James Calder. Knockout Mouse (2002) 272 pp.
Bill Damen, a documentary filmmaker in San Francisco, gets drawn into the high-stakes world of biotechnology when he accepts a job filming an “industrial” for a Silicon Valley firm. After one of the research scientists, a molecular biologist he meets at a dinner party hosted by his girlfriend, dies of an allergic reaction to a food she has not eaten, Bill suspects murder and starts to investigate. He follows a trail that leads from cancer research to genetic engineering, exposing a cover-up—and a motive—along the way.