It’s something I aspire to in my own writing, and the following are great examples.

Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton

Of course this made the list. What’s not to like? T- rexes gobbling up hubristic scientists and rampaging through a theme park.

The premise? Dinosaurs, cloned from fossilised DNA, have been installed in Jurassic Park: a Disney-type adventure world, from which they inevitably escape…

First published 22 years ago, the film adaptation of this and Crichton’s Jurassic sequel, The Lost World, (not to mention subsequent Disney rides), had millions of us jumping off our seats. Apparently, when Crichton first wrote this story, his trusted readers hated it. He changed the perspective from a child’s to an adult’s, and the rest, as they say, is history. (Btw, you do know some scientists are actually trying to do this, right?)

Blade Runner/ Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, Philip K. Dick

This is probably my favourite film ever. When I first saw it, I rushed out to buy the book it was based on, written in 1968, can you believe.

It is a tribute to Ridley Scott’s 1982 epic that it still looks and feels frighteningly real.

Genetically augmented humans, called replicants, serve humanity in preassigned roles, with only a four-year life-span. But their creator’s quest for perfection (Tyrell) is his nemesis. Tyrell’s latest model, Nexus-6, is vastly superior to humans, and perhaps unsurprisingly, these replicants reject their servitude and come looking for him to set them free. The eponymous blade runner is a futuristic bounty hunter, paid to seek out and destroy unruly replicants, identifying them using a specially designed test of their emotional responses. But it is the blade runner’s own responses that are ultimately challenged when he finally tracks them down. Breathtaking.

Oryx and Crake, Margaret Atwood

If you want an apocalyptic vision of genetic engineering run amok, then check out Atwood’s MaddAddam Trilogy, starting here.

There are many haunting aspects of this book. Our entire population appears to have been wiped out bar one solitary tramp called Snowman. Snowman has become an unwilling figurehead for engineered human-like creatures, whose adult males wave their bright blue penises around in bizarre courting rituals. (Definitely haunting). Then there are the frivolous genetic experiments on animals, and of course, the pigoons: transgenic pigs with human brain tissue.

Originally hosts for human organs (sound familiar?) they display a dangerous combination of primate cunning and porcine savagery, including a taste for the last remaining human… Atwood constructs a riveting but cautionary end-of-the-world tale that could just happen.

Gattaca, written and directed by Andrew Niccol

Gattaca is a visionary film about the “genobility”: where humans are ranked by their DNA, and only those with the best genes land the best jobs. Vincent was conceived naturally, and is therefore considered genetically inferior, but he still harbours a burning ambition to join the Gattaca space programme. He does a deal with an engineered member of the genetic elite called Jerome, who has been paralysed after an accident. Vincent assumes Jerome’s genetic status using his blood, urine and hair samples, but an eyelash left at the scene of a murder he didn’t commit threatens to ruin everything.

Gattaca portrays important themes about eugenics and inequality, illustrating why none of us wants to live in a Gattaca world any time soon.

Change Agent, Daniel Suarez

A rollicking rollercoaster of a read, where nefarious gangs traffic humans for genetic experiments and businessmen make a mint on the black market by designing children with enhanced capabilities and traits.

Suarez takes us across the globe in this fast-paced action-thriller as Kenneth Durand, head of Interpol’s genetic crimes division, races to put a halt to this illegal industry.

The book’s momentum is fuelled by the fact that Durand himself is unwittingly the victim of a change agent which transforms his DNA into that of his number one suspect: head of the powerful Huli jing cartel. Another prophetic read, with unnerving insights into current gene-editing technology.

Off Target is out now from Orenda Books.

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Now you can have a whole load more iconic Jurassic Park imagery with The Folio Society’s special edition of Michael Crichton’s original novel. Marking the 30th anniversary of the classic theme park tale, this special edition is full of brand new illustrations that will take you straight to Isla Nublar.

Check out some images from the special edition of Jurassic Park right here…

This new edition is immersive as soon as you wrap your hands around the book’s ‘dinosaur skin’-esq slip and noting the distressed safari font on the spine. That texture is still there on the book cover itself and the dramatic black-and-white title page lets you know immediately that this isn’t going to be a sweet tale of a theme park adventure. This edition also includes six striking images from artist Vector That Fox, which are all anatomically correct, as palaeontologist Steve Brusatte (who specialises in the anatomy and evolution of dinosaurs) worked closely with the artist to ensure that the illustrations were accurate.

Alongside the images, this edition also features retro recreations of the computer graphics as described in the novel, transporting you right back to the Nineties (if you were around at that time) – to the birth of the computer age, when wonders like creating dinosaurs through genetics began to seem possible.

Michael Crichton was a gifted storyteller (with a thing for theme parks – he also wrote the movie Westworld) and this is a vivid story of the dangers of genetic engineering that combines science and adventure. It elevates our obsession with dinosaurs and takes readers on a dangerous journey while making us ponder certain ethical questions.

Crichton’s novel spawned a global movie franchise that still continues today and this is where it all started. Thirty years later, the novel’s themes are just as relevant as they were back then and The Folio’s Society edition of Jurassic Park is the perfect companion to either reacquaint or introduce you to this visionary classic.

The Folio Society edition of Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park, illustrated by Vector That Fox, is available exclusively from www.FolioSociety.com

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