Published by Dutton on April 18, 2017

Daniel Saurez envisions an anti-science American future in which stupidity has overtaken reason. Sadly, that doesn’t take a great deal of imagination, since the future is now.

Most people in Saurez’ near future don’t believe in evolution, advances in synthetic biology are blocked because “every cluster of human cells” is viewed as a baby, and opinions spread on social media carry more weight than peer-reviewed research. As a result, real science moves offshore and the American economy crumbles in competition with economies in places like Singapore that take science seriously.

Kenneth Durand is in Singapore, gathering intelligence for the Genetic Crime Division, which tries to shut down labs that provide illegal genetic enhancements that allow parents to breed superior babies. But the trendy thriller crime at the moment is human trafficking, so Change Agent posits that human trafficking gangs are harvesting genetic material from the refugees they traffic and selling the data to a genediting cartel that, in turn, operates a cloud computing service that embryo mills rely upon for genetic modeling. The cartel is building a global genetic database, which it seems to me they could more easily do by acquiring saliva from a large number of people, but as I said, trafficking is trendy, so there you have it. But since gathering spit from trafficking victims doesn’t seem like anything to get excited about, Saurez throws in “illicit baby labs” to provoke the reader’s outrage.

The story becomes more interesting when Durand is administered a “change agent” that changes him (in terms of appearance and DNA) into a wanted criminal. Durand spends most of remainder of this action novel trying to get changed back. He travels around Asia, bypassing immigration authorities, in a series of adventures that will lead him to the criminal whose shape he has taken.

There are some cool ideas in Change Agent. Crowd-sourced policing, the intersection of molecular printing and designer drug abuse, new ways of exploiting refugees, cities in international waters made from the hulks of decommissioned ships, engineered famines that force tribal people to accept corporate land development, the need for legal protection of one’s own genetic data (to prevent hundreds of Scarlett Johanssons, for instance, from competing with the original), ownership of gene sequences as a form of slavery, the legal complexity of prosecuting someone for a crime who is no longer (genetically speaking) the person who committed the crime, and the nature of a post-identity world are among the interesting concepts in Saurez’ imagined future.

The story also illustrates some of the ethical issues involved with in vitro genetic manipulation. Children of the rich, already advantaged by wealth, are the most likely to be advantaged by genetic enhancements, leaving the poor even farther behind. But it’s just as easy to create docile children with a low IQ who contentedly perform manual labor and don’t demand higher wages. Or soldiers with enhanced fighting skills but without compassion or empathy.

The story is stronger in background and ideas than in plot (which is a fairly typical action story) and characterization (which is about average for genre fiction). The book could probably benefit from a 100-page trim, but for its vision of the future and a couple of entertaining action scenes in Asian jungles, Change Agent is worth reading.

RECOMMENDED

It’s the year 2045. Genetic editing has been perfected.

Kenneth Durand works in Interpol’s genetic crime division where he and his team hunt down black market labs who perform illegal edits on human embryos. But Durand has been targeted by one of the cartels. They attacked him and injected him with a “change agent”, a new technology that replaced his DNA causing his physical appearance to be altered. When he wakes up in the hospital, he finds he now appears to be one of the criminal he was pursing. As this technology is not known to exist, no one would believe him.

Durand escapes but now finds himself to be a fugitive. He must find out how to restore his DNA before the police and his former team catch up with him.

What did I think . . .
This is an exciting, engaging techno-thriller. Part scifi and part police procedural, this is a well-written novel set in a possible future.

There is a bit of necessary science and world building in the first few chapters. In 2045, the US is no longer a technological leader; Singapore took over sometime between ratification of the UN Treaty on Genetic Modification and the second wave of moon landings. By the dawn of the Gene Revolution, the technological crown had shifted from America. But the reader doesn’t need to understand DNA sequencing or have a science background to enjoy the story. Non-science types should not be discouraged from trying this novel — it quickly turns into a fast-paced thriller.

I loved this book, but this is my kind of novel. It’s in the same vein as early Crichton thrillers; maybe even a little faster paced. If you like science-based thrillers, be sure to read this one.

Review posted @ Reading Lark:

The year is 2045 and genetic editing of embryos is permitted, but only for a specific list of congenital disorders. All other genetic modifications are considered illegal, and people buying or selling those services are prosecuted. Kenneth Durand, a member of Interpol’s Genetic Crime Division, analyzes huge amounts of data to discover anomalous trends that signify the presence of illicit gene editing labs. When his information leads to the destruction of a Huli Jing laboratory, Durand becomes the target of the largest and most dangerous gene editing cartel. In an attempt to both kill Durand and fake the death of the Huli Jing’s leader, Marcus Wyckes, a Huli Jing operative injects Durand with a genetic editing compound. Nearly five weeks later, Durand wakes up in a hospital bed looking like and having the DNA of the Wyckes who is now suspected of Durand’s death.

Despite a somewhat slow and preachy start, Change Agent was an engaging techno-thriller. Suarez has created an intriguing future of cars made of chitin, “deathless” meat from cellular agriculture, and keratin-silica hybrid knives all grown by specialty algae, bacteria, and yeasts. Change Agent surprised me with how differently a society could produce what it needed and how little human nature changes despite technological advances. Once Durand is on the run to clear his name and bring down the Huli Jing, the futuristic setting becomes integral to the story.

Of course, my favorite things about Change Agent, and any science fiction for that matter, are the Big Ideas the author explores. Some of the great themes in this book are: Does your DNA determine who you are? If it doesn’t, what is the basis of individual identity? How much of who we are depends on others’ perceptions of us? Despite some problems with the science in the book, this book would be a great discussion starter for any science fiction or thriller book club.

My two gripes about the book are the scientific leaps of faith the reader is asked to accept and the cookie cutter characters. Regarding DNA edits to grown humans, I was willing to suspend my disbelief that such a tremendous thing (changing roughly 37 trillion cells without killing them) was possible. What annoyed me is that someone would take on the exact appearance, muscle mass, etc. of the person who supplied the DNA. Part of how we look and how strong we are also depends on how we have lived. Do we eat well? Do we exercise? Is that aerobic exercise or strength training? Are we smokers or heavy drinkers, etc.? Suarez makes a point of Durand being a lithe runner-type, in contrast to Wyckes being thickly muscled. So where did that extra mass and muscle development come from?

Regarding the characters, Kenneth Durand, is a stereotypical “white hat” protagonist: a by-the-book cop who just wants to get his life and his family back. I don’t know that Durand is technically a “Mary Sue” (or Gary Stu, if you like), but he’s so good that it was difficult to see him as a person at times. The same goes for the main villain of the story, Marcus Wyckes. He was so unabashedly evil that it hardly made sense – even bad guys have soft spots for something! My favorite character ended up being Bryan Frey, a smart-mouthed back-alley gene hacker with dwarfism who comes into the story about a third of the way through. I loved every scene with him!

To the extent you are willing to suspend disbelief and root for a one-dimensional good guy, Change Agent is a fun summer read.

Change Agent by Daniel Suarez
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have no problems raving about this book!

It has everything I'd ever want in a rip-roaring Hard-SF Thriller: a huge amount of genetic modifications and therapies gone wild and under the power of gangsters and the law, alike.

Ah! But this isn't just another cat and mouse hunt for wrongdoers. This is Daniel Suarez.

That means a lot of great tech and implications of tech and what's even greater? Great locations to get lost in, from Singapore to Thailand to Burmese jungles and even more.

Biotech has taken off in a really big way. Between automatic cabs made of shrimp shells to a flock of young Scarlett Johansens, Suarez keeps us on our toes and if you're not reading carefully, you'll miss a ton of these brilliant additions scattered throughout the ostensibly Thriller-esque text.

Who are you to completely edit my genetic code into a super-baddie? lol I want my desk job BACK! :)

Honestly, this is a fantastic hard-sf novel, people. It's perfectly engineered to feel like a police procedural turned nearly revenge-esque with a burly man with chameleon tattoos and a dwarf, both traveling through high-tech and squalor through countries much changed from our current ones, feeling a lot like Babylon Babies and The Minority Report the entire time.

Virtual realities that are beamed right into logical light structures for programming? Hell yeah. Laws and implications for such? Hell yeah. That's on top of the main genetic plot.

This is a rich idea novel as well as a fun-as-hell adventure. :)

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC!

In the year 2045, Kenneth Durand, an Interpol agent who leads a team against genetic crime, feels the sting of a needle and his transformation begins. Durand finds himself identified by a cartel in charge of some of the most exclusive black market genetic labs and wakes up in the hospital, completely transformed as Interpol’s most wanted suspect. Now a fugitive, Durand must go deep into the underground world and evade police capture to try and retain his own DNA.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect when I started Change Agent by Daniel Suarez.

I loved the general concept; black market labs that perform “vanity edits” on human embryos for millions of dollars? I was intrigued immediately. From the first pages, I was hooked. I was completely sucked into this futuristic world and was completely horrified when Durand found his DNA stolen. Human trafficking, human experimentation, cartels and high stakes business, made this one especially complex. In fact, initially, this sci-fi thriller reminded me a little bit of Dark Matter, which was one of my favourite releases of last year

Unfortunately, I struggled a bit with the execution. As mentioned, I loved the beginning of the novel. I would say this one had me until about the 60% point where I found things got jumbled, the pace slowed and then I felt confused. The language became more technical and I found myself not being able to connect fully with the story.

I feel like anyone who likes a military thriller will enjoy this one; it does feel like a military thriller with a twist. I also feel like anyone who enjoys a futuristic or sci-fi novel will love what Suarez presents.

Overall, I felt it was a solid read and gave this one a 3.5/5 stars.

It's 2045 and Interpol's Kevin Durand is shutting down bioengineering hot beds that are changing the DNA of embryos in order to make "children to order". While some are doing this for the pure sense of not having their child be born with an illness or deformity (as he's guilty of with his own child), others are manufacturing kids in a more immoral way and he's out to stop as many as possible. Because he's good at his job, one of the most notorious international criminals, Marcus Wyckers, is out for his head. But why take his head when he can use Durand's entire body? An unfortunate prick in a crowded area sends him into a coma for weeks and when Durand wakes up, he doesn't understand why he's handcuffed. Asking for a mirror, his reflection shows Wyckers, as does his DNA. How did this happen and how far will he go to get back to his family and try and change his DNA back to his own?

What the ever living hell. This was somewhat plausible and somewhat crazy! Personally, I had the best time reading about how gene manipulation could work... and how it could also be abused. I was utterly fascinated with Durand's journey. And genetic tattooing... GIMME. Reminiscent of Face Off (the movie, not the reality show) with a Total Recall futuristic feeling, I found this novel entertaining. Some may get a little turned off with all the scientific jargon, which can make certain parts feel a little drawn out. I can see this absolutely being made into a movie adaptation. I think it should - I'd buy it.

Love your sci-fi with some gene splicing and dicing? Take a chance on this read and be careful in crowded areas.

Genetic Engineering and Human Trafficking Converge in this Thriller

In 2045, it’s possible to do discrete gene edits to change characteristic you don’t like. Gene manipulation is possible for not only embryos, but also adults. Kenneth Durand works for an Interpol unit concerned about the abuses of gene manipulation particularly when experimentation is being done of human trafficking victims.

Ken has discovered that an international crime figure, Marcus Demang Wyckers, leader of th Huli Jing, is behind much of the illegal vanity editing. Durand is on his trail when he is stabbed with a hypodermic needle on a crowded platform and awakes to find that he has been transformed into Wyckers.

The rest of the novel is Durand’s determination to bring Wyckers to justice, but is hampered by being a copy of the man himself.

For me, the book has both positives and negatives. I enjoyed the scientific descriptions of gene editing. The science is well researched and very interesting. The plot is quite thrilling, but unless you enjoy chase scenes, it is rather mundane.

The characters are disappointing. As in most novels that are primarily chase scenes, the characters are secondary to the plot. In this case, while Ken is an attractive character, there is little character growth and, the other characters are stereotypes.

If you enjoy science fiction with well researched science, you’ll enjoy this book, but if you’re put off by chase scene novels, give this a miss.

I received this book from Penguin for this review.

The Change Agent by Daniel Suarez was an intriguing read. I love futuristic thrillers and seeing the advancements that the authors come up with! This one is set in the not-so-distant future in 2045, and genetic crime is a big problem. Performing "vanity edits" on human embryos on the black market so that they can rapidly accelerate human evolution? Then using victims of human-trafficking to experiment on? Holy crap, sounds interesting.

Kenneth Durand leads Interpol’s most effective team against genetic crime, and with the two worlds of genetic crime and human trafficking beginning to converge, he has is work cut out for him to try and shut it down. In their investigation, they discover the man in charge of it all, Marcus Demang Wyckes, who is also the head of a powerful and sophisticated cartel, the Huli jing. Little does Durand know, the cartel has also figured out who is he, and immediately has a target on his back. Waking up from a coma, weeks after he was forcibly given a radical new change agent, he discovers that he isn't himself - he's been changed into his most wanted suspect: Wyckes.

Things start to get crazy as he tries to outrun former colleagues in the genetic underworld. Durand is now on a new mission: to find the change agent so he can restore his original DNA. This book got very creative and interesting in the fact that you slowly realize, Wyckes and the Huli jing, have manipulated the genetic technology to be able to completely change identities. How is Durand supposed to hunt down his target when they could be literally anyone?

Overall, I loved this concept. It's unique and original. Genetic modification was something we previously read about in a past #CJSReads selection, and that came off as weird and messy almost. This was gritty and these kinds of modifications weren't legal.

This book can cross into an array of different kinds of thrillers. Sci-fi, technology thrillers, and futuristic (you could probably argue it's a cat and mouse type thriller). I give it a solid 4/5 stars!

A big thanks to Dutton for an advanced copy of the book in exchange for my honest review!

This is a book that would make an interesting Tom Cruise movie done by a Hong Kong movie director with a large budget. There's a lot of technobable in this book that may not interest people. The main character is "white guy living in Asia gets his life stolen". I didn't care about him because he was so generic. The rest of the story didn't do much for me. There were some interesting ideas in it like advertising that never goes away and killer plants. The problem was that after a drug smuggling mechanical shark the rest of the story didn't do anything amazing.

Sci-fi thriller fans, listen up! This new novel is like Michael Crichton meets MINORITY REPORT with a dash of genetic engineering.

In the stupor of science suppression in the US, Silicon Valley has given way to a new innovation center in Singapore where bioengineering reigns. Our hero, Interpol agent Kenneth Durand, works to regulate crime organizations exploiting the strong temptation of epigenetics. Durand is soon on the run from his own policing agency, in a thrill ride spanning southeast Asia that also illuminates climate change, refugee crises, human trafficking, drones, and more... Including some very real-life genome editing technology today known as CRISPR.

Suarez delivers an action-packed story within an amazingly imagined future. Put this standalone on your sci-fi list to read before the inevitable movie adaptation. But first, CHANGE AGENT is due out April 18th.

This near future science fiction story talks about a future world that has changed immensely because of developments in biology and genetic engineering. In this world genes can be edited to create the baby you want. Kenneth Durand works with Interpol to shut down illegal labs that are custom-designing babies. He has been too successful. He has drawn the attention of the cartel who controls this illegal genetic engineering.

Ken is injected with a "change agent" which rewrites his DNA and makes him genetically and physically the identical double of Marcus Demang Wyckes, the head of the Huli jing who is wanted all over the world for his many crimes. Ken survives the transition which wasn't what the Huli jing actually wanted. Only, now he needs to convince his colleagues in Interpol that he is not Wyckes. Since the technique used on him was supposed to be impossible, this isn't easy. He is also on the run from Wyckes' right hand man who wants him dead to get the heat off the real Wyckes.

Meanwhile, Ken wants to stop Wyckes and his society-changing plans and get his own body and DNA back. He wants to get back to his beloved wife and daughter and will do what is necessary to make it happen.

The story takes place in Southeast Asia which has become the center of the new science and society. On his journey to find Wyckes, Ken finds colleagues and assistance from a variety of sources including rebel ethnic groups who are fighting corrupt governments and scientists who might just be on the shady side.

The story was fast paced but a little to scientifically detailed for this non-scientist reader. I have no idea how much of the science is possible but I found it all disturbingly plausible. Fans of hard science fiction will enjoy this story.

In 2045 the world has shifted to an economy based on synthetic biology rather than electronics, and the United States is now a third world backwater because of its stubborn clinging to its past and refusal to recognize and adapt to a changing reality.

Yep, that math checks out.

Genetic modifications are all the rage, but while it’s OK to prevent a disease in an embryo it’s illegal to tinker with the DNA to turn your kid into a hybrid of Stephen Hawking and Tom Brady. Kenneth Durand is a researcher for Interpol in Singapore who tracks down illegal labs. Durand and his group receive intelligence that a powerful crime syndicate run by a man named Marcus Wyckes is the main player for all genetic crime, but before Durand can act on the information he is injected with something while in a crowd. He wakes up from a coma weeks later, but now he has an entirely different face and body, and even his DNA has been altered to change him into a Marcus Wyckes doppelganger. Durand manages to escape, but now he’s the most wanted man in the world. If that’s not bad enough he also has the crime syndicate after him including a terrifying hit man who can kill with a touch.

My first thought on hearing the premise for this is that it sounded like the Nicolas Cage movie Face-Off, and there’s certainly a little of that film’s DNA present here. (See what I did there?) However, Daniel Suarez is a writer capable of looking at the current state of technology and coming up with concepts for what happens next that seem all too plausible. He thinks big, and here he’s done an impressive job of building a world that certainly seems like it could be where we’re heading. While Suarez is a champion of science and technology he also sees some of the often horrifying implications of how unregulated processes and unrestrained greed could turn new developments against humanity.

While he’s created a detailed and intriguing society for Durand to be hunted through the downside is that main story really isn’t much more than your average thriller plot about an innocent man on the run. There’s even the standard issue wife and child in order to provide Durand with extra motivation and make him seem more sympathetic. I lost track of the number of times that Durand broods about trying to get back to his wife and baby girl. (And if you want another Nic Cage reference pretend that you can hear me doing my best imitation of him in Con Air saying, “My baby girl.”)

Like Suarez’s other work the characters are one-note stereotypes for the most part, and he can be can be repetitive as well as downright comic booky. During one critical confrontation Durand says some variation on “You’ll never get away with this!” at least three times. I was more interested in this world where furniture, car frames, and knife blades are grown than I was in the fate of Durand who was just another bland lead character to me.

Still, a Suarez thriller always gives me new ideas to think about as well as several terrible things to keep me up nights, and that’s why I continue to look forward to reading whatever he comes up with.