Book Review: The Baby Squad

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

The Baby Squad     Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
Andrew Neiderman
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Science Fiction   Techno Thriller
Pocket, August 2003, $6.99, 374 pp.

In the not too distant future, becoming pregnant is almost impossible as all female newborns are given a vaccine to prevent their eggs from fertilizing. Children are conceived in a natal laboratory with only some of the DNA coming from the parents. People who were born the old fashioned way are called Abnormals and treated like second class citizens by the Natals who believe they are genetically superior.

In the Catskills mountain town of Sandburg, Natalie Ross, an Abnormal passing for a Natal is six months pregnant and is using the underground to supply her with prenatal vitamins. The cleaning woman’s high school daughter steals them and trades them to another high school girl. However, the vigilante group that polices the community to insure no Abnormals reside there, THE BABY SQUAD, catches the teen. The caught teen confronts the girl who gave her the prenatal vitamins and murder results. A state police officer from the CID division investigates and his queries set off a chain reaction that ends in another murder, exposure of corruption, and the revelation of other crimes.

Is THE BABY SQUAD science fiction or a glimpse of what lies in store for the human race in the not too distant future? Each reader will make that judgment for themselves but in the meantime the audience is treated to a very exciting futuristic police procedural. Readers’ hearts will go out to Natalie who becomes a victim of the system and a symbol of hope for humanity. Andrew Neiderman has written another winner that his fans will want to put on their keeper shelves.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner