the-chemist

2 stars.

Meh. This book was mostly a disappointment. It couldn’t figure out what it wanted to be. Is it a spy thriller? A mystery? A romance? It was a mish mash of all of these genres, and none of them were done well. The first hundred pages or so were so slow and boring, I almost gave up then. I pushed through, hoping it would get better. Sadly, it didn’t.

“Alex” is a bright medical student that is recruited by a clandestine government organization to create biochemical weapons and “interrogate” suspected terrorists and criminals. At the beginning of the book she is on the run from the very government that recruited and hired her. They are trying to kill her for some unknown reason. She is contacted by an old contact and told that they want her to come into the fold and help thwart an immediate threat and all will be forgiven. She is suspicious that it’s a trap, but goes forward with the plan anyway. Alex kidnaps a young teacher, Daniel, that is suspected of trafficking in bio weapons. She tortures Daniel only to discover (surprise) he’s an innocent and his CIA trained twin brother (Kevin) finds them and rescues Daniel. Yeah. You read that right. Twin brother. CIA trained. Mistaken identity. But wait, it gets “better”. Alex and Daniel fall in love. Yep. He loves his torturer. (insert eye roll here) Kevin and Alex hate each other, and yet they team up to fight the bad guys – whoever they are. The rest of the book is a whodunit chase to find out “why do they want to kill us?”

Blech, don’t bother with this book. I took one for the team by reading it for you, so you don’t have to.
512 pages