Dark Inheritance

New York, NY, U.S.A.: Warner Books, Incorporated, 2001. Trade Paperback. Fine. First Edition. Advanced Reading Copy (ARC). 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Here is the story of a project of cutting-edge genetics that might lead to a better world, or a waking nig htmare. Dark Inheritance for 13 years - since he became one of several scientists chosen to raise apes bred by the pharmaceutical giant SAC - Dr. Jim Dutton, his young daughter, Brett, and the bonobo ape Umber have been a family. For Umber is far more than a subject. She reads, speaks sign language, and even contemplates the nature of God. Then a colleague forces Jim to confront the reality he's t ried to ignore: Umber and the other SAC apes are too intelligent to be pure bonobos. They are "augmented" apes, more similiar to early hominids than anthropoids. And when SAC abruptly demands Umber' s immediate return, it becomes vital for Jim to discover why the corporation created this new species. The quest for answers will take Jim and his family to Africa, to a facility that SAC fronts as a pr eserve dedicated to helping once-captive chimps. But the grounds also hide a covert genetics lab, a missing band of blue-eyed apes, crude buildings decorated with skulls, and, deep in the shadows, hum an corpses savagely hacked to pieces..