The Immortalists

Written by Kyle Mills

Narrated by Benjamin L. Darcie

Dr. Richard Draman is trying desperately to discover a cure for a disease that causes children to age at a wildly accelerated rate—a rare genetic condition that is killing his own daughter. When the husband of a colleague quietly gives him a copy of the classified work she was doing before her mysterious suicide, Draman finally sees a glimmer of hope.  The conclusions are stunning, with the potential to not only turn the field of biology on its head, but reshape the world.  Soon, though, he finds himself on the run, relentlessly pursued by a seemingly omnipotent group of men who will do whatever it takes to silence him.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Release date: Dec 6, 2011
• ISBN: 9781455839896

Kyle Mills

Kyle Mills is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of twenty-three political thrillers, including Code Red, Total Power, Lethal Agent, and Red War for Vince Flynn and The Patriot Attack for Robert Ludlum. He initially found inspiration from his father, the former director of Interpol, and still draws on his contacts in the intelligence community to give his books such realism. Avid outdoor athletes, he and his wife split their time between Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and Granada, Spain. Visit his website at KyleMills.com or connect with him on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram @KyleMillsAuthor.  

[Dan Willett · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The characters came off as uninteresting, but not sure of that's the fault of writer or the narrator
I did not care for the narrator's performance at all.
Plot was mostly ridiculous with too many stretches virtually no twists - very predictable
Overall writing was OK, but terrible plot just seemed to suck any excitement or anticipation out of the enjoyment. Only kept listening to see how the story was wrapped up - which was alo vanilla!

[sdmis · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A random recommendation from Amazon that turned out to be a good read.

[picathartes · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

An endless stream of dead bodies... and then a happy ending. The underlying story is kind of interesting, but most of all of the book is over-the-top. Early on I was put off by the super genius who was challenged by the simplest chain of events and then his inability to connect the dots. There was some good good guys versus bad guys parts, and some good critical thinking parts, but I think that this story could have been written in an entirely different way and been a whole lot better. Just an okay read.

[kappadeemom · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Like Kyle Mills..if you like David Baldacci, you would like Kyle Mills.

[nosajeel · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

A preposterous plot from beginning to end with virtually no twists (beyond one utterly predictable one about one-third of the way through). Unfortunately, the first few scenes were quite good--beginning with the killing of a biologist, the shift in scene to another biologist and his 8 year-old daughter with progenia (which manifests itself as rapid, premature aging), and the handover of the first biologists thumb drive. But then a massive almost parody of a Dr. Evil global conspiracy starts chasing him--complete with a hidden Pacific island lair of the evil mastermind, an eccentric billionaire who also has his own private army, and people who dispatch armies to kill people left and right if they have the slightest connection to the fleeing biologist. All centering around a drug that is meant to reverse the aging process, making someone young and immortal. The chapters are rapid fire, short and action-filled, so in a sense it is a page turner, just a deeply dissatisfying one.

[chancemaree · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The plot and characters were okay, the writing competent, but nothing inspired or particularly thoughtful. I'm certain I'll forget everything about it tomorrow.

[jasonlf · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

A preposterous plot from beginning to end with virtually no twists (beyond one utterly predictable one about one-third of the way through). Unfortunately, the first few scenes were quite good--beginning with the killing of a biologist, the shift in scene to another biologist and his 8 year-old daughter with progenia (which manifests itself as rapid, premature aging), and the handover of the first biologists thumb drive. But then a massive almost parody of a Dr. Evil global conspiracy starts chasing him--complete with a hidden Pacific island lair of the evil mastermind, an eccentric billionaire who also has his own private army, and people who dispatch armies to kill people left and right if they have the slightest connection to the fleeing biologist. All centering around a drug that is meant to reverse the aging process, making someone young and immortal. The chapters are rapid fire, short and action-filled, so in a sense it is a page turner, just a deeply dissatisfying one.

[richardderus · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Rating: 2.375* of five

The Book Report: Progeria is a rare genetic disorder that causes the very young to age at a rate unimaginable to us normal folk. It is always fatal, and it can't even be ameliorated. It's a cruel, cruel disease, and since it's so extremely rare, no one in the drug industry cares enough to work on it, since there's not a profit to be made. (Typing that sentence made me nauseated.)

Researcher Richard Draman isn't one of those profit-driven asshats, because his daughter is a progeria sufferer. His old acquaintance Annette Chevalier, star geneticist and research superstar, kills herself suddlenly, and then her husband shows up on Richard's doorstep to give him a copy of all Annette's research. Which he takes, apparently without a qualm, and without thinking through what will inevitably occur since he's in possession of research conducted FOR someone BY someone neither of whom are him.

He then goes and shows the research to a shadowy figure from Annette's and his past, a man who was absolutely the top of the field, who **MYSTERIOUSLY DISAPPEARED** FOR TWENTY YEARS! I mean, this is as stupid as all those horror movie screamers who wear high heels for a walk in the forest. The dude DISAPPEARED and now reappears for no special reason? That should be a huge blinking red sign saying "stay away!" to a person who is in illegal possession of someone else's intellectual property.

Oh well, anyway, there's some other stuff that happens, and then the author got bored and slapped on an ending. It involves an idiotic reversal of fortune, and is more annoying to me than I can adequately express in words.

My Review: Great idea! Mediocre execution! HORRIBLE ending! Avoid like it has cooties!

[mckait · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This was an average thriller with a medical thread running through.
Susie had been born to Richard Draman, one of the top cancer researcher in the country. His
work was watched and was more promising than most, and he gave credit to his much higher than
average IQ. His intelligence, which got him into plenty of scrapes as a boy, also got him sent
to a boarding school where a teacher took Richard under his wing and the rest, as they way was history.

When Susie was born to Richard and his wife Carly, they knew immediately that she was one of the
few children in the world who suffered from Progeria, or rapid aging. Due to the fact that so few
children suffered from this disease, it got little notice from researchers. It also attracted little
money for anyone interested in doing such research, as Richard found when he left his lab and began
to research it himself. He was determined to save Susie and the other children he had come to know
with this disease.

After hearing of a death in the research community, a suicide, Draman was visited by the victims husband.
He brought with him a thumb drive that contained his wife's most recent work. He took it to Draman because
his reputation as a brilliant scientist was well known. And so began the thriller part of the novel.

This is not a bad book by any means. It just seems to sort of peter out after a while. It starts out
just fine and draws you in quickly. Then things just sort of begin to crumble. I can accept improbable...
this is a book, a story. In fact, improbable is intriguing when used skillfully. The premise that a
scientist was working on research that can turn back time, not only stop the aging process but reverse it,
is not new but it is interesting. The fact that something like that held promise to the victims of progeria
was not lost on Draman, and he was determined not to let anything stop him from completing what his colleague
had begun. Great!

What happened after they left their very ill daughter with a near stranger, (but darned nice guy) did
stretch my credibility just a bit too far.. especially what happened when they were making their way to
the one and only friend they had that might be able to help them. I won't spoil it for you, but it was a bit
much.

The ending ? I love a good strong ending in a book. This one did not have that. It seems that at a
certain point everything became about wrapping it up instead of finishing the story. Too bad... this
one had promise.