House+of+the+Scorpion

El Patron is 140 years old. He is the most powerful man in Opium. His mind and body are failing. If he doesn't get a transplant, he will die.

Opium is a small stripe of poppy fields between the United States and what was once called mexico. Opium is controlled by a group of drug dealers growing their goods in fields havested and cared for by eejits. The eejits are worked to near death, and when they die they are left to rot and sink under the poppy fields. However, eejits don't care. They sleep in mud huts, are feed food pellets, don't get paid, and live in constant threat of death from noxious fumes surrounding their homes. They don't care.

They can't. Eejits have computer chips planted in thier brains so they do whatever they are told. They are maintenance for the few oasis's in the desert landscape. These oasis's are homes to the drug lords of Opium, and El patron has the largest. These mansions are well furnised and have luxuries like pianos, pools, exotic plants, fountains, and large stateus. El Patron also has a hospital, factories, a school, and a landing pad for hovercars on his estate.

When anyone in a drug lords family gets sick, they are given an immeadiate transplant. The new organ, bone, muscle, or anything involved in the transplant will immeadistely fit as well as the sick one did. That's because they are exactly the same. All transplant's in Opium come from clones. Clones grow in a petri dish until they are large enough to be transplanted into a cow. The cow is later killed so the clones can emerge as newborns. By law clones are mearked on their feet and thier intelligence is stunted. El Patron is powerful enough to break the law though, Matteo Alacran is allowed to grow up with his full inteligence.

As he grows he learns about the estate and what he is. He is protected by El Patrons Body guards and soon learns about his skills in music, survival, and math. Untill El Patron needs a new heart. Now he has to escape. As he runs he is helped by his few friends untill he reaches the border to Atzlan (Mexico). Along the way he is attacked by border guards, and winds up in a shrimp factory, untill he is able to find an old friend. He learns the truth about himself and winds up in a position where he can save hundreds of people.

The book is very exciting and suspensful. I recomend it to anyone looking for a good read.

---Jon---

Reply by Jay Haft I think this book is very good because it sounds very exciting. Some of it sounds realistic. I think Jon has explained the book very well. He has shown more than the main idea of the book. I like science fiction books, and this sounds like a very good one. What I think is unrealistic is that a man can live to 140. It doesn't sound like he is about to die of old age. The book sounds intense and interesting.

Reply by Danny Hayes- This sounds like a very interesting book that I now consider going out and buying. Jon's review makews this book sound like something I would be very interested in. He explained the setting very well and didn't give away too much of the ending. I have heard good thongs about this book and now I'm even more interested.