Mr Frankenstein
by Richard Freeborn
Who is Joe Richter? Has he really been gifted with the power to be a Frankenstein, to create new life? Set in London, the south coast of England and in Los Angeles, Richter is Anglo-Russian, intelligent, recently sacked as a translator and lobbyist, assaulted and branded because he has translated an unusually sensitive historical document. Does Joe's DNA or bloodline relate him to a recently deceased relative who was supposed to have such powers? Aided by the CIA, he flies to California to perform an act of revitalisation, only to find that what this could mean for world politics also has a deeply troubling personal meaning for Joe himself. For adherents of a violent neo-Soviet cult Joe Richter is a cheat and so much bourgeois filth. For a wealthy American businessman it could mean big money. For a Russian oligarch it could mean enormous political power. For his mother it could mean happiness. For his girlfriend it could mean serious danger. For Joe himself it means that he has...