Sharkman

by Steve Alten

Overview

Kwan Wilson was a high school basketball star living in San Diego when a tragic accident changed his life in ways no one could predict. He only looked at his phone for a few seconds, but that was all the time it took to crash his car into a telephone pole, killing his mother and paralyzing him from the waist down.

After the accident his father, Admiral Douglas Wilson, sent him off to live with his maternal grandmother in South Florida. Kwan’s new principal, anticipating his depression and isolation, tells him about an internship at a genetics lab in Miami that’s testing shark stem cells on rats in an effort to cure cancer and repair spinal injuries. Kwan declines—until he learns the beautiful Anya Patel is an intern at the lab. The good news is that the stem cells are curing their rat subjects; the bad news is it alters their DNA so much it kills them. When a promising breakthrough is made, Kwan risks his life and injects himself with the experimental stem cells—altering his destiny and the lives of millions in the process.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781630760199
Publisher:	Taylor Trade Publishing
Publication date:	10/07/2014
Pages:	272
Sales rank:	222,695
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.10(d)
Lexile:	980L (what's this?)
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Steve Alten, a native of Philadelphia, is a New York Times and international bestselling author of the MEG series, the Domain series, Goliath, The Loch, The Shell Game, and The Omega Project. Steve is also founder and director of Adopt-An-Author, a free nationwide teen reading program used in thousands of secondary school classrooms across the country to entice reluctant readers to read. For more information, go to www.AdoptAnAuthor.com and www.SteveAlten.com.

Editorial Reviews

Praise for Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror

An adrenaline-pumping thriller.

New York Post

Praise for The Loch

With The Loch, Steve Alten combines meticulous research with riveting storytelling to craft a new genre—the historical science fiction thriller.

Washington Daily News

The Loch is a compelling page-turner. I couldn’t put it down. Steve Alten has proven to be a literary master of the abyss.

Owl Goingback

A fast-paced thriller . . . Alten gives a scientific twist to an old, enduring myth. . . . Michael Crichton meets Dan Brown beneath the waves of Loch Ness.

Dennis Palumbo

Sometimes it’s the books with the weirdest premises that turn out to be the best ones. This one certainly is. Steve Alten serves up another of his fast-paced thrill rides that is so good, it makes it impossible to do anything else. . . . It’s a magnificent feeling to find a book that you hate to put down. Then again, Steve’s writing has always done that for me. . . . The science is uber-complex but Steve makes it understandable and fun on a layman’s level. . . . Don’t pass this book up because it’s ‘something that you would not normally read’. If you do then you are missing out on an author who has that 'grab the reader' gift that so many claim, yet few actually possess.

RibiconReader

The . . . plot . . . point[s] to this being a solid YA thriller and it might greatly appeal to YA readers interested in a different kind of superhero.

She Treds Softly

Praise for Domain

A chilling, deeply researched peek into our ancient past. Jarring, frightening, thrilling . . . What more could you ask?

James Rollins

With the storytelling sensibilities of Crichton and Cussler, Alten sure knows how to write a thriller.

Kevin J. Anderson

08/01/2014
Gr 8 Up—As the result of a car accident caused by texting while driving, Kwan Wilson is a wheelchair-bound paraplegic. His mother died during the crash and his overbearing father cannot forgive Kwan and sends him to live with his grandmother. The teen feels trapped, physically and mentally. He agrees to volunteer at an aquatic stem cell research center once he sees that he will be able to spend time with a lovely assistant. Kwan's guilt and frustration help him to justify his willingness to risk his life by injecting himself with shark stems cells and Human Growth Hormone (HGH). Kwan's crippled body not only heals, but continues to evolve into a body builder's physique with hyper senses, allowing him to once again be a basketball superstar. His adaptations spiral out of control and he develops the physical characteristics and predatory instincts of a bull shark. Kwan's father uses Kwan's amazing metamorphosis to assist with a covert military operation. The conclusion—like the rest of the novel—is a fun ride once readers suspend disbelief when it comes to the over-the-top action sequences and the main character's remarkable cunning. Kwan is a likable protagonist—his insecurities, wants, and emotions (expressed in first-person narration) are typical of most teens. The novel is packed with scientific information on topics such as Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), diving, and shark physiology, making it a great addition for collections promoting STEM fields.—Sherry J. Mills, Hazelwood East High School, St. Louis, MO

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