Genetics professor Michelle Murphy loses her husband under mysterious
circumstances and without warning, while their brilliant eight year old
daughter Avalon, adopted in Kazakhstan, stubbornly believes she is a
mutant.
As if this were not enough she soon finds herself thrown into the middle
of a quickly thickening plot, where the legacy of Genghis Khan meets the
hunt for FOXP5, a genetic transcription factor that could herald the
dawn of new human species.
Initially caught helplessly between well-meaning fellow scientists, the
government and more sinister agents, Michelle, with the help of a host
of unlikely heroes, eventually takes control and finds the courage to
confront the decision of whether to save human lives or humanity.
The scientific and technical aspects underlying the plot - in particular
aspects of FOX proteins, genetic mutations, viruses and cancer as well
as the relation between intelligence and cortical complexity - are
introduced and discussed by the authors in an extensive non-technical
appendix.