A longed-for baby
An unthinkable decision
A deadly mistake
An unthinkable decision
A deadly mistake
In an all-too-possible near future, when genetic engineering has become the norm for humans, not just crops, parents are prepared to take incalculable risks to ensure that their babies are perfect … altering genes that may cause illness, and more…
Susan has been trying for a baby for years, and when an impulsive one-night stand makes her dream come true, she’ll do anything to keep her daughter and ensure her husband doesn’t find out … including the unthinkable. She believes her secret is safe. For now.
But as governments embark on a perilous genetic arms race and children around the globe start experiencing a host of distressing symptoms – even taking their own lives – something truly horrendous is unleashed. Because those children have only one thing in common, and people are starting to ask questions…
Bestselling author of The Waiting Rooms, Eve Smith returns with an authentic, startlingly thought-provoking, disturbing blockbuster of a thriller that provides a chilling glimpse of a future that’s just one modification away…
I'm delighted to be hosting the blog tour for Off Target today. Many thanks to Eve Smith, Orenda Books and Anne Cater from Random Things Tours for inviting me and for my copy of the book.
Fiction is written about all sorts of horrors but Eve Smith explores perhaps the most terrifying concepts of all in her books. These speculative fiction thrillers aren't about brutal murders by serial killers or bloody revenge plots; they're a chilling look at what advances we may initially welcome in the future – until we realise the consequences...
Her excellent debut, The Waiting Rooms was concerned with what happened to people nearing the end of their lives but she goes right back to the start in Off Target with a plot that questions the moral and health implications of genetically modifying embryos or even babies in-utero. The term 'designer babies' has been widely used for some time and the ability to select or alter embryos in order to prevent devastating conditions such as Huntington's Disease seems to be an important and welcome advancement. However, as this near-future thriller reveals, the natural inclination of parents to want the best for their children, in conjunction with scientists who are willing to push the boundaries in the name of research could potentially produce catastrophic results.
After a dramatic prologue, readers are taken back a few years to discover that Susan is desperate for a baby but like many other couples, she and her husband have been diagnosed with unexplained infertility. As a teacher, she spends her days surrounded by children and the soul-destroying anguish of being constantly aware of her cycle and the crushing disappointment each month her pregnancy test is negative again is described with empathetic honesty. When she conceives through a one-night stand, she faces a heartbreaking dilemma, until her friend, Carmel presents her with an extraordinary solution. It's to Eve Smith's credit that despite the mistakes Susan makes during the course of the novel, she is always a sympathetic character. This proves to be vital as the storyline progresses because the emotional impact of her choices would have been lessened significantly if I'd merely regarded her as a selfish cheat.
The second part of the book is set about eleven years later when the first children to have undergone alterations to their genes – whether to prevent various conditions or to enhance their abilities – begin to display worrying signs that something is terribly wrong, and I was reminded of the Dr Malcolm quote in Jurassic Park, "Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn't stop to think if they should." Susan has kept her secrets for years but although her daughter, Zurel appears to be healthy, it quickly becomes apparent that she is not a happy child. As the mother of a daughter with low-profile (mild) selective mutism, I really appreciated the very obvious care that went into portraying the condition accurately and although Zurel's circumstances are different, I was touched by some of the scenes involving her and her SEND teacher, Mr Thomson.
The earlier part of the novel is written from Susan's perspective but these later chapters are divided between her and Zurel and are a poignantly emotional look at their breakdown in communication amidst lies, fear and guilt. It's never clear just what the outcome will be and the book becomes increasingly tense, as we know from the prologue that there will be some sort of terrible reckoning. Eve Smith kept me guessing almost to the end as to what would eventually happen to these flawed but very real characters. There are some people whose actions are indefensible in Off Target but the main characters are far more nuanced and I was able to empathise with them all.
As with the anti-abortion movement, there are those who take their beliefs to the extreme . However, there is balance here too, and just as there has been justifiable criticism over the way in which parents who opted for screening and discovered their baby had Down's Syndrome were pushed towards termination, so the very real concerns regarding genetically-modified babies are reflected fairly too. This sensitive, perceptive and obviously well-researched novel understands that this subject involves numerous, important ethical and medical considerations on both sides of the debate.
That's perhaps what makes Off Target such a gripping, thought-provoking thriller; it's not a far-fetched dystopia that's portrayed here, it's a moving, objective exploration of what our innate desire to protect our children may soon lead to. Complex, frightening and almost certainly eerily prescient, I thoroughly recommend it.
Off Target is published by Orenda Books, it is available now in ebook and will be published in paperback on 17th February 2022. Purchase directly from the publisher's website or from bookshop.org, Hive, Waterstones, Kobo and Amazon. Please consider supporting independent bookshops and ordering directly from them if possible.
Don't miss the rest of the blog tour, details are below.
Eve Smith writes speculative fiction, mainly about the things that scare her. She attributes her love of all things dark and dystopian to a childhood watching Tales of the Unexpected and black-and-white Edgar Allen Poe double bills. In this world of questionable facts, stats and news, she believes storytelling is more important than ever to engage people in real life issues.
Longlisted for the Not the Booker Prize and described by Waterstones as “an exciting new voice in crime fiction”, Eve’s debut novel The Waiting Rooms, set in the aftermath of an antibiotic resistance crisis, was shortlisted for the Bridport Prize First Novel Award and was selected as a Book of the Month by Eric Brown in The Guardian who compared her writing to Michael Crichton’s.
Eve’s previous job as COO of an environmental charity took her to research projects across Asia, Africa and the Americas, and she has an ongoing passion for wild creatures, wild science and far-flung places. When she’s not writing she’s racing across fields after her dog, trying to organise herself and her family, or off exploring somewhere new.
Thanks for the blog tour support xx
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