NONFICTION - April 7, 1996

BREAKTHROUGH: The Race to Find the Breast Cancer Gene by Kevin Davies and Michael White (Wiley: $24.95; 310 pp.). Because of recent advances in genetics, there is a new subgenre within scientific nonfiction: The search-for-the-gene book. Recently, a researcher named Nancy Wexler wrote her account of the discovery of the gene for Huntington’s disease, and another scientist, Dean Hamer, wrote of his findings concerning the “gay gene.” The newest addition to what will, no doubt, become an increasingly common story is “Breakthrough,” a detailed narrative chronicling the search for two breast cancer genes.

“Breakthrough” differs radically from the books mentioned above, a difference that, unfortunately, renders it much less effective. Wexler was at risk for Huntington’s, which gave her book an enormous sense of urgency, and Hamer, by the very nature of his search, was involved in many explosive issues. “Breakthrough” has no such hook. The book describes how a bunch of scientists eagerly competed to find the elusive genes and how eventually some lost and some won.

The elements missing in “Breakthrough” are partly compensated for in sections detailing exactly what having the gene means, along with various ethical questions surrounding screening procedures. However, this is basically a technical book with a specific, somewhat limited appeal.