New Book Alert: Altered Helix (Book 1 in the Altered Helix Series) by Stephanie Hansen; Science Fiction Novella Has Intriguing Setting and Premise, But Slow Beginning

New Book Alert: Altered Helix (Book One of The Altered Helix Series) by Stephanie Hansen; Science Fiction Has Intriguing Premise and Setting, But Slow Beginning

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: It always fascinates me when one book that I am reading compliments or serves as a commentary to another, even if they are unrelated. Of course, nowadays it's not that hard to think that more than one author, either fiction or nonfiction, would be thinking about the future for obvious reasons.

The latest book that I am reviewing, Altered Helix by Stephanie Hansen, could be the case study of Trond Undheim's Pandemic Aftermath How Coronavirus Changes Global Society. In his book, Undheim pictures various scenarios of the future: one is Two Worlds in which the rich one percenters live in an isolated sterile clean existence from the rest of the world. Another is Hobbesian Chaos in which governments have collapsed and survival of the fittest is the rule of the day.

The world of Altered Helix seems to be a composite of Undheim's Two Worlds and Hobbesian Chaos. While no mention of Coronavirus is present, it isn't hard to presume the world suffered without it in this book. Hansen describes a world where the United States government collapses and states rule their areas. Homelessness is omnipresent with more people on the streets than live in homes. People get kidnapped from the streets and find themselves on the operating table with mysterious medical professionals who want to study their DNA.

One of those people with unusual DNA is Austria, a young woman mourning the death of her father. One day while involved in a group project where she and other kids, particularly Street Kids, put together a haunted house, she is drugged. When she wakes up, she learns that her DNA gives her amazing healing abilities. Not only that, she inherited the DNA from her father, an Olympian with tremendous strength. (The governments fell apart, but they still have the Olympics?)

While Austria lives in a house with her mother, she is not too proud to live like her homeless peers and spends time sleeping on the streets and accompanying them to their less than reputable hangouts. However, she finds them a more likeable friendlier bunch than the so-called Frat Kids, bullying rich kids. In fact she even contemplates a romance with one, Josh, and treats another one, Jack, like the kid brother that she never had.

The world building is amazing. It is rather unfortunate that most of it is relegated to the background or thrown together in the final chapters. The majority of the action revolves around the cliques and construction of a haunted house.

This presents huge plot points. In a world of a declining government and real fear, haunted attractions would lose their luster. The world would be more like The Hunger Games and less Disney's Haunted Mansion.

The construction chapters take most of the book and are really only interesting because it allows Austria to interact with the street kids and begin relationships with them. Mostly, it's the traditional teen angst and creative disagreements that occur when putting together a project. Cliched in a book set in a modern time period. Unnecessary in a book that is set in the future with a background that suggests more important life threatening problems than where to put a special effect monster.

However, there are some bits that are interesting about the haunted house chapters. The setting of the book is frightening but the the behavior of the characters suggest that they are so numb and used to it, that they go on with their lives and do regular things like building a haunted attraction.

Another point is equal parts disturbing, but thought provoking the more that one considers. In one of the rooms, Austria and her crew reenact the Jonestown Mass Suicide in their attraction. Nowadays, it would be shocking and forbidden to imagine anyone thinking of putting that in a haunted attraction. In the future where real fear runs rampant, things like "inappropriate" are no longer considered.

However, once they get past the teen dilemmas and the haunted house, Altered Helix is an interesting book. Underneath the seeming normalcy, there is a darkness that is waiting to explode. A darkness that reveals itself in the last few pages that opens up for another book that hopefully puts this world in the forefront.