Review by Hiruni Bhagya 81 -- The Prize

Hiruni Bhagya 81 · Post by **Hiruni Bhagya 81** » 04 Sep 2018, 02:49

[Following is a volunteer review of "The Prize" by Geoffrey M Cooper.]

4 out of 4 stars

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The prize written by Geoffrey M. Cooper is a great book with a great plot. The basis of this story is a grand fraud case revolving around a Nobel prize winning research on finding a drug preventing the development of Alzheimer’s disease. This book helps us to realize the reality behind scientific researches and the competitiveness between researchers. This story also give us insight to how researches are done educating us on the scientific knowledge on the researching process.

The book begins by introducing us to the mastermind of the grand fraud 'Eric Prescott'. Protagonist of the story is 'Pamela Weller'. Both of them have done some major researches on Alzheimer's disease and Pam is doing a research on finding a drug preventing the development of Alzheimer's disease. She has five people working for her. Out of them one postdoc 'Holly Singer' also plays a leading role for the events taking place in the story. Eric Prescott's goal is to win the Nobel prize and his only barrier is the drug found by Pam. So he make a master plan to frame Pam for a fraud case. For this he uses Holly who is holding a grudge against Pam. When their plan succeed everyone turns against her, only her boyfriend Jake Lawrence who is a private investigator and an ex-FBI agent remains with Pam trusting her. Holly is killed by Eric as a precaution and her murder is made to look like a suicide. Together Pam and Jake find the truth behind the fraud and the murder of Holly and expose Eric Prescott for who he really is.

This story explores about the nature of various people. Eric is depicted as a goal oriented person who'd rather murder and ruin another person to reach his target. He only care about receiving fame and recognition. On the other hand Pam is a good person who keeps her word and is very fair but she is a bit naive. She is reluctant to think badly about others like Holly and Eric. She is determined and doesn't give up fighting till the end. Holly is an opportunistic person. She is ungrateful and selfish. The moment she realized she'd get more if she aided Eric she is ready to turn her back on her previous colleague. She thinks she's very clever to use Eric to get what she wants unknowingly playing into his hands. She is backstabbed by him. It feels as if her murder is justifiable. Pam's boyfriend Jake doesn't play much of an active role initially, but he plays a key role in exposing the truth behind the fraud. He is very supportive of Pam and isn't afraid to bend few rules in the rule book. He is sharp, and can easily recognize the nature of a person. He realizes Eric is egoistic and play it to find what he wants. All the other supportive characters show how they only lookout for themselves. When Pam was appreciated for her findings they all flocked around her. But when they saw that she was about to get her name dragged through the mud for the fraud, they were quick to put the blame on her, not giving her even an opportunity to defend herself. They distanced themselves from her only thinking about the consequences of associating her would do to their reputations. Throughout the book the author illustrates the human nature and how diverse people are.

I liked this book very much due to many reasons. It was presented from the view of different characters. Through this the author was able to give insight to the thoughts of different characters and reasoning for their actions like how Holly thought it was okay to ruin Pam. Another reason I like this is even though scientific terms related to medical and researches are used it's easy to understand and also you get a knowledge about researches. The story gives a lot of morals like how greed leads to ones own downfall, fame corrupts people, truths cannot be hidden forever etc. I like how realistic the book is by emphasizing the nature of different people like how most people are selfish thinking only about their gain while only a handful remains selfless.

Though I dislike that the culprit is revealed to the reader in the first half of the book, my appreciation for the book outweighs the dislike by far more. I'm impressed by the authors ability to keeping the curiosity piqued until the last moment. So I'd score the book a 4 out of 4 because it doesn't matter whether you know the villain, because the protagonist doesn't and until then you can't know what's going to happen next. Also the plot is awesome. It makes us think beyond what you see and like the ruthless mind behind a friendly smile, making us doubt whether we know what really happened in crimes where the criminal is caught, whether all these criminals are really innocent people who were framed or are they the real culprits.

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The Prize
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vishmitharuka2 · Post by **vishmitharuka2** » 28 Sep 2018, 10:46

I got to know about the book "The prize" from this review. It enhanced my curiosity to read this book. I thank you for the thorough review.

Julie Green · Post by **Julie Green** » 28 Sep 2018, 17:10

I agree with you that the book offers a good insight into the work of scientific research... while also being a great story

Hiruni Bhagya 81 · Post by **Hiruni Bhagya 81** » 01 Oct 2018, 08:34

vishmitharuka2 wrote: ↑28 Sep 2018, 10:46 I got to know about the book "The prize" from this review. It enhanced my curiosity to read this book. I thank you for the thorough review.

Thank you so much for your reply and yeah it's bit thorough, but hope you enjoy the book.

Hiruni Bhagya 81 · Post by **Hiruni Bhagya 81** » 01 Oct 2018, 08:37

Julie Green wrote: ↑28 Sep 2018, 17:10 I agree with you that the book offers a good insight into the work of scientific research... while also being a great story

Thank you so much for the reply and yeah it contains a great story. Hope you enjoy the book.