Rating: 
Summary: great read
Review: I agree with most of the earlier reviews - good and bad. Is it a rip off of Michael Crichton's Congo as well as Robin Cook? Heck yeah. But does that make it bad? Nope. It's a well-written rip-off and certainly entertaining.I bought this at a lame used book store just for something to read. I had zero expectations and would not have been surprised in the least had it turned out to be sucky. The characters were very real to the point that I was able to read a situation and know each character well enough to know how he or she would react. A *big* failing of this book was grammar. There are several points within the book that the tense of the story changes - without meaning or explaination. The sentences go from "He walked... and he saw..." to "He walks... and he sees..." I cannot stress how annoying this was. It was like a giant neon sign saying "HEY! We've got two authors here! And yes, they write alone sometimes!" I could understand this short-coming if it were, say, a dream sequence or a flash back or a separate story within the story. But no. Just bad form. It's things like that that tend to rip me right out of my excapist fanasy and right into proof-reading mode. I'm not sure if all of their works have this horrifying flaw since this is the first one I've had the pleasure of reading, but the authors *really* need to work on this. All in all? Run to it.
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderfully Thrilling!
Review: I bought this book mostly as an after-thought, never having read any of Gear's work before. It was more curiosity on my part more than anything. But I'm so glad I did! I enjoyed it thoroughly and look forward to more just like it!
Rating:
Summary: This is a page-turner!
Review: I could hardly put down this book until I'd found out what happened to the two girls. Raised as sisters, Umber & Brett must face terror and challenges that would be daunting even for adults. The story spanned two continents and must have taken a great deal of research to make the story seem so realistic.The authors painted vivid pictures of the terrifying events that occurred to these two girls. I highly recommend this book to any readers who look for something different.
Rating:
Summary: A Good Read
Review: I enjoyed this book. The premise is interesting and believeable. The adventure the heroes embark on keeps your interest. I plan on reading more from the Gears.
Rating: 
Summary: Dark Inheritance
Review: I have not read anything by these authors before, and I doubt I will again. Their writing is amazingly poor. Examples: "Parnell pulled off the right earphone and planted it on the swell of his mastoid so he could rub his hot ear." and "Did Thrower's severed right hand have a soul? Did it search among the trunks of the mighty trees, seeking the arm that had extended it?" and "You carried her to term for me. Because I begged you to." She smiled. "Yes, well, Jimbo, I never knew how it would haunt me for the rest of my life." But don't take my word for it, open this book to any page and you will find a similar sentence.
Rating: 
Summary: Good prose is not enough. I Didn't finish it.
Review: I'm not sure what it is about this book. I've been picking it up and putting it down for a year now. The concept is interesting: a selection of apes genetically engineered to be, as far as I can tell, on par with human intelligence. The writing itself, in my opinion, is pretty good. I like the prose. And yet I am not compelled to finish the darn thing. I'm writing this review without having made it more than half-way through. That, in itself, is saying something. It's the best review I can give. I mean, if you can't finish a book. . .! Oddly, I like the main characters. Jim is interesting, and his precocious daughter, Brett, is neat. Her sisterly relationship with the ape is well-done. So, yes, I love the bonobo, Umber, too, and I like how all of the "monkey" point of view scenes are written in present tense. Maybe the central conflict isn't clear enough for me. From the start, I found myself a little bored. The novel begins with a prologue that absolutely did not intrigue me. "God, let's just get through this," I thought. The various points of view kept startling me out of the fictional setting. I found myself skim-reading, waiting to get back to Umber and her human family. I wanted to know only about them. Maybe I'll finish it, I don't know. But despite the book's strengths, I can only give it two stars. Again, I haven't finished Dark Inheritance. I hope that fact doesn't weaken this review too much. There are plenty of other reviews to help guide you, most of them positive. This has simply been my experience.
Rating:
Summary: Good prose is not enough. I Didn't finish it.
Review: I'm not sure what it is about this book. I've been picking it up and putting it down for a year now. The concept is interesting: a selection of apes genetically engineered to be, as far as I can tell, on par with human intelligence. The writing itself, in my opinion, is pretty good. I like the prose. And yet I am not compelled to finish the darn thing. I'm writing this review without having made it more than half-way through. That, in itself, is saying something. It's the best review I can give. I mean, if you can't finish a book. . .! Oddly, I like the main characters. Jim is interesting, and his precocious daughter, Brett, is neat. Her sisterly relationship with the ape is well-done. So, yes, I love the bonobo, Umber, too, and I like how all of the "monkey" point of view scenes are written in present tense. Maybe the central conflict isn't clear enough for me. From the start, I found myself a little bored. The novel begins with a prologue that absolutely did not intrigue me. "God, let's just get through this," I thought. The various points of view kept startling me out of the fictional setting. I found myself skim-reading, waiting to get back to Umber and her human family. I wanted to know only about them. Maybe I'll finish it, I don't know. But despite the book's strengths, I can only give it two stars. Again, I haven't finished Dark Inheritance. I hope that fact doesn't weaken this review too much. There are plenty of other reviews to help guide you, most of them positive. This has simply been my experience.
Rating:
Summary: Fiction at It's Finest!
Review: I've searched my vocabulary for the right words to describe this work, yet all I can come up with is "FANTASIC!" The journey through this novel was intense, spiritual, uplifting, yet humbling. Rarely do I come across a novel where I can become so utterly emotionally connected to the characters. Seamless narration, wonderfully researched, brilliantly woven, knuckle biting action, and a sense of wonder about our (humanity's) closest living relative. If you do not read this novel, you are missing one heck-of-a tale!
Rating: 
Summary: Good
Review: Interesting story. Good character development as is typical with both of the Gears. HOWEVER, the editor needed some time off before reviewing this one.
Rating:
Summary: SLOW PACED
Review: Jim Dutton, his teenage daughter Brett, and Umber, a bonobo ape, are a family. Jim has spent his life's work researching bonobo apes, for SAC, a mysterious research company. When someone from his past brings to light that certain bonobo's being researched DO NOT carry the normal characteristic's of their species, an investigation is opened. Jim, intrigued by this information, will end up at an african research facility where he, along with his daughter, and Umber, will find strange things, such as rooms filled with bones, mutilated bodies, and a genetically-manipulated race of enemies driven by blood...to kill. Sounds good? I thought so too, but the book took too long before anything really happened. The first couple of chapters are interesting; setting up the plot, character development, and several murders, but after those chapters, the novel becomes tiresome, with page after page of technical jargin, and the introduction of too many characters. This novel clocks in at (around) 500 pages, if it was shortened to about 350, it would have been excellent. Genetic altering is always interesting in a thriller, but it takes the careful hand of an author to construct it to be easy-to-understand, fast-paced, and fun to read, "Dark Inheritance" fails on all counts. What could have been an entertaining read, becomes tedious, and much too long. Newcomers to this genre may find it interesting, but fans of this type of fiction will be disappointed.........
| 
