Review by e-tasana-williams -- The Johnson Project

[e-tasana-williams]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Johnson Project" by Maggie Spence.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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What would happen if every woman on the planet became infertile within the same 6-week period? If there was a solution to the problem, who would be allowed to have children and raise them to adulthood, and why? How much power is too much? When can a charity organization become powerful enough to make ultimatums to worldwide governments? Where is humanity headed when even its saviors need redemption? Author Maggie Spence explores the answers to these questions in her medical thriller The Johnson Project.

In 2017 the Aqar 297 virus renders every woman on the planet infertile. The world population declines over the next two years as no babies are born to replace the people who die. Chaos ensues, creating post-apocalyptic wastelands of some countries. Few others thrive by rewriting economic and immigration policies that take into account their new normal. Fertility specialist Ted Johnson develops a cure, and with the help of his billionaire family (all champions for child welfare in one way or another), heads up the Johnson Project which rations out the precious cure to only a select few couples who qualify to receive it and become parents. In a very short time the Johnsons become the family that people worldwide love to hate.

There are things the author does well in this story, and other things I would have preferred she did differently. What Spence does especially well is the novel is to raise questions about how current economic, immigration and labor policies affect the world's children, and how certain changes might improve the situation. Maggie Spence clearly has a special place in her heart for children everywhere. What she could have done differently is to spend less of the novel answering those questions. She uses a lot of the story line implicating corporate greed and xenophobic immigration policies in the plight of abused and neglected children. She sometimes repeats information from earlier in the book, and the reader gets the sense that the author is on a soapbox. But just as the reader is feeling inundated with policy issues and child abuse cases, several bits of shocking information about the Johnson family are revealed, drawing the reader back into the plot.

My favorite parts of the story are the news talk show transcripts and man-on-the-street interviews Spence incorporates throughout the book. They give the story a movie-like quality, adding visualization to how the story plays out. The developing love interest between Lily and Rafael also adds to the tale, giving romantic relief from the business at hand.

People who enjoy reading medical thrillers will enjoy this book. If readers are persistent to get past the extensive (and sometimes repetitive) exploration of the economic and political aspects of the worldwide crisis, they will be rewarded with a shocking conflict and some edge-of-your-seat reading up to the very end. The novel was well edited, with less than a handful of grammatical errors. I give this book 3 out of 4 stars.

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The Johnson Project
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