Quality DNA

Quality DNA, Beth Martin, Beth Martin Books, 2017

Set in the near future, America's answer to climate change is to impose a strict one-child policy. Sterilization is mandatory, for men and women, after the birth of their first child.

Annette becomes pregnant after a one-night stand with a sexy stranger. Everyone's DNA is listed in the Genome Database. It gives Annette the name of a man who she never met, who died several years previously (frozen sperm does not last for several years). Irene is an investigator with the Seattle Social Department. More such anomalies cross her desk. This is not just a "glitch" in the system; something is very wrong. Just to make things more complicated, Jamie, Irene's wife, really wants to have a child (much more than does Irene). Finding a suitable sperm donor is easier said than done.

Focus shifts to a very off-the-grid group called the Alliance for Quality DNA, or AQD. It is almost a cult, and is run by Aidan, who is charismatic, but nuts. Irene goes undercover, with help from the FBI. They are concerned about terrorism, but Irene is on to the reason for the birth anomalies. Does she become an unintended guinea pig for whatever the AQD has planned?

Here is a really good piece of writing. It's gripping, it's plausible and it will certainly keep the reader's attention. This is very much worth checking out.