June 20–27, 1996

book quarterly

Killer Genes

By Neil Gladstone

When you're a writer trying to convey the blood-spurting excitement of a life-and-death heart operation, who do you call?

You could track down medical journals.

You could spend all day hanging out in the emergency room hoping to get lucky.

Or, if you're Ben Mezrich, you call up your dad.

Dr. Reuben Mezrich, Ben's father, is chief of emergency radiology at Penn.

Dr. Mezrich wasn't the only source of expert advice Ben tapped in writing the fast-paced new medical legal/ thriller Threshold. When he wanted to find out how to break into the IRS' computer files, he called on his brother Jon, a D.C.-based tax lawyer. When he needed to find out about the world of cutting-edge genetic research, he called on a family friend, Dr. Jack McConnell — a founding trustee of the Institute for Genomic Research.

Given family ties like these, Threshold may be the novel Ben Mezrich was born to write.

The 27-year-old's first book,Threshold spins the tale of Tucsome (pronounced Tuck-so-me), a fictional genetic research lab that has more on its mind than the good of mankind. The first scene is set in Princeton, NJ, where Ben spent a good majority of his childhood (and where his mother Molli still practices law). Secretary of Defense Warren T. Walker is giving a Princeton commencement speech when he starts clawing at his face, then collapses and dies of mysterious causes. His daughter, Robin Kelly, enlists the aide of her old flame, Jeremy Ross, to find out the truth behind her father's demise. Ross discovers that Walker had been treated at Tucsome two years before. As you might suspect, he uncovers much more at the research lab than he bargained for...

OK, so the prose may not be quite up to par with Mezrich's favorite novel, The Sun Also Rises, but it's a fun book that has all the makings of a splashy, action-packed Hollywood thriller. The three-book deal he recently signed with HarperCollins has his mother and father breathing a sigh of relief.

You see, Ben always knew he wanted to be a writer, but until recently, no one was positive he'd make any money doing it.

"I think, like most parents, we expected him to get a job after school," recalled Reuben after a recent book-signing party at The Rittenhouse, where he and his wife own a condominium. "But he was steadfast in his belief that he could be a writer, so we supported him in his decision. It turns out he was right, I was wrong — it happens."

Reuben required his children to read two books a week when they were growing up. For Ben, the habit turned into a consuming passion.

He began making his first serious attempt at fiction after graduating from Harvard with a degree in social studies. His early efforts were "dark, twisted monologues" in the vein of Jay McInerney and Bret Easton Ellis, he says. Critical response from friends and family was mixed, and the letters from agents were even less encouraging.

He floated through various jobs, including television production assistant, pamphlet copywriter and legal researcher for Alan Dershowitz — another family friend.

Then, when Ben was well into literary limbo, an editor at Random House familiar with his work suggested he peruse The Firm and pen something along those lines.

"My writing tends to be plot-oriented with a lot of action scenes," explains Ben.

Two attempts at thrillers, one employing AIDS as the premise and another about environmentalists killing off corporate CEOs, got nibbles from agents, but no bites. Still, it was apparent that the thriller genre was a good match for his furious imagination. Robin Cook,Michael Palmer and Michael Crichton quickly became regulars on his reading list.

"Crichton is my idol," he says. "I like the sharpness of his books and dialogue and the idea that he can write about anything he wants and make it exciting." He loves action-packed medical stories and would jump at the chance to write for ER.

"I don't think I have the stamina to study science to the extent that's necessary to become a doctor," admits Ben when asked why he didn't follow in his father's footsteps. "I'm also a bit squeamish."

Luckily, his medically connected friends and family areon call around the clock.

In addition to his father's colleagues, he also plays poker every Thursday with a group of Harvard medical students in his adopted hometown of Boston. Younger brother Josh is in his third year of med school at Cornell.

He gained firsthand experience by strolling though the emergency room at Mass General.

"I'd walk down the hall looking very determined," he recalls. "No one notices you if you look like you belong."

His main character, Jeremy, is an amalgamation of several people, he says, with a smidgen of superstar abilities added for extra flavor.

In the first chapter of Threshold, Ross, a fourth-year medical student, successfully installs an aortic pump into an NBA superstar who's collapsed on the court (that's the operation Ben's father advised him on). The procedure would be a challenge for any trained specialist, let alone a med student who has only read about the operation.

"It's fun to have characters doing amazing things," says the author with a chuckle.

It also doesn't hurt when your friends are willing to steal autopsy reports on behalf of your art. The grand prize for "most helpful friend and/or family member," however, should probably go to geneticist McConnell, who suggested Threshold's premise.

"I gave him a skeleton," says the doctor, calling from his office in Hilton Head, SC. "Ben took the idea and improved it enormously."

McConnell elucidates "killer genes" and how they might be turned into weapons one day by people who misappropriate the technology. Such fears were discussed at the first conference on Ethical Issues of the Human Genome, which he helped organize. "The science and technology of genetics has outpaced society's ability to understand its implications," he observes.

It's no coincidence that arguments over the use of genetic technology crop up in Threshold.

"You can't ignore a link between a specific gene and criminal behavior," shouts one nefarious Threshold character. "The best way to control violent behavior is to prevent it from happening. Genetic testing gives us the power." The novel communicates concerns about genetic research while also being entertaining, says McConnell.

Mother Molli still remembers the day she got the first draft of Threshold in the mail: "It arrived on a Saturday, special delivery, and I started reading it and passing pages to my husband. After a while I looked up asked him, 'Is this as good as I think it is?'" By the time she finished the book it was well into Sunday morning and she called Ben to congratulate him.

"I think he told me he was asleep and he'd talk to me later."

Ben's mother also serves as family editor. Not only has she read every draft of Threshold, she's checked each one for mistakes and returned her copies with Post-It Notes stuck to the pages that needed correction.

"I didn't make any major changes. I just noted grammatical errors and mentioned when I thought a word was clumsy," she says.

These days Ben is gearing up to write the screenplay for Threshold. The movie version is practically a done deal, he says, with director Brian Gibson (What's Love Got to Do With It?,The Juror) showing strong interest.

Keanu Reeves and Noah Wyle are his first choices for Jeremy Ross. John Malkovich could work well as the evil Victor Alexander, he figures.

The author admits his social life is on the back burner. "Writing designates a strange lifestyle. You have to be alone for long stretches of time and then you have to go on book tours." When working at full throttle, he spends 14 to 16 hours a day writing.

He's already working on an outline for his next novel, tentatively titled The Reaper. It's another thriller, this time about a great cardiovascular surgeon who injures his hand in a car accident. No longer capable of intricate surgery but still addicted to the thrill of living on the medical frontlines, he becomes a paramedic.

"In the beginning, he discovers bodies in a law firm that are all calcified..." pitches the author, teasing the listener to beg for more.

Ben has several more ideas for medical thrillers in him, too. And if he needs additional inspiration, he can call McConnell, who still has a few "skeletons" to share (and no desire for compensation).

Any hints on what his story ideas might be?

"Those are between Ben and me."