Geneva
A Novel
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5.0 • 3 Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
A bold and unpredictable debut thriller set in the biotech world (and deceptive beauty) of Switzerland, by acclaimed actor Richard Armitage.
Nobel Prize-winning scientist Sarah Collier has taken a step back from work to spend more time with her family. Movie nights with her husband Daniel and their daughter Maddie are a welcome respite from the scrutiny of the world’s press. As much as it hurts, it’s good to be able to see her father more too. He’s suffering from Alzheimer’s and needs special care.
Sarah has started to show tell-tale signs of the disease too. She’s been experiencing blackouts and memory loss. It’s early days but she must face the possibility that she won’t be there to see her daughter grow up. Daniel, a neuroscientist himself, is doing his best to be supportive but she already knows that she will have to be the strong one. For all of them.
So when Sarah is invited to be the guest of honour at a prestigious biotech conference in Geneva she declines, wanting to stay out of the public eye—that is until Daniel shows her the kind of work that the enigmatic Mauritz Schiller has been developing.
Flown first class to the spectacular alpine city and housed in a luxury hotel, Sarah and Daniel are thrust back into the spotlight. As they try to shut out the noise of the public media storm, in private Sarah is struggling with her escalating symptoms. And the true extent of what Schiller has achieved is a revelation. This is technology that could change medicine forever. More than that, it could save Sarah’s life.
But technology so valuable attracts all kinds of interest. Wealthy investors are circling, controversial blogger Terri Landau is all over the story, and someone close to Schiller seems bent on taking advantage of the situation for themselves. Sarah feels threatened and does not know who to trust—including herself. Far from being her lifeline Schiller's technology may be her undoing.
As events spiral out of control, Sarah and Daniel are faced with the ultimate question: how far would you go for someone you love?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
British scientist Sarah Collier hasn't yet had time to savor her Nobel Prize win when her life skids off course in this propulsive debut from actor Armitage. Already struggling with her widowed father's accelerating Alzheimer's, Sarah begins to experience alarming symptoms herself, including blackouts and memory loss, which she and her neuroscientist spouse, Daniel, fear could herald the same diagnosis. Reeling, Sarah craves nothing more than cocooning with her family—especially her young daughter, Maddie—before the disease takes hold. Then she receives an offer she can't refuse: an invitation to Geneva's prestigious Schiller Institute to be the guest of honor at biotech tycoon Mauritz Schiller's gala launch of Neurocell, a revolutionary neural implant designed to treat memory disorders including Alzheimer's. At the event, Sarah is forced to battle her own failing body as money-hungry scientists and executives hope to grab a piece of the Neurocell pie for themselves. Switching the narration back and forth between the sympathetic Sarah and her more aloof, mysterious husband, Armitage speeds his thriller around a twisty plot as hair-raising as an Olympic luge run. Though a few reveals strain credibility, readers will plow right through them. This promising performance demands an encore.
