ARC REVIEW The Double Helix Collection by Jade Kerrion

 Jade Kerrion's  Double Helix Collection is five of the Double Helix books. In ebook form you get Perfection Unleashed, Perfect Betrayal, Perfect Weapon, When the Silence Ends, Perfection Challenged. When you buy it in paperback you get a code to download When Silence Ends. This series is very worth it; it is a great sci-fi action packed roller-coaster ride. A Gattaca and X-Men fusion of awesomeness. In the foreseeable future we have learned to decode the human genome and make babies with no disabilities, no genetic problems. Humans also have started to evolve; mutating to have powers like telekinesis, telepathy, empathy. The Genetic Revolution changed the world some places the in-vitros and the mutants are tolerated, the U.S. is not one of those places creating organizations like Purest Humanity. You also have scientist playing god and that where we start; two scientist have created the perfect human. Galahad is a mixture of DNA to create a "perfect" in the eyes of the scientist and since he is not an in-vitro nor a clone the government has no classification for him. He has lived in the safety of the lab all his life being put through test and experiments to see how perfect he is he was lonely until one fateful night...


In Perfection Unleashed we met Zara Intani a mercenary who was hired to steal the genetic code for Galahad. She breaks into Pioneer Labs no problem but once she is in everything goes wrong. Once she's in she meets Galahad the lab gets attacked by Purest Humanity. Zara escapes with Galahad but not without injury, Galahad is severally injured so she takes him to the only person she trust with this, Lucien, a rich playboy she use to date forever ago. Meanwhile the Purest Humanity thinking they are breaking in to kill the abomination of the Perfect Human they let lose actual abominations; all the mistakes the scientist made in their search for Perfection.

Lucien has no problem helping Zara, but one look at Galahad and it has him calling in his best friend in New York. Danyael Sabre has no memory before the age of three. He was fished from a frozen river and put in the foster system it wasn't until he was a teen that he meet Lucien and he recognized Danyael for what he was a mutant. Lucian welcomed him into his family with open arms. Danyael also gets the chance to be trained by the Mutant Affairs Council. The whole reason Lucien called Danyael in from New York to D.C. isn't just because he is a doctor but it's because Galahad is identical to Danyael. As a Alpha Empath Danyael the power to make people hate him and as a self defense measure it's something he does to everyone. Zara hates him for being weak but yet becomes Galahads lover. The telepathic Miriya is the only one who understands why Danyael does what he does and doesn't understand why despite Zara's outright hatred to Danyael why he loves her. Danyael is so much more than anyone ever gave him credit for, he has a secondary healing power, but he can as kill with a touch.

This is so full of different elements that not everything is resolved and leaves of open ended.

Perfect Betrayal picks up where the other left off. Zara has realized her feelings for Danyael aren't what she first thought she still fights with him about everything but as selfless as he is she is looking out for his best interest. Danyael is trying to get his life back to normal but the leader of the Mutant Assault Group has his sights set on Danyael and manipulates things to meet his means. Zara has stayed to protect him. An unknown force has kidnapped Lucien and threatens Danyael with his death.  But as things play out exactly as planned one by one his friends have turned against him some with the good intentions of protecting him and others selfish, while one is uncontrollable. Lucien is manipulated and his feelings for Danyael reversed, so as much as he use to love him, Lucien now hates him with the same intensity.

Danyael and Zara love/hate relationship gets complicated. Danyael has blocked Zara's emotions from him so he can't feel her hatred anymore but still deep down loves her. Galahad is slowly growing more unstable and confused.

Once again the book leaves off open and with your heart in tatters. More secrets are revealed but not everything is fully explained.

Perfect Weapon picks up several months after the last book. Danyael is being held captive classified at a much higher ranking then he deserves. He is being tortured all day to keep his psychic powers at bay. A Mutant terrorist groups breaks in and frees Danyael and drops him off at Elysium, a safe haven for the mutants and in-vitros shunned by society. He isn't there long before Zara, Galahad, and the Mutant Affairs Council come looking for him but the machinations of the Mutant Assault Group pick up Danyael before Zara can get to him and make the situation look like an attack on the safe haven by Mutant Affairs Council.

Still a wanted mutant, the Assault Group is protecting Danyael, but the General has him their for one reason in particular to lead the Super Soldier program of advanced abominations which he does so hesitantly. The General having successfully separated Danyael from his friends has provided him with replacements including Major Amanda Chandler who soon transitions to lover even though Zara's betrayal hurt him deeply he can't stop from loving her.
                   
The same people who were behind the initial prison break set crazy unbalanced mutants on a killing spree through out the D.C. area and only Danyael can stop them. Zara has revealed she had a baby and the genetics named Danyael the father rather than Galahad. Galahad has become increasingly jealous of Danyael because both Zara and the telepathic Miriya have fallen in love with Danyael over his "perfect". In the end it ends pretty much but yet their are still loose ends yet to be tied off.

When the Silence Ends is a young adult companion book to the Double Helix series it follows teenagers Dee and Dum who were introduced when Danyael was recuperating at Elysium, the twins named as such because it was the nick name their mother gave them Tweedledee and Tweedledum. They escaped with Danyael but were soon separated and then picked up by the Mutant Affairs Council. Dee is completely human but Dum has emphatic powers the Council has unsuccessfully been trying to train Dum. Dum is unique, he has not said a single word since some people with Purest Humanity made him shoot his own father, the purest thinking their father was the mutant, but it was their mother who was the mutant she died later leaving them orphans. Dum also prefers to listen to his music rather then well anything and that drives Dee crazy. When the new leader of the Council informs Dee that the Council will no longer train Dum for fear of his emphatic power, but that if they want he will train Dum on his own. Dee is feed up with the Council, her and Dum leave and ask Danyael to train Dum which he agrees to hesitantly.  

To survive without the help of the Council Dee gets two jobs to support the both of them. One of her jobs is working as a cocktail waitress, but the area they live in the only place they could afford to live is in a gang ridden area. When a gang fight breaks out in the bar one night Dum goes to the DJ booth and starts to play music that calms down the fight. Dum's power my be the same as Danyaels but he uses it in a vastly different way. Dum can influence the energy of music to calm or excite. Dee gets an idea to start a foundation to help orphans, no matter what their classification, to go to college.

We also see Zara and Danyael's interaction, Zara still keeps thing at a distance but it is obvious to everyone but Danyael, who has blocked her, that she loves him. Lucien's influence reaches far and you see just how much Lucien hates Danyael. As isolated as Danyael feels he has some friends in very high places that will do anything for him. This book also ties up one loose end from the first book.

In the conclusion to this series, Perfection Challenged, All the donors that created Galahad are mysteriously dying and the last person to see them alive is Galahad. Danyael is diagnosed with a degenerative disease and he doesn't have much longer to live as long as he doesn't use his healing powers which will only hasten it along. Danyael has all but given up, Zara isn't letting him. The Council has asked Danyael to answer the question "Is Galahad worthy to live?". The Council has listed Galahad a national threat and put a kill switch in Galahad and Danyael is responsible for resetting the switch every four hours; if he doesn't Galahad's heart will explode. As it turns out Galahad was responsible for the murders but not quite. Someone has been creating advanced aging clones of Galahad and Zara but altering their memories. They kidnap Danyael so that he can fix them. The advanced aging clones don't live long and the first clone wants Danyael to fix him. He forces Danyael to heal others not knowing the more he does the shorter life span Danyael himself has. Galahad hates Danyael and it takes very little for him to side with the evil clones. Despite it all Danyael still wants to save Galahad, still believes there is goodness in him and that he can change the world.

Amusingly enough Danyael's rescuers are Zara, Major Amanda Chandler and an old girlfriend of Danyael's from college. The ending was beautiful, heart-wrenching and satisfying. I binge read this series in a week I really recommend everyone doing that it is so worth it and no waiting you just go from one to the other. I left a lot out when writing this, there is so much to this series. With Zara everything that can go wrong will go wrong so you know everything she gets involved in will eventually get FUBAR. I whole-heartedly recommend this to any sci-fi reader.