If you are a fan of Steven Segal movies and like to read, I might have a novel to recommend to you. DNA, a thriller written by W. Craig Reed, is action-packed, fast-paced and full of scenes that constantly bring Segal to mind. My mind, at least. Now, I will admit I'm not a huge Segal fan -- his movies tend to blur together in my head. Sometimes I can follow the plots, and sometimes I am not too sure what the story is about. Regardless, if Segal is in the movie, I can be pretty sure there will be a lot of fights and explosions, and the good guys will win in the end.

And so it is with DNA. Sometimes I can follow what is happening. Sometimes not. But no matter. Every couple of pages, I'm guaranteed some carnage.

The main character is Ensign George Anders. When the story begins in 1992, Anders is on a mission in Iraq with a Navy SEAL team, looking for a terrorist by the name of Fahkir Kaseem. Kaseem has a group of Russian scientists working on a bio-weapon for him to use against the West -- a weapon that's worse than any other ever created and is called, perhaps appropriately, Satan's Sister. When Anders and his team finally catch up to Kaseem, the battle is fierce and it appears the terrorist is stopped. There are battles not only in Iraq, but also in Russia (where not all the scientists are evil) and Korea. (The timeline there is a little confusing.)

Fast-forward a couple decades and it appears that the main antagonists are still alive. Plastic surgery has altered the appearances but not the personalities of several of them, and readers might be confused how certain characters survived almost certain death. This is where Reed brings in various myths of old that are, in actuality, quite real (at least in this story). Reed's descriptions of some of the old stories are a little light, so it sometimes seems he just kind of waves his hands and asks readers to accept whatever he's writing about. There are also a few too many of them -- St. Germain, the Elixir of Life, Sumerian myths and a few other items from the distant past. The novel does a terrible job connecting the dots between things that would normally appear to be disjointed.

The bulk of the story takes place in present-day Southern California. Kaseem is back from the dead, acting like a rich businessman who has the equipment to restart the production of Satan's Sister. (This persona happens to be gay. I don't understand how that added to the story, other than it shows the lengths Kaseem will go to for a cause he believes in, despite having to live a lifestyle he disdains.) Kaseem is also not the top of the evil food chain. It appears he has been controlled by a pair of sisters who are hundreds of years old. They believe that periodically the planet needs to be purged to some degree of its human inhabitants. Satan's Sister will reduce the population quite nicely. Too bad that pesky Anders will pop back up to once again thwart their plans.

Reed is a former U. S. Navy scuba diver and submariner with a lot of Cold War military experience under his belt. These days, his life is a little more subdued, writing action novels as well as nonfiction. While I personally did not care for DNA, I could see how it might appeal to some action buffs where the plot takes a back seat to the fight scenes.

The problem, for me, is not with Craig's writing. He is a decent author. My issue is more with the storyline. I like the medical science vs. religion aspect of the book. I even like the history vs. myth turned reality (as far as the book is concerned). Unfortunately, it is all a little much for just over 300 pages. There are a few too many gaps and not enough is fully explained, leaving me a little lost and disinterested. Promotional materials for DNA claim this book will appeal to fan's of the DaVinci Code and that it answers the question of Intelligent Design vs. Evolution. I have to say I disagree.