Kwan Wilson was a high school basketball star living in San Diego when a tragic accident changed his life in ways no one could predict. He only looked at his phone for a few seconds, but that was all the time it took to crash his car into a telephone pole, the impact killing his mother while severing his spinal cord and paralyzing him from the waist down.
After the accident his father, Admiral Douglas Wilson, sends him away to live with his maternal grandmother in South Florida. Kwan’s new principal, anticipating his depression and isolation, tells him about an internship working at a genetics lab in Miami that’s testing shark stem cells on rats in an effort to cure cancer and repair spinal injuries. Kwan declines—until he learns the beautiful Anya Patel is an intern at the lab. The good news is that the stem cells are curing their rat subjects; the bad news is it alters their DNA so much it kills them. When a promising breakthrough is made, Kwan risks his life and injects himself with the experimental stem cells—altering his destiny and the lives of millions in the process.
Industry Reviews
As the result of a car accident caused by texting while driving, Kwan Wilson is a wheelchair-bound paraplegic. His mother died during the crash and his overbearing father cannot forgive Kwan and sends him to live with his grandmother. The teen feels trapped, physically and mentally. He agrees to volunteer at an aquatic stem cell research center once he sees that he will be able to spend time with a lovely assistant. Kwan's guilt and frustration help him to justify his willingness to risk his life by injecting himself with shark stem cells and Human Growth Hormone (HGH). Kwan's crippled body not only heals, but continues to evolve into a body builder's physique with hyper senses, allowing him to once again be a basketball superstar. His adaptations spiral out of control and he develops the physical characteristics and predatory instincts of a bull shark. Kwan's father uses Kwan's amazing metamorphosis to assist with a covert military operation. The conclusion-like the rest of the novel-is a fun ride. . . . Kwan is a likable protagonist-his insecurities, wants, and emotions (expressed in first-person narration) are typical of most teens. The novel is packed with scientific information on topics such as Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), diving, and shark physiology, making it a great addition for collections promoting STEM fields. * School Library Journal *
Praise for Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror
An adrenaline-pumping thriller. * New York Post *
Jaws meets Jurassic Park. . . . Alten's well-groomed story rockets like a . . . filmscript from event to event. . . . An utterly amazing climax . . . hellishly riveting. * Kirkus *
Praise for The Loch
With The Loch, Steve Alten combines meticulous research with riveting storytelling to craft a new genre-the historical science fiction thriller. * Washington Daily News *
Sometimes it's the books with the weirdest premises that turn out to be the best ones. This one certainly is. Steve Alten serves up another of his fast-paced thrill rides that is so good, it makes it impossible to do anything else. . . . It's a magnificent feeling to find a book that you hate to put down. Then again, Steve's writing has always done that for me. . . . The science is uber-complex but Steve makes it understandable and fun on a layman's level. . . . Don't pass this book up because it's 'something that you would not normally read'. If you do then you are missing out on an author who has that 'grab the reader' gift that so many claim, yet few actually possess. * RibiconReader *
The Loch is a compelling page-turner. I couldn't put it down. Steve Alten has proven to be a literary master of the abyss. -- Owl Goingback, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Crota
A fast-paced thriller . . . Alten gives a scientific twist to an old, enduring myth. . . . Michael Crichton meets Dan Brown beneath the waves of Loch Ness. -- Dennis Palumbo, author of Writing from the Inside Out
Praise for Domain
A chilling, deeply researched peek into our ancient past. Jarring, frightening, thrilling . . . What more could you ask? -- James Rollins, New York Times bestselling author of Subterranean and Excavation, #1 New York Times bestselling author of THE DEMON CROWN
With the storytelling sensibilities of Crichton and Cussler, Alten sure knows how to write a thriller. -- Kevin J. Anderson, New York Times bestselling author
The . . . plot . . . point[s] to this being a solid YA thriller and it might greatly appeal to YA readers interested in a different kind of superhero. * She Treds Softly *
