Review by Booklist Review
This is a big novel crammed into a small space. The story is intriguing a medical researcher gets caught up in a conspiracy that puts his life and that of his young daughter at risk but it feels rushed. There is a bare minimum of character development, and the story sort of lurches along, driven more by the author's need to get characters from one place to another than by any natural sequence of events. There are elements, too, of what Roger Ebert calls the Idiot Plot a plot that requires the characters to be idiots, or the story would be over especially a scene early on in which Richard Draman, the protagonist, does something that is, for a man as intelligent as he, unbelievably careless and stupid (but, if he doesn't do it, the story can't get going). It's not a bad novel, but it is definitely a sloppy one, not up to Mills' usual standards. What it does have going for it is a story that is interesting enough to keep readers involved despite the shortcomings. Recommendable, with appropriate caveats, to fans of medical thrillers (like those of, say, Robin Cook).--Pitt, David Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Crisp writing and plotting lift this medical thriller from bestseller Mills (Darkness Falls). Brilliant microbiologist Richard Draman has the most personal of reasons to find a cure for the rare disease progeria. The ailment, which radically accelerates the aging process, has afflicted his eight-year-old daughter, Susie. Given the extremely modest numbers of its victims, research funding is always at a premium, but Draman has managed to hold things together at his lab near Baltimore. The precariousness of the Dramans' lives is exacerbated when Troy Chevalier, the widower of a scientific colleague, asks for help investigating his wife's death, officially ruled a suicide. Chevalier gives Draman a thumb drive with data she was working on, but Draman's first step to understand what's on it leads to his arrest for industrial espionage. Things only get worse from there as the threats escalate to violence aimed at Draman and his loved ones. The plot may lack originality, but the ingenuity of the beleaguered protagonist, plus booster shots of realism, make this an enjoyable read. (Dec.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
