4 out of 4 stars
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I'm always a little cautious when I delve into the Crime/Mystery/Thriller/Horror genre as you never really know what you are going to get. This category encompasses so many different writing styles, it's almost impossible to know if you are going to like a story before reading it. So it was with some trepidation that I started reading The Prize by Geoffrey M. Cooper.
Eric Prescott is a distinguished scientist who is working towards winning the Nobel Prize. His research has been in the area of Alzheimer's; although he hasn't discovered a cure yet, he has come up with a great method to test chemical compounds. His eyes are on the prize, and nothing will get in his way.
Pamela Weller is fairly new in post doctoral work and has yet to achieve tenure at Langmere. She is also working on a cure to Alzheimer's and has found her own way to test chemical compounds. She is able to test compounds much faster than Eric Prescott, but she is only genuinely interested in finding a cure. Though she would like to become tenured, fame and fortune are not part of her agenda.
In this race to the finish line, will fame and fortune win out? Or will fame and fortune be usurped by someone simply looking for a treatment?
The Prize was genuinely difficult to put down once I started it (I guess it's good that it was a quick read.) The characters were very realistic and even left me mad at times. I wanted to shout at them and raise my fist in anger; to me, it's always a good sign that the book is accomplishing its purpose. At one point, I almost had to stop reading because I was so mad at what was going on. I was that absorbed in the lives of the characters.
The book is not necessarily what I would call action-packed. Yet, there was a constant pull towards the finish. The author does a great job at getting you invested in the story. The writing was superb, and I felt an urge to find out how everything would work out in the end.
There is an element of mystery in the story along with some psychological aspects. It was interesting to see how fame and fortune can become so corrupting. The mystery did not come in trying to figure out "whodunit" but rather in seeing if and when justice would be served.
I have no regrets about reading this novel nor did I find anything to complain about. Therefore, it's with great pleasure that I rate The Prize a 4 out of 4 stars. I recommend this novel to everyone who enjoys a good suspenseful novel with lively characters.
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The Prize
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