THE ADJUDICATOR by Susan Daitch

5 stars!

In this compellingly smart and thought-provoking novel set in future Earth, state-run private companies regulate all aspects of procreation. Parents get selected, pay exorbitant fees, design their babies by choosing between thousands of genetic options, and have their babies carried to term in carefully regulated sacks. But despite all this elitism and scientific achievements, all is far from well with humanity.

While diseases have been weaned out of the genome, selected characteristics can conflict and create havoc on the babies born. Also, many people have become addicted to tranquilizers called Dormazin that Zen you out and then suddenly wake you back up.

Enter Zedi Loew who works for Pangenica, the leading procreative company, in the role as an Adjudicator. Zedi’s sent out to investigate those rare cases where parents sue the company accusing them of causing mental or physical deformities in their children. Zedi herself stands apart from others, as she’s a born empath whose feelings identically mirror those she’s around. She’s had to keep this deeply hidden, as society punishes and ultimately exiles any genetic abnormalities.

Most parents don’t sue, as they don’t want the public embarrassment of admitting to a less than perfect child – but Zedi just been assigned to investigate a case in which a single Mom claims that her daughter was born with the consciousness of another child. The children in question were born on the same day to Moms who became friends along with their kids: with the daughter PomPom emerging as a true psychopath and the other Mom’s son Clayton having a shy persona and ultimately dying while falling through the thin ice of the pond. Each child looks like their parents but acts like a child of the other couple.

Zedi goes undercover to investigate and quickly realizes that not all is as it seems in that there’s a conspiracy afoot to thwart this case from reaching the light of day. Moreover, a huge philosophical question being tackled by Zedi and the novel itself centers on what consciousness actually is and whether it can ultimately be manipulated through experimentation with genes. And if this is the case, would this be the means for the state to control an entire population?

Zedi finds herself in constant unexpected danger, along with her Domazin-addled Mom who has retreated from society to a solitary existence on a far sea island’s run-down lighthouse. From a desperate rescue voyage to sea to leaping between rooftops to escape the corporate goons to the bombing of an island concert, the science questions and the philosophical musings ratchet up right alongside the thriller tension Zedi emerges an unlikely, brave and resilient heroine facing down an authoritarian state.

A fantastic must read for dystopian fiction and sci-fans! I am now going to dive into Susan Daitch’s other novels!

Thanks to Green City Books for an advanced reader’s copy.

Stacy DeBroff

Stacy DeBroff, founder and CEO of Mom Central.com and social and digital consultancy, Influence Central, is a social media strategist, attorney, and best-selling parenting author. A sought-after expert for national media, she trend-spots regularly with national brands and speaks frequently to national and international audiences on a wide range of subjects, including influencer marketing, social media, entrepreneurship, and consumer trends. A passionate cook, gardener, reader, and tennis player, she adores this new chapter of post-college-age parenting.