Το κλειδί της ζωής, το πρώτο μυθιστόρημα του συγγραφέα, παίζει με τους πιο μύχιους φόβους αλλά και τις ελπίδες του σύγχρονου ανθρώπου -τις κατακτήσεις της επιστήμης στο χώρο της Γενετικής. Η απονομή του Νόμπελ Ιατρικής είναι η στιγμή του θριάμβου γα τον δόκτορα Τομ Κάρτερ, εφευρέτη του Γονοσκοπίου, που "διαβάζει" όλα τα γονίδια του ανθρώπου και μπορεί να προβλέψει τη διάρκεια της ζωής του. Ξαφνικά, όμως, όλα καταρρέουν, όταν η γυναίκα του δολοφονείται από μια σφαίρα που προοριζόταν για τον ίδιο και η εννιάχρονη κόρη του, η Χόλυ, αρρωσταίνει βαριά. Η επιστήμη σηκώνει τα χέρια, και μόνο ένα αληθινό θαύμα μπορεί να σώσει πια το παιδί του, που έχει λιγότερο από ένα χρόνο ζωής. Τότε , ο Τομ συμμαχεί με μια πανάρχαια, μυστική αδελφότητα, που του προσφέρει ένα πολύτιμο βιολογικό λείψανο. Το Γονοσκόπιο πρέπει να διαβάσει -και να ανασυνθέσει- το DNA του μεγαλύτερου θεραπευτή στην ιστορία του ανθρώπινου γένους, του ίδιου του Χριστού. Ένα συναρπαστικό μυθιστόρημα με ανατρεπτικό τέλος. Καθαρή επιστημονική φαντασία αλλα μεθυστικό στην αφήγηση και πραγματικό page-turner. Ποτέ δεν ήμουν τόσο φανατικός με τα του Χριστού της Μαγδαληνης κλπ. και δέχτηκα πολύ χαλαρά την ιδέα που εξηγεί την πραγματική αιτία για τα θαύματα που έκανε ο Ιησούς. Το συνιστώ ανεπιφύλακτα.Στα ελληνικά από την Ωκεανίδα το 2005 (Το κλειδί της ζωής).
“At the moment of his supreme triumph, a man of science dodges an assassin’s bullet and loses everything that truly matters in his life. Now only a miracle can save Dr Tom Carter’s dying daughter: the blood of salvation shed twenty centuries ago. In the volatile heart of the Middle East, amid the devastating secrets of an ancient brotherhood awaiting a new messiah, Tom Carter must search for answers to the mysteries that have challenged humankind since the death and resurrection of the greatest Healer who every walked the Earth. Because suddenly Carter’s life, the life of his little girl, and the fate of the world hang in the balance… After two thousand years, the wait is over…”The Messiah Code was recommended to me by a rather well-read friend, but I have to admit that I didn’t know what to expect of the story, and because of the involvement of religion, I did expect to find it somewhat tedious (sorry Jenny). How wrong I was!I was immediately gripped when I began the first chapter (although I can’t say the prologue held the same effect), and felt sympathy for the main characters from the word go. The tragedy that occurs in the first chapter had me in tears, so from that moment I knew I would enjoy the novel immensely; any immediate emotional involvement with the characters similar to this novel, tells you the author has done a good job.The continuity of these emotional attachments was flawless as I genuinely felt for the main character (Tom Carter), his daughter (Holly) and his friends and colleagues throughout the remainder of the novel. The Brotherhood however, provoked entirely different emotions. I was irritated by them and their extremist religion from the start, and grew to hate them more as the novel progressed, but also became aware of an interest in understanding their way of thinking. Maria’s (Nemesis) character was, for me, the hardest to understand. She was the Brotherhood’s passionate and attention-craving assassin, who is rightly first portrayed as evil and mentally unstable. However, as the novel progresses and we learn more about her past, it becomes an internal struggle to fight off the feeling of sympathy for her. I was very impressed by The Messiah Code and Cordy’s ability as an author. I was pleasantly surprised by this novel and would definitely recommend it to others.
Do You like book The Messiah Code (2004)?
Didn't like it at all. The story-line was ok, kind of predictable but it's not that you expect a masterpiece from this type of entertainment. I had read the Source and, in spite of all the faults in the book (see my review) I had found it relaxing, entertaining and creative, and that's why I picked up another book by the same writer. Well, this Messiah Code is dark, and gory in a sense that is upsetting and disturbing; most of all I got the feeling that the author fully enjoyed all the gross and perverted ways of killing of his characters, and for me that made it too realistic and very sickening!
—Elena
I'm not normally one for thrillers, let alone biology-themed, Christianity-based thrillers, yet something about The Miracle Strain captured my attention. Is it the all-pervading idea of science vs religion? Almost certainly. It's an argument which surely interests anyone with the slightest hint of intelligent, living through the times that we do, and it certainly is the foundation on which this book is placed. The writing is fine, the plot is fine, the characters are fine. Probably there are plenty of other books along these lines which have considered and tackled the questions raised by the author in this one, but this is the only one I've read, and The Miracle Strain captivated my attention from the minute I picked it up. I heard some years ago that Touchstone Pictures had bought the rights to it, but as of yet there has been no film that I am aware of; a shame, because it would probably be extremely successful. This book is the odd one out of the ones I usually parrot off as my favourites, but I enjoyed no less, and it probably made me think more than a great deal of others I have read. Ok, so it's a little bit Da Vinci Code, and like that later novel may well borrow large chunks from other sources, but it holds them together well, and it is arguably better written. Like Dan Brown, Cordy is no master storyteller, but the theme is there, and the questions are asked, and I believe that that is what he was trying to achieve.
—Robyn
The premise of this book had all the opportunity to be a thrilling ride for the reader, and many parts of it were. There were several moments where I couldn't put the book down, but once I finished it I just felt disappointed. The writer's atheistic or agnostic beliefs overshadowed the ultimate storyline, and I think it was to the detriment of the plot. How much more interesting would it have been if the author would have surprised us with a spiritual twist, instead of re-doing the tired "atheist as protagonist, religious fanatic as antagonist" plot. It read like a less engrossing Dan Brown novel, not only during the action sequences but also because the hero remains virtually unchanged at the close, with no growth but the pat maybe-there's-something-out-there-who-knows statement to pacify those of us with even a modicum of spirituality. I really was intrigued by the idea of a healing gene and how science might exploit it to the benefit of mankind, and I will wait expectantly for science to catch up to the premise of this novel.
—Lois Fortez
