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Sharkman is narrated in first person by the individual whose experiences delineate the events that are depicted in the novel. Kwan Wilson is the son of an American Admiral and Asian woman that met during time of war. His father was forced to marry the girl and take her to the U.S. when she became pregnant.
Kwan was a bright student and an athlete playing basketball for his high school. in one fateful night as he was driving his mother home he became distracted while texting, crashed the car, killing his mother and coming out of the accident as a paraplegic confined to a wheel chair. His father, who traveled quite a bit due to his job in the navy, sent him to live with his maternal grandmother in south Florida.
Depressed by his condition, Kwan jumps on an opportunity described by the principal of his new school about a laboratory in Miami working on shark stem cells as a possible treatment for both cancer and spinal injuries. He volunteers and gets himself assigned to the lab where he is in time to witness one of the first real breakthroughs in their work. Kwan decides to inject himself with the serum developed thinking that if it either helps him to walk again or kills him his problems will be solved.
Alten has become an expert on sharks and shark behavior and incorporates this knowledge into the book making it a fascinating read. Kwan is the principal character, and fleshed out very well, but we also meet a prospective love interest of his. Kwan’s father is not what he seems to be and his actions bring us to a rewarding ending, but does leave plenty of room for a followup book. Fast reading keeping the reader glued to the novel, and sure to welcome a followup by him or her.
10/14 Paul Lane
SHARKMAN by Steve Alten. Taylor Trade Publishing (October 7, 2014). ISBN 978-1630760199. 272p.
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