Bad Seed

Penzler Pick, March 2002: In this, the fourth book (and first hardcover) featuring Alex Bernier, a young reporter on the newspaper in an upstate New York college town, the motive for murder lies hidden in the latest local controversy. To wit: Benson University, which dominates the town of Gabriel (think, for example, of Cornell University and Ithaca, where this talented young author lives), has been playing host to a biotech conference, and, as we all know, such events are veritable magnets for mischief in a world where potentially violent protest groups believe, just as their antagonists do, that the ends fully justify the means.

In this case, there are numerous "bad seeds" for protestors to rail against, ranging from Golden Rice (bioengineered to contain dozens of unnaturally occurring "micronutrients") to potatoes and bananas that are capable of delivering vaccines to millions without the bother of injection. One could also call the militant members of the greener-than-green organization known as Don't Break the Food Chain bad seeds since, despite their polite middle-class upbringings, they seem to have little conscience when it comes to arrogantly taking the law into their own hands.

Another candidate for the title of bad seed is the crusading amazon of a professor, the late and little-lamented Kate Barnett, who was willing to pervert her scientific knowledge in the name of progress.

As lively narrator Alex Bernier eventually learns, what's at stake at the conference is even more ethically questionable that the quest for "better broccoli," and the story behind the story turns out to be even hotter than a peck of chili peppers. Beth Saulnier is a clever observer of her generation and an eminently sane commentator on the follies and foibles of extremists young and old, as well as funny enough to compare with the endlessly hilarious Janet Evanovich. --Otto Penzler