Who is L. A. Larkin?
Thriller author, L.A. Larkin, has been likened to Michael Crichton and John Grisham. Her current novel, The Genesis Flaw, received glowing reviews and has been nominated for four crime writing awards. She appeared in Australia’s leading current affairs program, Today Tonight, with her hacker source, with whom she worked to create the mesmerising hacking scenes.
This British-born author studied literature at the University of London, graduating with honours. Whilst travelling the world, she fell in love with Sydney and emigrated to Australia in 1998. After a successful career in magazine publishing, where she became publisher, L.A. Larkin returned to university to study corporate responsibility, sustainability and strategic public relations at the University of Sydney. She was awarded a merit scholarship for academic excellence. She went on to work for one of Australia’s leading climate change consultancies.
She now divides her time between writing thrillers, her public speaking engagements and running thriller writing courses. She has been invited to speak at numerous writers’ festival both in Australia and in the UK and has run thriller writing workshops in England. She is a member of Australia’s Sisters In Crime and the UK’s Crime Writers’ Association.
Her next thriller, Thirst, is set in Antarctica. It is a tale of survival against all odds and one man’s battle to prevent a global catastrophe. To research Thirst, she spent time in Antarctica, learned about crevasse rescue and how to sew up a wound. She, also, had several cryptic conversations with explosives experts. She is sure she must have set off alarm bells by now!
‘L.A. Larkin’s The Genesis Flaw combines corporate dystopia and the moral fringes of bio-science to create a savvy, entertaining environmental thriller.’ The Age
‘Smart, well-researched science creates a solid bedrock for this pacy thriller which deserves comparisons to Michael Crichton and John Grisham.’ ABC radio
‘A sweaty-palm, page-turner with short chapters and loads of action. It’s the literary equivalent of The Day After Tomorrow or Lost; exciting, compulsive reading.’ Bookseller + Publisher
The story behind The Genesis Flaw
"A number of years ago I did some voluntary work for Greenpeace and this gave me the opportunity to speak to world renowned geneticists, many of whom had originally believed that genetically modified (GM) food was the way to feed our growing global population. But, when they did their lab tests they became increasingly alarmed by the potential health and environmental impacts. What concerned me was the apparent lack of truly independent research that proved GM was safe to eat, and, also, safe to be released into our environment. Greenpeace tells me (May 2010) that the Australian Government still relies solely on corporate data to approve GM foods.
I combed though oodles of articles and scientific papers, both for and against GM crops, and I was fascinated to learn that parts of viruses (including hepatitis) can be used in transgenes (which contain genes from another species), and that some scientists believe gene transfer from plant to human gut bacteria is possible.
At this point, I have to state very clearly that the biotech company and genetically engineered products and processes in The Genesis Flaw were all created in my head. Other people’s research and articles fired up my imagination and I created a fictional world in which the outbreak of an incurable hepatitis pandemic is the result of a genetic engineering process. But I won't say any more, as it will give away the plot..."