jeff yager

In this controversial novel, translated into Japanese, set several years in the future, sixteen-year-old Ricky Romanello, a college freshman, is playing basketball when he collapses and winds up in a coma suffering from a powerful flu that hits the U.S. population causing deaths and a dramatic economic slowdown. Research scientist Dr. Mandy Fox has been developing an anti-aging drug that she believes might also eradicate the flu. The government rushes approval for the drug as Ricky and the rest of the population soon discover there is an unintended side effect of the new drug and vaccine with catastrophic consequences.

"Although Atom & Eve is a science fiction novel written especially for young adults, readers of all ages will find it engaging and thought-provoking. When a flu pandemic leaves mass graves in its wake, humanity's only hope may lie in a special designer drug to cure and prevent the lethal disease. But this miracle drug has a startling side effect... it makes men more like women, and women more like men! Gender-bending developments push human society and evolution to the brink of radical transformation in this extraordinary, well-written, and succinctly presented "what-if" story. Highly recommended."
--Children's Bookwatch, Reviewer's Choice, August 2013