Editorial Review: The Genesis 6 Project by Michael Ferguson

The hunt is on when the military captures a creature from legends, only for it to escape and head into Native American territory. With time running out, it is up to Indian Affairs agent Frank Ironhorse Whitman and his team to track down the mysterious Subject Alpha before it's too late.

The Genesis 6 Project opens with a covert Army Special Forces squad capturing a giant creature from a remote cave in the Middle East. Although the mission is successful, the creature's incredible speed and strength see it take down multiple seasoned fighters before succumbing to the tranquilizers it is shot with. Afterward, the creature is transported clandestinely to a military facility in Montana for testing purposes. They hope that the strength, speed, durability, and longevity of the beast can be researched and used to enhance the capabilities of soldiers. However, the creature turns out to be far more dangerous and intelligent than they anticipated.

While a highly dangerous creature escaping from a secret military facility is not exactly an original idea, Michael Ferguson has managed to turn it into an action-packed and compelling story. A big reason for this is the characters, which include Tamir-Benob, the giant beast causing the havoc. Unlike other monstrous antagonists that tend to be mindless killers, Tamir-Benob is as smart as it is ruthless. It has been alive for a very long time, and its hatred for humanity makes it impossible to reason with. This, along with its superhuman abilities and uncanny instincts, makes Tamir-Benob a fearsome foe and makes for plenty of intense scenes.

Instead of telling the story from a single perspective, the author has included multiple viewpoints. Some of these are from Tamir-Benob itself and reveal why it is such a formidable adversary. Readers are also introduced to Dr. Kathryn Ryan, a military physician who is taken hostage by Tamir-Benob, and Frank Ironhorse Withman, the Indian Affairs agent tasked with tracking the creature through Native American territory. In addition, the action sometimes switches to some of the people who are working behind the scenes to use creatures' genetic material for nefarious purposes. These scenes are interspersed with the action and offer some insights into the bigger picture.

The Genesis 6 Project is a captivating novel, and the author clearly put in a lot of research to make Tamir-Benob a believable threat. There have been many reports of giants in historical writings and, of course, no shortage of unsubstantiated rumors and cryptid sightings in the modern era. This novel does a great job of portraying how scary it would be if these creatures were not only real but hellbent on destroying humanity.

Overall, The Genesis 6 Project is a great read and a remarkable effort from a first-time novelist. The story is gripping, and pitting likable characters against a horrifying foe makes for plenty of tense situations. In addition, while the story is self-contained, it does set the scene perfectly for future novels that the author can take in a number of different directions. Fans of action-packed, tense, and suspenseful novels should not miss out on The Genesis 6 Project.