This book surprised me. I wasn't feeling very optimistic about it as I neared the climax, but I was pleasantly surprised by how it ended. This book wasn't 100% medical -- there was a nice side-story about the Salem witch trials. I only give it 3 stars because I've decided I don't like how Robin Cook writes women. They always seem to be indecisive and overly-emotional and rather irrational. ( )

“Acceptable Risk” is part historical mystery and part medical thriller. It is about Kim, a woman who explores her own identity by researching the mystery of her ancestor Elizabeth’s alleged execution as a witch. Meanwhile, her boyfriend Edward succumbs to the financial allure of high-profile drug development. His research proceeds with supernatural velocity, propelling him and his research team into unethical, and tragic, methods. As a fellow medical scientist, I found the description of drug development a little unsettling and unreal. His eerie successes and failures parallel the dark supernaturalness of the Salem witchcraft trials. In this book, Cook questions the ethics behind development of million-dollar drugs and the safety of casual use of psychoactive drugs. Although the plot was not as fast-paced or eerily believable as some of Cook’s other books, the historical mystery was a refreshing change from main-stream medical thrillers. ( )

Very interesting take on the Salem witch trials. A real page turner. ( )