In the near future, parents no longer leave their children's genes to chance. They pick them off the shelf, cloned from history's greatest figures, and within a generation the world is full of Lennons, Lincolns and Gandhis. The catch: when everyone is a genius, almost everyone is ordinary. Most John Lennons play for kids at the mall, most Margaret Thatchers wait tables, and humanity has never felt more like a letdown.

Lev Binder, 46, a clone of a former Israeli prime minister, is a private eye who has failed even at that. He's divorced, broke, and locking up after another empty day when Miri Kimelman, 52, grabs his elbow. Miri was the first clone ever born, the original Marilyn Monroe copy, and once the country's darling, until her affair with an underage Lev made her a national cautionary tale. Now she's the most wanted woman in Israel, accused of murdering her father, Noah Kimelman, the visionary who invented the technology that made them both. The DNA at the scene belongs to Marilyn Monroe. There are thousands of Marilyns, but only one was Noah's daughter.

Lev could turn her in and buy a yacht. Instead, unable to let her down a second time, he sets out to clear her name, through a Tel Aviv crowded with second-rate Martin Luther Kings and Barbara Walters.

THE DISAPPOINTMENTS is a tongue-in-cheek futuristic noir, Raymond Chandler meets Philip K. Dick. Beneath it lies a story about a fear almost all of us share: that we've failed to live up to what we were made to be.

Praise:

“THE DISAPPOINTMENTS, in complete contrast to its name, is one of the most fun surprises of the year. A comic thriller with futuristic sci-fi winks, which heroically escaped every possible trap of genre-mixing – and the result is simply perfect in its blended genre. The dialogue is brilliant, the plot twists are sophisticated and full of inventions, the suspense soars, the characters are convincing and even touching, and the genuine sadness that gripped me when all this goodness came to an end is a rare thing. May all our disappointments look like this, from now to eternity.” —Maariv

“THE DISAPPOINTMENTS by Ofer Seker is a smart, original futuristic detective novel about a world in which famous figures are genetically replicated in order to produce more successful children. Strange and unsettling at first, but the execution is brilliant.” —Yedioth Ahronoth

“There is really no way to be disappointed by a book with a name like that. For all its noir-ness it is highly amusing, full of humor, including cynical, parodic humor about itself and about human folly. I find it hard to believe you will be disappointed. —Makor Rishon

“A well-written sci-fi-noir novel with an intriguing premise — and above all it is funny and fun from start to finish, still not a very common thing in original Israeli fiction, within the genre or in general.” —Israel Hayom

“Philip K. Dick meets Douglas Adams meets The Big Lebowski meets the sweat, grime and tahini stains of south Tel Aviv. A funny, surprising, brilliant detective mystery built on an ambitious, original sci-fi premise. I devoured it. It is anything but a disappointment. Can’t wait for the movie.” —Yishai Kiczales, film critic for Israel Hayom

 “A highly original and very well written sci-fi detective novel.” —Dror Mishani, author

“Crime mixed with slapstick: suspenseful, funny, and very, very enjoyable.” —Matan Hermoni, author