gives a horrible and tragic illness to their first son, so they grieve his loss deeply when it comes. In the end, they decide they want more children, but they don't want to have to watch them suffer too so they seek out the help of a geneticist who is working on cutting edge gene-alterations and 'designer babies' to see if he can eradicate the gene for the illness from their next child. Little do the couple know, this scientist may well have his own aims What I loved about this story is the huge amounts of research surrounding the 'designer babies' themselves.

This was immediately obvious and super fascinating as it's a topic I haven't looked into much prior to this, but I really am curious now Pheobe and Luke end up becoming some of the real stars of the entire book. They are just wonderful curiosities, and clever doesn't begin to describe them. They have built in qualities to make them succeed in life. They have the genetic advantage, but it doesn't ever quite go to plan and quickly their parents are unsure how to really deal with them.

I definitely think this could have been cut, so this is the major reason why this book isn't getting a higher rating despite just how much I really enjoyed it.

Overall, a solid read and, without the niggle of the cult plotline, it was great. I very much enjoyed it, and read it quickly over just two days, so I would say it's very fun read with some quality moments of science also included though I am sure things have rapidly moved on from a few years ago when this was written now! I gave it a strong 3. I have read a couple of books by this author which I absolutely loved, so was very much looking forward to reading this one To start with I have to admit I did find it a bit slow going but once I started getting into it, I was well and truly gripped.

As a parent I could fully empathise with John and Naomi. To lose a child has got to be one of the worst things in life possible. So to get the chance to have another baby that can be guaranteed to have none of the illnesses that can be passed on in th I have read a couple of books by this author which I absolutely loved, so was very much looking forward to reading this one To start with I have to admit I did find it a bit slow going but once I started getting into it, I was well and truly gripped. So to get the chance to have another baby that can be guaranteed to have none of the illnesses that can be passed on in the genes from the parents, well who wouldn't take it?

The author has created a story that is extremely thought provoking. Scientists have come so far and designer babies is something that is probably very possible if not already. I certainly don't agree with people playing god and dictating what a human being is going to be like but the thought of also putting a stop to illnesses that leave devastation in its trail is a very positive part of it. Having a child should be some of the happiest times in a parents lives, but for one, John and Naomi are still trying to recover from the fact that even though they only wanted one child they have twins, also they have to get used to the fact that Phoebe and Luke are unlike any other child of their age.

Perfect People after the slow start is one that literally had me on my seat. Not only does John and Naomi have to learn to cope with being parents to two highly intelligent twins, they are also living in fear as there are people out there who are very much against what they have done. This is one story that I won't forget in a hurry. It would also make a brilliant film. John and Naomi's story is one that will really pull on your heart strings and I found it quite an emotional read towards the end.

Das Buch macht auf jeden Fall nachdenklich. Der Anfang ist wirklich gut und die unheimliche Spannung kommt schleichend.

Die Story entwickelt sich ganz anders als ich erwartet hatte und obwohl ich mit Science Fiction nicht viel anfangen kann, fand ich den Aspekt hier total spannend. Naomi und John waren mir bei Sehr unheimlich Naomi und John waren mir beide nicht sympathisch aber mit dem Verlauf der Geschichte habe ich mit den beiden gelitten. Das Ende ist dann aber over the top. Mir ist das dann ein wenig zu viel. Zu viele Ideen, zu viel Neues und Abgedrehtes kommt dazu und es wird dem interessanten Thema nicht gerecht. Sep 30, Joanne Sheppard rated it it was ok.

Peter James is an impressively prolific bestselling thriller writer, of whose books I had before now read precisely none. I picked up Perfect People at a low-price book sale along with various other thrillers this summer because I was keen to know what Peter James does that sells so well, and because I was interested in the subject matter: For the duration of the book, I rather felt as if I was reading a novelisation of a film, and not a recent one at that. Perfect People's plot certainly does make you want to plough on quickly to end, despite the enormous suspension of disbelief required.

I did keep turning the pages, despite my misgivings about elements of the story and frequent irritation at the writing style heavy on the telling, light on the showing, and peppered with mundane exposition. Moreover, the relationship between parent and child here is infuriatingly inconsistent — neither parent is really shown to bond with their children as such, and Naomi in particular behaves as if she actively dislikes or even fears them, but suddenly when required for the purposes of the plot, they suddenly begin to behave completely differently towards them.

A bit of a wasted opportunity, this one. Plenty of potential, but just felt careless in the execution, as if the author was taking a paint-by-numbers approach to fiction. Feb 19, Colin Andrews rated it it was amazing. One of the most thought-provoking thrillers I've read. Scary too, not so much in the blood and gore sense, but the in the implications of genetic engineering of the human species to a level far beyond what eugenics in the conventional sense might ever achieve.

When the book was first started, designer babies were still a subject for science fiction, but judging by scientific advances made over the past 10 years this fiction could so easily become fact. There is no reason to believe that violent One of the most thought-provoking thrillers I've read.

There is no reason to believe that violent conflict between science and fanatical religious beliefs will be any a less of a threat in the future as it has been in the past. For the most part I found the actions and emotions of the couple grieving the loss of their first child through a genetic disorder quite believable, likewise their difficulties in coming to terms with the consequences of their decision to conceive the perfect child. The story takes some surprising twists and the end is really chilling. The description of the secret facility for the genetically engineered children struck the only really far-fetched note - something more fitting to a James Bond movie.

Perfect People Alternately chilling and heartbreaking, James portrays couples who will do anything to have a child. In this book it is a genetic disease and the loss of the child due to that disease that send Jack and Naomi to a renowned geneticist that is said to perform near miracles. Anything, of course, that can be used to help people can also be taken the other way and used to enrich and pervert the very person who is supposed to be helping the situation.

People who swear they are not in it Perfect People Alternately chilling and heartbreaking, James portrays couples who will do anything to have a child. People who swear they are not in it for the money or the power, they just want to help those poor unfortunate souls that come to them. Good, suspenseful, characters that one can root for and characters that one can hate, definitely worth a read. Oct 24, Elaine Browne rated it it was amazing. This is very different from what I normally read.

It's very science fiction and I normally detest that genre of literature but this is extremely well written. The characters of John and Naomi are extremely realistic , they are flawed humans who long for intelligent children. The whole plot of designer babies brings up a fascinating subject and is dealt with fabulously in this book.

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Luke and phoebe are monsters and they contribute greatly to the ambitious story line of where science will eventually e This is very different from what I normally read. Luke and phoebe are monsters and they contribute greatly to the ambitious story line of where science will eventually end up leading the human race. My first Peter James book and I really enjoyed it.

Even though none of the characters were particularly likeable, the subject matter and plot was enough to keep me reading. It's a bit scary because eventually it could be true. Oct 01, Marie rated it it was ok Shelves: Perfect People is a thriller with a sci-fi twist that delves into the shady world of eugenics. John and Naomi Klaesson are a couple who have been left heartbroken by the death of their son by a horrible hereditary disease. Desperate to have another child, but wanting to be sure the same fate will not befall them again, they hand over their life savings and their bodies to the infamous Dr Dettore and his shady offshore genetics clinic.

He promises that he can make their dreams come true and when Perfect People is a thriller with a sci-fi twist that delves into the shady world of eugenics. He promises that he can make their dreams come true and when Naomi falls pregnant it seems like their wish for a perfect family life is about to become a reality. But has Dr Dettore got something to hide? To begin with, I didn't enjoy James' prose at all. I have never read any of his Roy Grace novels, and I gather that this represents quite a departure from his usual writing style.

On the whole it isn't that bad but some of his turns of phrase really made me cringe: I have just sat here at my laptop for 30 seconds, furiously blinking away, and can firmly state that eyelashes mine, anyway are entirely silent. What a bizarre sentence. I also found myself squirming at the one sex scene in the novel, which is really dreadful. I found Naomi and John to be generally unlikeable protagonists. They throw themselves into Dettore's clinic with almost unbelievable naivety, particularly given the fact that John is supposed to be a scientist with a background in biology.

Initially this made me feel sympathetic towards them, but as the story progressed it got on my nerves. John in particular makes a couple of terrible decisions that put me off him as a character quite early on in the book. And setting aside the difficulties they face with their children, I found their attitude as parents to be quite questionable at times.

The more I reflect on this book, the more I am starting to consider the fact that maybe the reader is supposed to see them as very flawed human beings. I'm still not sure though, and the fact that I couldn't engage with either of them certainly affected my enjoyment of the book. I believe that Peter James spent 10 long years researching and writing this novel but I have to be honest and say I don't think it really shows. It's not that he has included lots of false information or poorly-explained facts, he hasn't.

It's more that there just isn't that much science included in the book. And to borrow from the Wellcome Trust Book Prize blog: For example, in the acknowledgements at the end of my copy he thanks a certain professor for providing him with material on 'Genetic dissection of neural circuits controlling emotional behaviours', and I can't identify where in the book this type of technical information has been used.

I would much rather they gloss over the details or avoid going into too much depth. It was just a point that interested me when I read the author's acknowledgements at the end. From an ethical point of view, though, the book gave me lots to think about. The morals of genetic engineering, for both medical and aesthetic reasons, could be debated all day. It's also interesting to ponder the mindset of the Christian sects who are dead against genetic engineering of the embryo but at the same time urge the Klaessons to opt for an abortion or even plot acts of violence against them.

At the moment this is a topic that makes for exciting fiction but who knows what might be possible in the future? So even though my overall impression of Perfect People was not great and it kind of annoyed me, I am glad to have read it. Oct 19, Miles rated it it was amazing.

Perfect People

John and Naomi are grieving the death of their four-year-old son from a rare genetic disorder. They desperately want another child, but they realize the odds of their next child contracting the same disease are high. Then they hear about geneticist Dr Leo Dettore. He has methods that can spare them the heartache of ever losing another child to any disease.

At his clinic is where their nightmare begins. They should have realized something was wrong when they saw the list. Choices of eye colour, h John and Naomi are grieving the death of their four-year-old son from a rare genetic disorder. Choices of eye colour, hair, sporting abilities. They can literally design their child. Now it's too late to turn back. Naomi is pregnant and already something is badly wrong. Ten long years in the making, from research, to writing, to editing and finally publishing, Perfect People by Peter James is a book that will entertain, shock and perhaps most of all leave you wondering what if on so many levels.

Just how far will parents go to ensure the safety and health of their unborn children? What lengths will they go to secure their future and to what cost? Who will eventually pay for their decisions — the parents or the children themselves? What would you do? Are we doing the right thing? One of the dangers of writing a book such as this is getting the balance right.

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Not only does the author have to make it entertaining to read, believable and not overly complex, he has to remain impartial throughout and not thrust his opinions on the reader, they have to be allowed to make their own decisions. When Peter began researching for this book back at the beginning of the new millennium designer babies were very much a thing of a distant future — not so anymore.

I can say with a high degree of certainty Peter has managed this and so much more — Perfect People is an amazingly taut thriller that grabs you by the scruff of the neck and never lets go and I had to keep reminding myself that although based on scientific fact this was a work of fiction. Full review on my blog: View all 3 comments.

Jul 13, Jenni rated it liked it. This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.

Perfect People – Peter James

To view it, click here. Perfect People, by Peter James starts off promisingly. The protagonists are relatable, even to someone who does not want a child. They seem achingly normal, yet willing to try anything to prevent their potential offspring from dying in as horrible a way as their son. And, really, even with the controversy surrounding eugenics, one is able - at first - to understand why they go to the lengths that they do. However, James tries to fit far too many elements into the story.

It turns from a story of d Perfect People, by Peter James starts off promisingly. It turns from a story of disease eradication, to a science-fiction eugenics vision, to a thriller, to a horror story featuring creepy children - oddly a firm favourite with society , to a moralistic murder mystery, back into a thriller, and, eventually, a moral tale. James's writing itself also is slightly simplistic, as he too, like many others, relies on 'telling' rather than showing at times. Additionally, the sections in which a religious extremist begins to fixate on them are slightly clumsy and do not fit into the overall tone of the book, though it is difficult to say whether it would be better if James had simply left out the murderer's point-of-view.

The creepy children, at first, seem unrealistic. They are not fleshed out properly until the mystery of their strange behaviour is explained at the end of the novel, and I don't think James helped by trying to make the children the figure of absolute fear. This isn't to say it isn't an enjoyable read. One aspect I loved, especially as I felt more unsure about the book as it progressed, was the ending. I will be hiding the review due to spoilers, but you have been warned!

They wonder how intelligent their children would be, especially as when they were three they had the intelligence of eleven-year olds. They meet their children at the airport, and they are aged, in frail bodies. It is heavily implied that the children will be passing away soon due to their accelerated growth. It made me excited about the book again, dare I even say. I thought it was a brilliant way of displaying the consequences of the parent's actions without explicitly stating "they doomed their children", or "they were selfish". It encourages debate, and humanises the parents once more.

It is worth a read, however, if only for the ending. That, and at the moment it's 20p for the kindle version. Jul 29, Bookworm rated it really liked it. One of the most thought-proving thrillers I've read. My first thought was that this book should be made into a movie. I can sympathise with John and Naomi. It's nothing wrong wanting to free their next child of genetic disease.

I felt sorry for them because they put everything on the line and in the end, they didn't get the happy ever after they had hoped to have. The first few chapters were slow One of the most thought-proving thrillers I've read. The first few chapters were slow for me. Chapters were too short for my liking as I had the sense of being interrupted throughout the book, the same feeling you have when movie scenes change too quickly before you get to digest it all in. I love the suspense throughout this book, and Peter James makes scientific jargon easy to understand for readers.

I was amazed to learn that this book took 10 years of planning and research. As a Christian, or whatever religion you are actually, murder is a sin. You don't help God to 'eradicate the Devil's spawns', that isn't up to us to judge and manage the situation. God would certainly never feel proud of you too if you shed blood, no matter innocent or not unless it's an accident or a manslaughter. I hope non-Christian readers out there don't misinterpret the meaning behind those Bible verses!

But great job in writing up the character of Timon. I don't know whether to be happy he was put to sleep by his own love or to feel sorry he had ended his life without getting a chance to see his son and Lara. Luke and Phoebe are creepy Utterly gross yet fascinating for me as a reader. I wished that the author would explain more on what Dr Dettore meant by designing babies for the future, and what he planned to do with these young prodigies.

Nurture them to become what? The ending was anti-climax. I can't believe L and P returned eventually Weren't they suppose to be healthy and live forever looking young since they were genetically engineered? How are they suppose to be the future if they can't live long lives? Some questions unanswered, but altogether a fantastic story! Thank you Peter James for your bravery in writing this book.

Will most definitely pass this on to others.