Children of the End

A series of gruesome murders brings together Tony Garwood, an ex-San Diego police officer, and Deborah Kosarek, a technical writer, at a center for biomedical research as they discover a warped plot to alter the results of an experiment in genetic engineering. 10,000 first printing.

The plot of this B-grade shocker--Clements's second novel, after 6:02 --might easily have come from some low-budget '50s sci-fi movie. In a gory and unlikely scheme to save the world, Dr. George Pendergast genetically engineers a superpowerful, shape-changing race of carnivorous "Loners" to hunt humans and so reduce the world's population to a more sustainable level. When Deborah Kosarek, a curious employee of Pendergast's company, and helpful security guard Tony Garwood poke their noses too far into Pendergast's business, he sends his psychopathic assistant to eliminate them. Meanwhile, the Loners have acquired a Bible and developed a patchwork religion that defines their destiny: to kill all humans and take over the world. The novel's absurd premises--e.g., that Pendergast decoded the entire human genome in five years with a computer based on brain-like neurochips--are no better than its plot. With predictable characters, action advanced by coincidence and the not very frightening Loners--who speak in an unreadable patois of Bible bits and TV phrases ("So the ArrrrrrrK of the Fatherrrrrrr. Accept no imitationsssss")--Clements's novel fails as surely as Pendergast's world-saving plans.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Comic-strip horror novel padded with science fantasy and no sex trimmings. Clements's debut, the paperback 6:02, was a 1988 nominee for the Bram Stoker Award. A brilliant idea runs aground as genetically engineered Alien- like humanoids run amok with religion. Joint Nobel-winners Dr. George Irving Prendergast, a biologist, neurologist, and microsurgeon, and Dr. Charles Carlton, a molecular biologist and early computer expert, whose shared prize for recombinant DNA allows them to found BioEdge, one of the world's most successful biotech companies, come up with a secret new computer chip--the biochip, made from human DNA, with which they create vaguely human monsters called Loners. Carlton apparently commits suicide, but Prendergast, a religious nut, feeds the world's religions into Vulcan, the original Loner, who becomes the Christ of the monsters. Prendergast plans to release the bloodgurglers, which have huge grinding jaws much like the Alien's of film fame, to rid the world of two thirds of its population and bring mankind back to Arcadia when the population levels settle between man and monster. But the Loners, who are force-fed TV commercials and sitcoms, mean to establish their own rule. Amusingly, the blood-soaked, bone- crushing monsters, who can change from their normal bird-legged hopping shape to human form, forever gabble away in Christian fundamentalism and cry jovially ``Ah wan mah Em Tee Vee!'' and ``And out of his mouth came a sharrrrp two-edged sssworrrrd. Neverrrr needs sharrrrpening.'' When Deborah Kosarek, a biomedical tech writer for Prendergast, finds herself laboriously rewriting a program that has crashed, and inadvertently enters the computer for the monsters, she and her baby fall into hot water with the baby- gobbling loners and must be protected by security officer Tony Garwood, who, by novel's end, is walking hamburger. Slurrrp!--or your money back. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

The author's debut, Bram Stoker Award-nominated 6:02 (Warner Bks., 1988), clearly demonstrated that Clements knew how to tell a story. His second is big on the slice 'em/dice 'em action typical of modern horror: the pacing is breathtaking, the imagery not for the squeamish. The fancy footwork, however, can't conceal the fact that the material is awfully familiar. Mad scientist George Pendergast and his evil minion create a race of shape-shifting carnivores to prey on humanity. Technical writer Deborah Korsarek learns of this warped population-control project and enlists the aid of former cop and All-American hero Tony Garwood. From there, the plot follows an entirely predictable course involving love, a woman in danger, and a final battle with the monsters. The lack of any convincing motivation for Pendergast, who comes across as a neoconservative caricature of an environmentalist, consigns this to the fluff category. Worth a look for horror fans, but not an essential purchase.
- Randall L. Schroeder, Augustana Coll. Lib., Rock Island, Ill.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.