Joel Shulkin

Complex Story With More Action Than Medical. I came into this book after having won an ARC of it in the Readers Coffeehouse (Facebook group) Great Big Book Giveaway Day 2022 and having not read Book 1 (Adverse Effects). Honestly, with the amount of story that happened before this book began (that gets repeatedly referenced when necessary here - in case anyone wants to avoid spoilers from that book), it seemed like this book was *much* deeper into the series than just Book 2. I honestly show more thought this was somewhere in the Book 3 - 5 range as I was reading it.

And while the overall story here is absolutely more action based than medical - though there is certainly a major medical mystery happening - and *is* very complex (more complex than say a typical Crichton, less complex than say a Robert Ludlum Bourne series book), it is also quite interesting and compelling. Shulkin here manages to take some scifi-ish concepts (ala, arguably most famously, Total Recall) and combine them with some more modern dissociative identity stories (ala Kerry Lonsdale's Everything trilogy) to create an innovative mythos and rare (in my vast reading) hero and villain who each share the same condition and use it in completely different ways.

As complex as this is - and perhaps those coming from Book 1 won't find it as complex - this is also one of the more interesting overall mythoi I've found in recent years, and I will absolutely be back for the next book, whenever that may come. Very much recommended. show less

When a soldier wakes up in the middle of his autopsy medical examiner Stephen (who has been fighting to be able to examine him since his supposed name and description and body don't match up) is understandably shocked and uncertain of what to do. Some dangerous people are unhappy when he decides to investigate and stumbles onto the existence of a supersoldier program. And the answers to his questions become both more important and difficult to find.

I struggled a bit when rating this one. show more Although I wasn't a massive fan of the fist few chapters there was nothing inheritably wrong about this book. It was long but there was enough excitement to keep me interested in what was happening, even if points were a little cliched or predictable. And I really liked the inclusion of Sharon's perspective to provide another point of view and a less info dumpy way of providing some of the answers. The super soldier program was interesting, even if the technology was not the most believable. But overall it didn't quite all come together in the way I hoped it would from the description. The middle was the strongest part in my opinion although it is possible that parts were still being edited before the final version (the ARC did have some highlights toward the end which needed some fixing). I also think that some of the characters could have been fleshed out a bit more. Overall not a bad read and probably worth checking out if the idea interests you. It goes by a lot faster than the page count suggests! I do wish it had worked a bit better for me though.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. As always, all opinions are my own. show less

Meh. The initial premise of an investigative military forensic surgeon is interesting and the military descriptions and details taken form the author's own experiences lend an air of plausibility. Sadly the balance between that and the superpowered conspiracy never worked. A surgeon is the worst character to portray the putative descriptions of biological modifications, none of which were believable. It would have been better to wave a hand and say technology.

Not a series or author I'll be show more continuing to read, but to anyone who doesn't care about biology and does like superpower stories with an air of political corruption perhaps it isn't the worst option. The basics of the storytelling were not badly done. show less

This book is about a psychiatrist participating in a study on an experimental drug to help amnesia patients regain their memories. Herself a survivor of a traumatic injury in a wreck that killed her parents, she begins taking the drug herself. When two of her patients kill themseles she begins to get worried. When a mysterious hobo begins following her she gets scared. Then she starts having violent nightmares. Are these all connected? Is the drug the cause? She must find out if she wants to show more survive.
I love medical mysteries and I hate Big Pharma so this book sounded perfect for me. I did enjoy it but it had some problems. First, the technical descriptions about how the drug works will bog some readers down. I am a pharmacist so I understood them but the average reader may not. Next, the characters. They were good, but there were a lot of them and they weren't always what they seemed. This led to some confusion but maybe that is the whole point as the drug made the users confused. At times I felt like I was on a bad LSD trip. Lastly, the plots twists, and there were many, were hard to follow if you put the book down and came back to it later. It is best read in one or two sittings. In the end, I got it. I think.
On the whole I enjoyed the book. It is a good look at what greed and an unscrupulous drug company can do. It is obvious the author knows his subject. Though at times I was confused, looking back I realized that made the book more real. It misses the mark of being a truly great medical thriller (like Coma, the book that started my love of the genre) but it was still an enjoyable and worthwhile read. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an early copy. show less