3.5

Neuroscientist Professor Sarah Collier is a
Nobel prize winner for her groundbreaking research into Ebola, her husband Daniel is also a neuroscientist. Sarah is showing signs of early onset Alzheimer’s which her father is also suffering and she is currently having tests to determine a prognosis. Daniel wants Sarah to attend the Schiller medical conference in Geneva, partly so he can network off the back of her success. However, the focus of the conference has the potential to revolutionise medicine and perhaps it could be of benefit to Sarah. Circling the conference, vulture like,
is controversial blogger, Terri Landau, who has multiple followers as she delivers the “truth about healthcare“ and Big Pharma. As Sarah‘s symptoms worsen, things begin to spin out of control and she is struggling to discover who she can trust. What is Professor Mauritz Schiller launching and why does he want Sarah in Geneva so badly? The story is principally told by Daniel and Sarah with inserts from “The Landau report“ and by Professor Schiller.

This is a promising debut from actor Richard Armitage and I definitely think he has a future as an author. It starts in rather a ploddy way but once it gets going in the city of Geneva the pace quickens and it remains that way. The author creates a really good atmosphere with a wintry setting and the location is used to full effect in the ensuing drama. It’s good on Sarah‘s feelings and reactions and she is dead centre of what transpires and that becomes crucial to what unravels. The storytelling is very visual, you can tell he’s an actor as it has an action movie thriller feel to it which I really like and I can see it making a very good miniseries.

Sarah‘s and Daniel’s characterisation is good though some of the other characters are less well fleshed out with one feeling a bit of a stereotype. It’s got plenty of twists though some are pretty obvious, one I never buy into anyway but decide to set my scepticism and knowledge to one side so as to fully enjoy the storytelling. It’s definitely a go with the flow, suspend your disbelief, read in at least two key aspects, but it’s fiction after all and entertainment is the key factor! The ending is maybe overly dramatic and also a tad predictable but overall, it is a good read. I can imagine this working extremely well as an audible, maybe more so than as an e-book.

This is a fun read, maybe the type to take on holiday whilst chilling by the pool.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Faber and Faber for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.

Unpredictable thriller, fast-paced with twists and turns the whole way through. What a debut novel.

Raised a few discussions regarding the implants, are they in the pipeline?

Fantastic book. Would make a good film.

A new author for me to watch out for.

Thank you MetGalley for letting me read this book prior to release.

A decent debut book, that has a lot going on.
There were no big surprises for me, but I enjoyed the writing style, and there were times when the pace picked up very nicely.
Sarah is a good solid main character and she had my sympathy for the majority of the book... not that she needed it.
An entertaining read.

Geneva is a thriller that picks up on many of the current topics in the world around us. Corruption and greed, the role of the internet with its bloggers and podcasters (and sometimes, its conspiracy theorists), the power of corporations in general and Big Pharma in particular, the sense of panic over the proliferation of health issues like Alzheimer's disease, the march of science and the debates around it, and so on.

Sarah is a Nobel Prize-winning scientist who has retired from work in order to spend more time with her daughter Maddie, her husband Daniel, and her father who has Alzheimer's disease. A major factor behind her decision is the realisation that Sarah herself has begun to experience early symptoms of the disease.

But in a new development, a pharmaceuticals company based Switzerland has announced the development of a new drug to treat this disease. Despite being invited to be a keynote speaker at the launch of this product, Sarah is reluctant to accept - also because she fears that her symptoms will become visible to others.

But her husband Daniel, also a scientist, is insistent that this will be a good step for Sarah to take. Needless to say, this causes some tension between the two.

Upon arrival in Geneva it becomes clear that something altogether more sinister is unfolding here. Sarah finds herself at the centre of a combination of corporate greed, convincing lies, half baked science and a wider conspiracy which is not easy to unravel.

Amidst the stunning natural beauty of Geneva, it seems something far uglier is lurking beneath the surface...

Geneva is a thriller that picks up on many of the current topics in the world around us. Corruption and greed, the role of the internet with its bloggers and podcasters (and sometimes, its conspiracy theorists), the power of corporations in general and Big Pharma in particular, the sense of panic over the proliferation of health issues like Alzheimer's disease, the march of science and the debates around it, and so on.

Sarah is a Nobel Prize-winning scientist who has retired from work in order to spend more time with her daughter Maddie, her husband Daniel, and her father who has Alzheimer's disease. A major factor behind her decision is the realisation that Sarah herself has begun to experience early symptoms of the disease.

But in a new development, a pharmaceuticals company based Switzerland has announced the development of a new drug to treat this disease. Despite being invited to be a keynote speaker at the launch of this product, Sarah is reluctant to accept - also because she fears that her symptoms will become visible to others.

But her husband Daniel, also a scientist, is insistent that this will be a good step for Sarah to take. Needless to say, this causes some tension between the two.

Upon arrival in Geneva it becomes clear that something altogether more sinister is unfolding here. Sarah finds herself at the centre of a combination of corporate greed, convincing lies, half baked science and a wider conspiracy which is not easy to unravel.

Amidst the stunning natural beauty of Geneva, it seems something far uglier is lurking beneath the surface...

It's an enjoyable read, and this book gets 3.5 stars from me. It would have got 4 if not for the somewhat convenient and not entirely convincing ending.