James Kinnee

The Bastards Club James Kinnee

The Bastards Club Synopsis Morgan MacMillan is traumatized as a boy by his fathers death. He is unaware it was a suicide triggered by a sexual condition he has unfortunately inherited. His mothers affair with a Wall Street Investment banker pushed his father over the edge. Guilt felt by both his mother and the banker lead to Morgan being taken into the bank as a protege. Unable to function in a relationship with a woman he devotes his energies to accumulating wealth. He gains the approval of his mentor by blackmailing the founder of what will become an enormous corporation. Morgan proves himself to very capable and becomes a billionaire. Morgan has an abnormal fear of death. When he hears about a Russian scientist, Dr. Yvgeni Yakushev who claims to have discovered a means to extend life he has him smuggled out of Russia. The scientist brings with him a boy whom the Russian Mensa Institute has determined to have the finest mind in the world. The boy has solved what had been thought to be an unsolvable mathematical problem. Yvgeni arranges to collect a large cash prize for himself through a third party but is cheated out of most of the money. Morgan purchases an estate in Upper New York state and gives the Russians an unlimited budget to set up a lab where they can pursue their work. The Russians pursue science with no regard for the consequences of their experiments. Morgan deviously brings New York detective Lee Branson into his employ. Finally the Russians make the breakthrough they have theorized. But they have a problem. They need human beings to conduct their experiments on. Morgan devises a scheme to kidnap homeless people and provide them to the Russians. He tells his detective they will be used in a special program he is funding to help people with addictions. Morgan has Lee investigate a NCAA champion swimmer Seth Ryan who has no family connections to come into his firm as his personal assistant. The young man is everything physically that Morgan is not. The discovery the Russians have made is they can transfer thoughts from one person to another. They are able to do this by using a type of jellyfish that never dies and implanting a brain within it. The jellyfish live within large glass vessels filled with perfluorcarbon which is an oxygen enriched liquid that is breathable. He devises a plan where he will leave through his will his tremendous wealth to Seth, whose body he is going to assume. He will allow his own body to die along with the young mans thoughts. An unexpected incident takes place after Morgans thoughts are placed in Seths body. An accident in the lab places Seths thoughts in Morgans old and dying body. Seth escapes the laboratory and makes his way back to New York. Morgans plan is foiled, without the dead body he can't begin the process of starting his will through probate so he can inherit his own wealth. Morgan hires Attilio "Big Belly" Mazzini a New York mafia boss and his organization to find his old body and either kill it or bring it to Morgan so he can do it. Seth convinces his girlfriend of what has happened and enlists her help. Lee finally discovers the evil that Morgan has done and races to find the old mans body containing Seth before "Big Belly" does. Lee finds the old body and they formulate a plan to trick Morgan to come back to the laboratory. The Russians have come to mistrust Morgan and are recruited to help right the wrong they have committed. They fall upon Morgan when he arrives and Seth gets his body back. Before Morgans mind can be transferred from the jellyfish back into his old body it dies. Morgan is left living inside the jellyfish. His mother and several of the homeless people who have suffered the same fate are still alive within their own jellyfish. The young man will be surprised to learn he will inherit Morgans wealth. The book is full of characters who deserve to be described as "Bastards" for the ethical compromises they make to gain wealth and power.