Books like Darwin's Radio

So I keep on reading Bear novels, feeling disappointed, waiting a while, then rinse and repeat.This time I've clarified why I am so ambivalent about this guy: he has fascinating ideas then writes dull books about them. The premise here is an extreme example. Our "junk" DNA turns out to be a collection of emergency rapid-response evolutionary accelerators - and the emergency response has just been triggered. Cue mysterious pregnancies, peculiar facial mutations and a really big scientific mystery that turns very political very fast. The detail is very convincing - Bear did a heap of research.But here's the problem: almost every event of a dramatic nature happens off-stage and the middle part of the book, between the initial scientific drama and the political nightmare at the end bogs down severely. (view spoiler)[Then, to add insult to injury, the book closes before the new generation of evolved humans reaches their teens, so the social consequences are not fully explored (but there is a sequel). It looks like things are heading into X-Men territory, but of course more seriously treated, or, more precisely, in the vein of Nancy Kress's Sleepless books. (hide spoiler)]