Expiry Date

When Matt Norton's body is discovered washed up on a riverbank, it is the shocking end to a short and tragic life. Matt suffered from a rare ageing disorder called progeria; still at primary school, he had the body of a seventy-five year old. His father Andrew can't believe it - especially when he learns that his son's death might not have been accidental . . .

Gene-therapy is as much about spin as it is about research, especially on a project as exciting as NP3. For Dr Lorna Reid has discovered nothing less than the elusive elixir vitae: a miracle anti-ageing drug that puts back by decades the expiry date genetically written into our DNA.

But not everyone is as thrilled as the media are by Lorna's scientific breakthroughs. Health insurers are all too aware of the devastating impact her work could have on their multi-billion dollar industry - an industry that some are prepared to go to any length to protect.

Unless she is extremely careful, the world's foremost anti-ageing guru is about to find her own life-expectancy drastically reduced . . .