Book #2 - Altar of Eden by James Rollins

I know, I know, it seems like I'm making all of this up. How could I have read this book in just one day? Let this be a disclaimer to you: Do not start this book unless you plan to finish it. I have to say when it came in the mail yesterday (Amazon, who else), I was deeply disappointed that it was not a continuation of the saga starring Gray, Painter, Monk, and Kate. I love James Rollins' books featuring these characters, and I'm dying to know if Monk recovers his memory, etc. So, with a bit of a heavy heart, I opened this book at 12:00 (noon) today thinking I'd read a little and maybe take a nap on my last afternoon of Christmas vacation. I was quickly wrapped into the plot involving genetically altered exotic animals (which you find out later is due to a virus that causes the addition of chromosomes to the genome). This book is heavily coated with Biology, and some of it may be difficult to a non-Scientist, but with that being said, I don't think my blood pressure came down until 10 minutes ago. It was intense. There is no other way to describe the book. 9000 mph the entire read. Probably why I couldn't put it down (although I did long enough to make and eat dinner). This was by far the best book by James Rollins that I have read, and I felt like I was reading old-school Michael Crichton as I turned the pages. It had that cutting edge science that as my Mom would say, "gave me the creeps". Scary because, what if. There are plenty of brilliant yet crazy people out there that may be experimenting with this very idea of creating new forms of biowarfare. All that is to be done now is to ship the book to my brother, also a science teacher, so he can hurry up and read it an then we can discuss the possibilities. FANTASTIC read. Going to have to take a brain break after that one.