Welcome to our genetic* world: fast, furious, and out of control. This is not the world of the future — it’s the world right now. Is a loved one missing some body parts? Is everyone at your dinner table of the same species? Humans and chimpanzees* differ in only 400 genes. Is that why an adult human being resembles* a chimp fetus? Should that worry us? There’s a new genetic cure for drug addiction* — is it worse than the disease?

We live in a time of momentous scientific leaps — a time when it’s possible to sell our eggs and sperm online for thousands of dollars; test our spouses for genetic maladies* and even frame someone for a genetic crime. We live in a time when one fifth of all our genes are owned by someone else, and an unsuspecting person and his family can be pursued cross-country because they happen to have certain valuable genes within their chromosomes*.

At the center of all is the issue of genetic engineering and what this could lead in the future, or even tomorrow. Around this theme a chorus of characters moves, each with their own story. A thin thread unites them, that of a science that can change the nature for its own use.

“Next” mixes fact and fiction into a breathless tale of a new world where nothing is what it seems, and a set of new possibilities can come up at every turn.

After graduating from Harvard Medical School, author Michael Crichton embarked on* a career as a writer and filmmaker, whose credits include “The Andromeda Strain,” “Westworld,” “Jurassic Park,” “Rising Sun,” “Prey” and “State of Fear” and the TV series “ER.”

The book is available at online bookstores like jd.com.(SD-Agencies)