From Publishers Weekly
Arthur C. Clarke Award-winner McAuley (Whole Wide World) delivers a grim and gruesome near-future thriller, in which a series of devastating plagues, some natural, some manmade, have spread across the earth. In Africa, where civil wars rage out of control and an enormous Dead Zone stretches across the continent, transnational corporations have taken over several nations, using them to conduct experiments in genetic engineering that are illegal elsewhere. Nicholas Hyde, part of a team sent to investigate a massacre, discovers that the dead have been horribly mauled, their skulls smashed and their brains removed. When gun-wielding primates the size of 10-year-old children with enormous claws and teeth-the white devils-attack the team, Hyde is one of the few survivors. On returning to what passes for civilization, he's appalled to learn that the powers-that-be refuse to believe his story, insisting that the hideous creatures were merely enemy soldiers in disguise. Obsessed with a need to speak for the dead, Nicholas, who has his own dark secret to hide, sets out to uncover the truth about the white devils. Though more complex than necessary, this novel serves as a powerful warning about the sinister possibilities inherent in genetic engineering. FYI: McAuley has also won the Philip K. Dick and John W. Campbell awards.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


From Bookmarks Magazine
With its mantra against genetic engineering, White Devils raises natural comparisons to the works of Michael Crichton and, with its leap into Africa's modern heart of darkness, Joseph Conrad. Critics agree that McAuley, a British biologist-turned-award-winning SF writer, has written a minor thriller masterpiece. It's smart, appropriately sinister, and has a plot that "roars along like a bushfire, crackling with fast and brutal action" (Guardian). McAuley's message is clear--runaway genetic engineering leads to no good, not to mention plastic vegetation. His examination of biotechnology's implications complements other provoking themes, including lost childhood innocence and the ethics of military conflict. But McAuley's no alarmist. After reading this thriller, you'll see him as a realist. Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.


From Booklist
In a world turned upside down by Black Flu, civil wars, and escaped biotechnology, mild-mannered Nicholas Hyde is investigating a massacre in the Green Congo when his team is attacked by fierce, apelike "white devils" and narrowly escapes with a few others, including an infant survivor of the massacre. The government tries to convince him that the attackers were child soldiers painted white to frighten the superstitious. He is unconvinced, and when the infant disappears into a military hospital, he determines to get to the bottom of the white-devil business. In a bloody journey through the jungle and the "dead zone," where the plants have turned to plastic, thanks to escaped genetically engineered organisms, he discovers a web of deception and illegal genengineering that members of the government know about. Besides the governmental and corporate corruption, Nicholas uncovers some family secrets that cost him some soul-searching. McAuley serves up a frighteningly believable future, and his good grasp of thriller pacing keeps us interested. Regina Schroeder
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Review
"Stunning proof that McAuley now leads the world in science thrillers. Not just a gripping, insightful novel, but a genuinely important book. Jaw-droppingly good."


Book Description
Plague, civil war, and uncontrolled experiments in genetic engineering have caused widespread chaos and devastation throughout Africa. Nicholas Hyde is part of a team of forensic pathologists investigating a massacre in the swamp forest of the northern Congo when an armed band of ferocious ape-like creatures attack. Nick survives, but finds that he's at the center of a massive cover-up.

For although the "white devils" that killed Nick's friends were almost certainly the result of illegal genetic manipulation, Obligate, the environmentally conscious transnational now controlling this part of the Congo, denies that they exist, and ruthlessly suppresses all evidence to the contrary. Although he has secrets of his own to conceal, Nick becomes determined to uncover the origin of the mysterious creatures -- and why certain individuals are prepared to resort to murder to bury the truth.

But even the atrocities he has already witnessed cannot prepare him for the terrifying secrets he uncovers on his journey into the wrecked heart of Africa, and the birthplace of the white devils.



About the Author
Paul McAuley is the author of numerous science fiction novels, including Whole Wide World, The Secret of Life, and the acclaimed Confluence Trilogy. He has a Ph.D. in botany and has worked as a researcher in biology at various universities, including Oxford and UCLA. He lives in London.

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
A visionary tour de force. An edge-of-your-seat roller-coaster ride that will leave you breathless and begging for more. No, these aren't reviews for the latest billion-dollar blockbuster motion picture; it's praise for Paul McAuley's White Devils, a biotechnological thriller that is guaranteed to chill readers to the bone.

In a near future that sees Africa a lawless wasteland after plagues wipe out nearly half a billion people and civil wars make warlords nearly omnipotent, an environmentally conscious transnational corporation has taken over the Congo in a putative attempt to save its people and rebuild its economy using ecologically friendly business principles. But in a land where illegal biotechnological experiments have killed millions and turned hundreds of acres of rainforest into a postapocalyptic nightmare called the Dead Zone, no one is to be trusted.

As part of a small team sent into a remote part of the Congo to investigate a massacre, British researcher Nicholas Hyde discovers that the dead have been brutally mauled. Someone -- or something -- has ripped them apart, bashed in their skulls, and eaten their brains. While examining the site, Nicholas and his party are attacked by a band of what appear to be white, hairless chimpanzees: except that they are much bigger, have needlelike fangs -- and carry automatic weapons.

A standout among McAuley's brilliant books, White Devils addresses controversial, timely themes from cloning and gene hacking to bioterrorism and body modification. It is a powerful and thought-provoking thriller. Paul Goat Allen

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The Congo, roughly thirty years from now. Plague, civil war, and rampant genetic engineering have spawned widespread chaos and devastation throughout Africa. Nicholas Hyde is investigating a reported massacre in a remote corner of the Congo when his team is attacked by a band of fierce apelike creatures, possibly the result of illegal genetic experimentation on chimpanzees. Nick survives the encounter, only to discover himself at the center of a massive cover-up.

Obligate, the supposedly eco-friendly transnational that now controls the Congo, denies the existence of the "white devils," and will stop at nothing to suppress all evidence to the contrary. Although Nick has secrets of his own to conceal, he becomes determined to uncover the origin of the mysterious creatures - and why certain individuals will kill to bury the truth.

But even the atrocities he has already witnessed cannot prepare him for the terrifying secret of the white devils.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Arthur C. Clarke Award-winner McAuley (Whole Wide World) delivers a grim and gruesome near-future thriller, in which a series of devastating plagues, some natural, some manmade, have spread across the earth. In Africa, where civil wars rage out of control and an enormous Dead Zone stretches across the continent, transnational corporations have taken over several nations, using them to conduct experiments in genetic engineering that are illegal elsewhere. Nicholas Hyde, part of a team sent to investigate a massacre, discovers that the dead have been horribly mauled, their skulls smashed and their brains removed. When gun-wielding primates the size of 10-year-old children with enormous claws and teeth-the white devils-attack the team, Hyde is one of the few survivors. On returning to what passes for civilization, he's appalled to learn that the powers-that-be refuse to believe his story, insisting that the hideous creatures were merely enemy soldiers in disguise. Obsessed with a need to speak for the dead, Nicholas, who has his own dark secret to hide, sets out to uncover the truth about the white devils. Though more complex than necessary, this novel serves as a powerful warning about the sinister possibilities inherent in genetic engineering. (Feb. 24) FYI: McAuley has also won the Philip K. Dick and John W. Campbell awards. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

The African continent suffers from plague, civil war, and unchecked genetic experimentation. Sent to investigate a particularly heinous crime in the Congo, Nicholas Hyde and his team come under attack by a group of apelike creatures and find themselves in the middle of a government conspiracy to hide its actions from the common people. The author of the "Confluence" trilogy and Whole Wide World raises many important issues, such as the ethics of genetic manipulation, in an sf thriller that belongs in most libraries. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews