When New York detective James North arrives at a hostage scene in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, he's disturbed to find the perpetrator is asking for him by name. North has no idea who this man called Gene is, or why his own presence is so important. If forced to boil it down to the essence, I would describe Gene as part police procedural and part fantasy, with elements of mythology, science fiction and history thrown in. There is a mystery to be solved and risk for a main character if it isn’t solved soon, which also makes it a thriller.

I can see how this could scare a reader off. Someone who dislikes any of these genres might feel that Gene isn’t right for them. But if you’re interested in being taken out of your genre-comfort-zone, you might find that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

Amazing. Why do I have to give this only 5 stars? Why not 50? From what I know of the author, this just shows the range of his talents. Within this book is a good mix of history, myth, current times, science, literary fiction and horror. I pretty much agree with Al in that if I were a mainstream author, I wouldn't know where to put it, either. But who cares? It's certainly a good cerebral read.

In any event, there will be a full blown review shortly. You'll find it where I usually publish those things: accidentallymars.wordpress.com. Good job, Stel. Good job. (By the way, I totally geeked over your mention of Cold Harbor Springs Laboratory. I thought I was the only one who gave them full study on a fairly regular basis.)