Baby X by Kira Peikoff
Imagine a world in which any biological matter — an eyelash, a cheek cell swab, a hair follicle — can be used to create life. And even worse, it could happen without the permission, or knowledge, of the “donor.”
That’s the concept at the heart of Kira Peikoff’s chilling new speculative thriller, Baby X. The concept may seem far-fetched, but Peikoff, who works in the biotech communications industry, says this technology is already being tested in real life on rats.
While there may be some benefits to this IVG-in vitro gametogenesis — screening for genetic markers, for instance — the ability to create your “designer baby” comes with potentially deadly downsides.
The Price of Good DNA
In Baby X, set 25 years in the future, a black-market site called “The Vault” is notorious for stealing famous people’s DNA and selling it to the highest bidder, leaving the possibility wide open for celebrities to meet biological children they never conceived. Singer Trace Thorne is tired of paying ransom for his own cell matter, and hires bio-security guard Ember Ryan to ensure his “cells” are secure.
Ryan is up for the task. She’s well-versed in all of the Vault’s tricks and has thwarted numerous attempted DNA thefts. But things become complicated and fuzzy when she starts falling for her client. She’s almost positive she hasn’t let anything slip — no unused straws, discarded tissues, nothing that could substantiate a pregnant woman’s claim that Thorne is the biological father of her baby.
Or — is it possible she somehow messed up?
Eerily Cautionary Tale
Meanwhile, a reporter (and traditionally conceived child) named Lily is trying to make a name for herself by exposing the bias of “selection clinics.” Her motive is unclear… right up until the end of the book when the two storylines combine.
Told in alternating points of view — Thorne, Ember and Lily — Peikoff deftly ratchets up the suspense without bogging the reader down in techno jargon, culminating in a shocking twist that will leave you gasping.
Captivating from the first page, Baby X weaves an eerily prescient cautionary tale about the ethical and moral responsibility in regard to genetic engineering and DNA and the use of technology. By the end, you’ll be second-guessing the best way to dispose of that used tissue.
About Kira Peikoff:
Kira Peikoff is the author of Mother Knows Best, Living Proof, No Time to Die and Die Again Tomorrow. She has a degree in journalism from New York University and a master’s in bioethics from Columbia. Her reported articles have appeared in The New York Times, Newsweek, Popular Mechanics, and other outlets. She now works in biotech communications helping spread the word about transformative developments in the life sciences. Peikoff is a proud member of The Authors Guild, International Thriller Writers, and Mystery Writers of America. She lives in New Jersey with her husband and two sons.
