The Silk Code

Combining Neanderthals and mechanical looms, cantaloupes and coded butterflies, Levinson's debut novel (he's also the current president of the Science Fiction Writers of America) offers a flurry of amazing prehistoric technologies, demonstrating that the mysteries of our past can be just as fruitful as those of our future. A series of strange deaths draws forensic detective Phil D'Amato (returning from Levinson's shorter fiction) ever deeper into an ancient and ongoing biological war. D'Amato's vacation in Lancaster, Pa., quickly gets serious when an Amish man is murdered, then D'Amato's good friend Mo turns up dead. Before he dies, Mo tells of his investigation into the local Amish, of their homes lit by specially bred fireflies and their possible control of deadly allergic reactions. The rest of the novel's first part works like an expanded short story as D'Amato gradually learns to take the Amish biotechnology seriously. But after a harrowing rescue from incendiary fireflies, the main plot pauses, and its second part jumps back to eighth-century central Asia. This self-contained story follows young Gwellyn on his search to discover the secret of the Neanderthals, who may yet be alive. Blending exotic travel through the Byzantine and Islamic empires with Gwellyn's growing realization that the Neanderthals are far stranger than humanity ever imagined, this is the novel's standout section. The book returns to the likable D'Amato for its remainder, as he pursues a bewildering array of murders, deceptions and ancient bioweaponsAall connected, somehow, in the recurrence of silk. Before its dramatic conclusion, Levinson's ambitious plot occasionally leaves his narratorAand his readerAat sea in loose ends and expository dialogue, but abundant, clever speculations, which creatively explain gaps in both ancient history and biology, compensate handsomely, providing more wonders than many a futuristic epic. (Oct.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Science-fiction mystery incorporating one of Levinson's popular stories (first published in Analog) about Manhattan forensic detective Phil D'Amato. Narrator Phil investigates several unusual deathscaused by severe allergic reactions?in Pennsylvania's Amish country. He learns that the Amish have developed a number of advanced biological tools, such as lamps powered by fireflies, through selective breeding, and have a defense, derived from silk, against the allergic reaction. He develops a theory that the murderers belong to a concealed biological-whiz power group. Elsewhere, in a.d. 750, young trader Gwellyn becomes obsessed by a secretive beetle-browed people who play stone-bone flutes. Crucially, he leaves a document detailing his discoveries. Back in present-day New York, Phil investigates the case of a man who died the day before but whose mummified corpse appears to be that of a 30,000-year-old Neanderthal. At this point things get confusedLevinson inserts bits of omniscient narrative whenever he feels the needbut the upshot is that the gentle, highly intelligent Neanderthals have survived into the present by developing devastating biological weapons. Well-informed and imaginative, with an engaging protagonist, but poorly structured and desperately hard to follow. Levinson's debut is not an entirely successful graduation from stories to novel, but future appearances will be eagerly anticipated. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Levinson, the current president of the Science Fiction Writers of America, fields his short-story series character, New York forensic detective Phil D'Amato, in a cerebral but gripping novel. D'Amato's specialty is investigating unusual methods of homicide, such as various bioagents. Suddenly, one of his friends dies from such a cause. Discovering similarities between his friend's death and several other mysterious demises, D'Amato has to probe deeper and more dangerously into illegal genetic research, such as cloning from the tissues of mummies, and other innovative forms of criminal science. As one might deduce from the title, D'Amato's forensic foray ultimately takes him back in time to ancient China and beyond. He must eventually cope with a threat his prey poses to the continued existence of the human race. Levinson handles myth, history, science, and police procedures with equal skill, earning high marks for intelligence and originality in the process. Roland Green

The sudden death of a friend from an apparent allergic reaction leads forensic detective Phil Levinson to suspect murder and exposes him to a bizarre conspiracy with its roots in the distant past and its repercussions in the modern world. Blending together a story of the violent extermination of a species of "singers" in the eighth century A.D. with a tale of 20th-century intrigue and suspense, this first novel by the current president of the Science Fiction Writers of America spins an ingenious web of genetic manipulation and anthropological evidence. A good selection for most sf collections.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.