Review by Marion Jepkosgei -- The Prize
Posted: 21 Jun 2020, 11:36
[Following is a volunteer review of "The Prize" by Geoffrey M Cooper.]
The Prize by Geoffrey M Cooper is a medical thriller that features two medical researchers Dr Eric Prescott and Dr Pamela Weller, at the peak of their research towards the discovery of a drug for the Alzheimer's disease. Pamela is a faculty member at Harvard Langmere Institute for Neuroscience while Eric is an award winning medical researcher at the Institute for Advanced Neuroscience.
Pam's tenure and position at the Langmere Institute is almost at stake when one of her postdocs Holly, reveals that she has succeeded in finding a lead that could possibly reverse early stages of Alzheimer's disease. A double-blind experiment confirms the viability of Holly's findings, but a disagreement ensues over authorship. Holly's objection of her place as a second author reopens a wound in her heart. Holly is determined to claim the position of the first author.
Eric Prescott on the other hand is racking his mind over the possibility of Pam Weller actually discovering the treatment to Alzheimer's disease, when he receives an interesting email from a postdoc in Pam Weller's lab. Holly's offer to trade off her discovery for a faculty job blows Dr Prescott's mind. The thought of clinching the Nobel Prize and trampling on Dr Weller fuels Dr Prescott to defy all ethical stipulations. But will jealousy, fraud and murder be the ultimate shots to the prize?
I loved how Geoffrey Cooper carefully crafted the plot of this fast paced thriller. He brings out the conflict in the story skillfully in only 284 pages, something that convinced me that he really is an author to watch. His beautifully written prose added to his skill of well calculated vivid description blew me off. The action packed in this novel entranced me to be honest. This novel oozed depth of research and mastery of the subject matter from Geoffrey Cooper's side. I totally commend him for that.
While Geoffrey wrote this novel in third person, he adequately applied dialogue to top this up. This helped me familiarise with the characters and actually be in their mood and understand their tone. Geoffrey also did a wonderful job in characterisation. He left no questions unanswered as he introduced his characters fully. The ultimate thrill of this novel though, is it's end. Geoffrey left me satisfied but still hoping for more of his work. It reminded me of the movie "The Intruder" and how it ended with a mind blowing suspense.
I totally loved this novel and I believe you need to add this to your to- read list. I therefore recommend this to everyone who loves thrillers. This novel has crime and investigation in it. Crime fiction buffs will also love this and they should definitely give it a shot. Geoffrey didn't use vulgar language, neither did he include a graphic scene in it. While there's a instance of murder in it, it isn't gory at all, hence making it a comfortable read for those who don't love graphic novels.
There's nothing I didn't love about this book. It was written beautifully and professionally edited too. It really is perfect. There were no errors at all and so it deserves a perfect score of 4 out of 4 stars.
******
The Prize
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes
The Prize by Geoffrey M Cooper is a medical thriller that features two medical researchers Dr Eric Prescott and Dr Pamela Weller, at the peak of their research towards the discovery of a drug for the Alzheimer's disease. Pamela is a faculty member at Harvard Langmere Institute for Neuroscience while Eric is an award winning medical researcher at the Institute for Advanced Neuroscience.
Pam's tenure and position at the Langmere Institute is almost at stake when one of her postdocs Holly, reveals that she has succeeded in finding a lead that could possibly reverse early stages of Alzheimer's disease. A double-blind experiment confirms the viability of Holly's findings, but a disagreement ensues over authorship. Holly's objection of her place as a second author reopens a wound in her heart. Holly is determined to claim the position of the first author.
Eric Prescott on the other hand is racking his mind over the possibility of Pam Weller actually discovering the treatment to Alzheimer's disease, when he receives an interesting email from a postdoc in Pam Weller's lab. Holly's offer to trade off her discovery for a faculty job blows Dr Prescott's mind. The thought of clinching the Nobel Prize and trampling on Dr Weller fuels Dr Prescott to defy all ethical stipulations. But will jealousy, fraud and murder be the ultimate shots to the prize?
I loved how Geoffrey Cooper carefully crafted the plot of this fast paced thriller. He brings out the conflict in the story skillfully in only 284 pages, something that convinced me that he really is an author to watch. His beautifully written prose added to his skill of well calculated vivid description blew me off. The action packed in this novel entranced me to be honest. This novel oozed depth of research and mastery of the subject matter from Geoffrey Cooper's side. I totally commend him for that.
While Geoffrey wrote this novel in third person, he adequately applied dialogue to top this up. This helped me familiarise with the characters and actually be in their mood and understand their tone. Geoffrey also did a wonderful job in characterisation. He left no questions unanswered as he introduced his characters fully. The ultimate thrill of this novel though, is it's end. Geoffrey left me satisfied but still hoping for more of his work. It reminded me of the movie "The Intruder" and how it ended with a mind blowing suspense.
I totally loved this novel and I believe you need to add this to your to- read list. I therefore recommend this to everyone who loves thrillers. This novel has crime and investigation in it. Crime fiction buffs will also love this and they should definitely give it a shot. Geoffrey didn't use vulgar language, neither did he include a graphic scene in it. While there's a instance of murder in it, it isn't gory at all, hence making it a comfortable read for those who don't love graphic novels.
There's nothing I didn't love about this book. It was written beautifully and professionally edited too. It really is perfect. There were no errors at all and so it deserves a perfect score of 4 out of 4 stars.
******
The Prize
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes