Rating: 
Summary: Recommended
Review: "Frameshift" is a morality tale of the "genetic age". Today's front-page headlines of cloning, DNA testing, health care, and racism are dealt with even-handedly by Robert J. Sawyer's intriguing tale. Indeed, Sawyer takes these interrelated topics and goes to the next logical (or illogical) step.
There are so many ideas running through the storyline that I occasionally felt distracted. In the end, however, Sawyer pulls these subjects together and lets us understand their relationships. I found this book to be a refreshing blend of the best works by Michael Crichton and Orson Scott Card. Please consider an 8 on my rating scale as a very strong recommendation
Rating:
Summary: Sawyer's Best Work
Review: I have been recently reading as many Sawyer books as I can get my hand on and have not yet been disappointed. I love the ideas he comes up with - some of them are remarkably plausible and his knowledge of scientific principles is clearly expansive.
Frameshift has several strands of plot that are neatly weaved together that make for a very entertaining and captivating read. The mix of genetics, Nazi war criminals and big-business conspiracy theories kept me up late into the night wondering what was going to happen. What is particularly fascinating is Sawyers idea that there may be something to the "junk" DNA that all humans have and what they could mean.
My only complaints are that Sawyers characterization of women does not seem quite accurate and that there are times where the plot takes some unbelievable twists. On the other hand, there is a great scene of a helicopter crashing that rivaled by description anything that I have seen in images in a movie.
Read and enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Sawyer's Best Work
Review: I have been recently reading as many Sawyer books as I can get my hand on and have not yet been disappointed. I love the ideas he comes up with - some of them are remarkably plausible and his knowledge of scientific principles is clearly expansive.
Frameshift has several strands of plot that are neatly weaved together that make for a very entertaining and captivating read. The mix of genetics, Nazi war criminals and big-business conspiracy theories kept me up late into the night wondering what was going to happen. What is particularly fascinating is Sawyers idea that there may be something to the "junk" DNA that all humans have and what they could mean.
My only complaints are that Sawyers characterization of women does not seem quite accurate and that there are times where the plot takes some unbelievable twists. On the other hand, there is a great scene of a helicopter crashing that rivaled by description anything that I have seen in images in a movie.
Read and enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Canadian scientist fights to save world!
Review: Although I have never met him, I like Robert Sawyer. He has rapidly established himself as Canada's top SF writer. He has avoided relying on government grants to fund his novels and he has balanced his Canadian roots with demands to satisfy the larger US market. Therefore, I am inclined to give him 3 stars to start with and add as I enjoy the book. Frameshift didn't quite make 5 stars in my estimation. All the usual Sawyer elements are included: relationship difficulties, mysteries, well researched scientific background, and Canadian references/in-jokes. Principal themes like marital infidelity and human mortality surface again. However, this one still has a few rough edges. In a nutshell, a Canadian scientist moves to California and battles US health care companies, a deadly genetic disease, and nazis; while conducting genetic research and wooing the woman of his dreams. To give Sawyer credit, the book isn't as corny as I made it sound but it does lack some polish. There are a few problems that I had with the novel which are relatively minor but symptomatic of it not living up to Sawyer's standards. The genetic problem and explanation are difficult to explain. In a text book or research paper they would have been accompanied by diagrams. Also, our hero gets his breakthrough idea from an article in Scientific American. Serious scientists don't read SA for research content in their fields. The Canadian in-joke, having a murder victim named after Canada's top TV anchorman, was great but he shouldn't have explained it. When you explain your jokes, you lost the audience anyway. What bothers me most of all is that in trying to round out his story, Sawyer cast some pretty nasty aspersions on a woman long dead. This is not right in a work of fiction. The Terminal Experiment and Starplex were better than Frameshift. I hope that his next novel will be up to earlier standards.
Rating: 
Summary: Not his best...but still pretty good
Review: First, I think that the book really deserved 3.5. This was not one of Sawyers best, like Starplex or End of an Era, but it was still a really good book. Some of the cloning scenes were a bit unnecessary, but overall a pretty good book.
Rating:
Summary: Uneven
Review: FRAMESHIFT is my first book by Sawyer. I had high hopes going in, but I confess to being a little disappointed. The prose is competent enough, the main character and his battle with Huntinton's Disease is compelling, and the idea of someone being used as the unwitting object of a genetic experiment is intriguing. The hunt for the evil Nazi war criminal was even interesting.
On the other hand, the mysterious ability to read other people's minds is, in my opinion, a greatly over-worked scifi gimick. Also, the greedy corporation that will sink to any depths to enrich itself is an overdone cliche. The notion that a business should bankrupt itself on behalf of a tiny minority of incurable people is as ridiculous as the idea that a company would murder such people. Further, the spectre of a neanderthal child being raised like an ordinary child struck me as silly. Emotionally appealing, but silly. Finally, the "DIEHARD" (think Bruce Willis) climax was predictable and tired.
FRAMESHIFT was OK, but I would have liked it better if Sawyer hadn't cluttered it up with so many sub-plots. He should also have tried harder to resist the temptation to use his story as his own personal little soapbox. I don't know about you, but I read this stuff to be entertained, not to give some writer a platform to preach to me. From my perspective, it's a mediocre three stars. Proceed at your own risk.
Rating: 
Summary: FRAMESHIFT is a Hugo Award finalist.
Review: FRAMESHIFT is one of five finalists for the Hugo Award (science fiction's international "reader's choice" award) for Best Novel of 1997. REVIEW EXCERPTS: ANALOG: "You hardly need me to tell you to buy Robert J. Sawyer's latest novel, FRAMESHIFT. You know it's good, interesting, and thought provoking. The issues Sawyer is dealing with are not easy ones, but he builds an effective story from them." BOOKLIST: "An unputdownable thriller." THE CALGARY HERALD: "A finely crafted novel with a riveting plot and complex characters, deftly exploring issues of bio-ethics and moral philosophy. By using the metaphor of a murder investigation, told in parallel to the scientific activities of his main character, Sawyer succeeds in illuminating aspects of science as a human activity. Sawyer's is a rather hopeful vision. Perhaps this is his Canadian upbringing showing, a belief in the potential of civil society to overcome the narrow interests of profit and bigotry to create a better world. Sawyer sees the dark sides of technological change and globalization, yet remains hopeful that we, as a society, can overcome them. After reading FRAMESHIFT, so do I." EXPLORATIONS: "This book should be a major novel for a larger audience than the one which visits the science fiction section: a moving, exciting, touching, suspense-laden wonder. I cannot recommend it more highly. Sawyer has my vote for the next Nebula and Hugo awards." LIBRARY JOURNAL: "A gripping medical SF thriller. Highly recommended." STARLOG: "Fine writing, engaging characters, convincing science, and a detailed, if horrific, historical background." THE TORONTO STAR: "Sawyer pushes the envelope, delivering the real thing with subtlety and great skill."
Rating: 
Summary: No zing at all
Review: I just finished this book and was saddened. I have read several of Sawyers books in the past and this was a dog. The plot is simplistic and the characterizations are not well developed.
Rating:
Summary: A Canadian scientist "Bob and Doug" could be proud of
Review: I like the hero and I like the story. Sawyer also mixes in some nice social commentary, and does it in a way where he presents multiple sides. Too bad the other charcters in this book weren't given a little more depth. For example, The monster-Nazi war criminal idea is a little to cliche and a bit insulting to a reader intelligence. The evil HMO. This book is a good main character in an exciting story in a cardboard world. Call me a sap, but I was touched by the ending.
Rating: 
Summary: Sorry I bought it -- a one-time read at most
Review: I saw several good reviews of this book but I can't say I really liked it. I think both the Nazi stuff (oh, come on!) and the cloning stuff is old hat by these days and his "family life" scenes show that he should stick with science and not try to do characters --he's not good at characters! I gave my copy to my local library because I won't want to read it again.
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