Kirkus Reviews profiles Genesis Code, the newest book by Brent Scowcroft Center Nonresident Senior Fellow for Technology and National Security Jamie Metzl:
It wasn’t enough for Jamie Metzl to write a near-future thriller about the systematic murder of several pregnant young women and the intrepid Kansas City reporter who will do anything to discover the truth behind their deaths and their link to a prominent televangelist. Metzl, a former member of the National Security Council and current Senior Fellow of the Asia Society, has more ambitious plans for Genesis Code: he is “absolutely” warning us about “a possible future.”
In Metzl’s 2023, the U.S. is in serious debt to China, and our economy is in a more dreadful state than ever. In response, a bipartisan government has enacted laws to reignite the American competitive spirit. In the present day, “we’ve locked ourselves into this struggle, Democrats and Republicans,” Metzl says. “To remain competitive we really need to get our act together.” When I expressed my incredulity that our currently polarized government could surmount party differences, he argued that “stranger things have happened. If there are aspects of our system not working, we’ll find a way to fix them.”