If you like techno-thrillers from authors like A.G. Riddle, Michael Crichton, or Kathy Reichs, you’re going to love Louis Kirby. But don’t start the book anywhere near bedtime, the first seven chapters won’t let you go; and the rest will keep you awake until the end.
It’s not often you find a neurologist who can speak English to regular folks without making you run away*. Rarer still, is the doctor who can turn a career of studying neurodegenerative diseases (Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, etc) into an understandable story. But Dr. Kirby is far better than his peers.
Shadow of Eden weaves a fascinating story that will fill you with page-turning anxiety and keep you engaged for hours.
From the opening scene in which an airliner plummets to the earth, through the death-defying car chase, to the final foot race through Washington, DC, you will be cheering your hero’s drive to expose an evil pharmaceutical kingpin and save the country from an unwinnable war.
But it’s not all chases and fights. Unlike so many non-stop action thrillers, Dr. Kirby takes moments to develop his characters and their relationships. Take this passage between husband and wife moments before their safe world turns upside-down:
Steve pressed his ring against hers and she returned the pressure in a custom they had been doing for years. Steve once explained that it came from the Green Lantern cartoon hero, who had to recharge his power ring every twenty-four hours. He was such a weird romantic, she had thought, but immediately adopted the gesture.
My regular readers have figured out that I’m not the brightest guy around, but reading Dr. Kirby’s book made me smarter (without having to run to the dictionary or look things up online). He makes neurological science not only accessible but interesting and engaging.
The premise is based on the drug we know pharmaceutical companies are racing to find right now: the perfect weight loss pill. Where could that go wrong? Side effects with long incubation periods, the kind a manufacturer would kill to keep secret. From a lesser writer, the scenario could get complicated. Not with Dr. Kirby. This passage is as deep as the science gets, yet by the end you’ll feel like a neurologist yourself:
Since it was infectious, young patients who developed Cruetzfeld-Jacob got prions from infected human sources like infected corneal transplants, growth hormone collected from infected human pituitaries, or from contaminated neurosurgical instruments.
Don’t worry, Dr. Kirby gives you only the science you need and makes it easy to keep up throughout the story. You won’t get bogged down in details.
At the same time, his writing is well-rounded with simple and evocative phrases like this:
… the December daylight having faded into a blue glow that hugged the western horizon, leaving the rest of the moonless sky black.
If you don’t care for that kind of prose, don’t worry, the action resumes in the next paragraph.
Science and medicine are not the only offering in Shadow of Eden. You’ll get a good dose of Tom Clancy-like politics from inside the oval office as well. You’ll find the same realism and intrigue as Clancy yet even higher stakes. Shadow of Eden heightens the drama with over-staffed meetings and bureaucratic wrangling, enigmatic ambassadors and duplicitous overtures, and constant questions about competence.
Despite the imminent war between super powers, there is always time for a bit of restrained humor. Like this exchange between two macho guys:
“You’ve just summarized four years of Cosmo articles on this stuff.” Steve raised his eyebrows.
“My wife buys them at the supermarket.” Valenti shifted uncomfortably. “She leaves them by the toilet. So what?”
The bottom line: Shadow of Eden is a chilling, prophetic thriller and a terrific début that will keep you up late with exciting action and unexpected twists.
Peace, Seeley
* Or is that just me? When confronted by superior intellect, I suddenly feign an urgent text from a dying relative and excuse myself. To avoid these embarrassing situations, I seek the company of high school dropouts under the guise that it’s my attempt at egalitarian outreach.
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