Invasive Procedures (novel)

Invasive Procedures, a medical thriller published in 2007, was co-authored by Americans Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston. The novel expands on Card's earlier short story "Malpractice," which was published in Analog magazine in 1977. The story follows George Galen, a Nobel Prize-winning geneticist who worked on the Human Genome Project. Believing he can steer humanity toward a better future through genetic manipulation, Galen vanishes from public life.

Plot

He continues his research in secret, creating a virus called V16 that can deliver specific genes into human cells. Each version of V16 must be customized for a particular patient; it can cure that person's genetic disorder but is immediately fatal to anyone else, triggering a severe immune reaction as the body fights the virus's attempt to alter its DNA. Galen dispatches agents known as Healers to collect DNA from potential patients. When a disorder stems from a correctable defect, Galen engineers a tailored V16, which the Healer administers along with instructions on avoiding infection risks.

Galen's ambitions extend further. He orchestrates the kidnapping of five individuals—Byron (a lawyer who is not actually homeless), Dolores, Hal (a violent alcoholic), and teenagers Jonathan and Nick—four of whom are homeless, with the fifth mistaken for one. He also abducts Monica Owens, a talented cardiothoracic surgeon, and her son Wyatt, using threats against the boy to force Monica's cooperation. Weeks earlier, virologist and soldier Frank Hartman received samples of a dangerous virus.

Working at Fort Detrick, he develops a cure: another virus that can enter a patient's cells and destroy V16. Hartman later learns his original samples came from the BioHazard Agency (BHA), a government branch handling biowarfare. The BHA, already investigating the Healers, transfers Hartman to their Los Angeles facility to continue work on V16. Galen's ultimate plan is to achieve a form of immortality by creating five copies of himself from the kidnapped individuals.

Monica Owens is forced to transplant organs from Galen into these people. The organs are treated with V16, which is engineered to rewrite the recipients' genetic codes to match Galen's. The organs also carry a healing ability Galen gave himself using earlier versions of his virus, preventing the new hosts from dying during the genetic rewrite.