YMMV / The Clone

• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Dr. Agnew, for the way he loses his Agent Scully nature and then suffers a memorable Life-or-Limb Decision.
  • Dory Bornheim only shows up briefly, but is extremely well-liked for his action-packed yet tender efforts to save a class full of children from the monster.
• Fridge Logic: Since the main thing that the muriatic acid, trisodium phosphate and silica gel latch onto in order to create the clone was hamburger meat, doesn't this mean Chicago is under siege from what is basically a giant killer beef blob?
• Paranoia Fuel: The ending's warnings about all those hazardous chemicals still in the sewers and what they may yet create.
• Science Marches On: Thomas and Wilhelm's use of the word "clone" is based on an older definition, which is given in the page quote. At the time, cloning as we know it today— that is, creating a genetic replica of an individual— was not yet believed to be possible, and instead the word "clone" referred to anything that reproduced asexually, which is precisely what the monster in the book does.
• Tearjerker: The deaths of Dory and the little boy in the school. The way the authors describe him hugging and comforting the child as they're absorbed together is very moving. There's also the tragic fate of Dr. Almquist, who refused to abandon the patients at the hospital who were too sick to be moved when the authorities evacuated the building, the man who lost his entire family to the clone and throws himself to it in a fit of despair, and "Tiny" Andersen, who refuses to let his friend Frank Crewson try to save him after the clone has gotten his feet, lest he, too, get absorbed, complete with a surprisingly calm dying wish that Frank warn everyone not to touch the creature, indicating that he has accepted his fate and is ready to die.

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