The Cure — Douglas E. Richards

Psycopathy can be defined as an individual that manifests amoral and anti-social behavior.  We typically classify murderers and rapists as psychopaths.  So what happens when a cure is discovered?  This book by microbiologist Douglas E. Richards delves into that difficult to understand realm and takes you on one interesting ride.

From the Back:  Erin Palmer had a devastating encounter with a psychopath as a child. Now a grad student and scientist, she’s devoting her life to studying these monsters. When her research catches the attention of Hugh Raborn, a brilliant neuroscientist who claims to have isolated the genes responsible for psychopathic behavior, Erin realizes it may be possible to reverse the condition, restoring souls to psychopaths. But to do so, she’ll not only have to operate outside the law, but violate her most cherished ethical principles. 

As Erin becomes further involved with Raborn, she begins to suspect that he harbors dark secrets. Is he working for the good of society? Or is he intent on bringing humanity to its knees?

Hunted by powerful, shadowy forces, Erin teams up with another mysterious man, Kyle Hansen, to uncover the truth. The pair soon find themselves pawns in a global conspiracy–one capable of destroying everything Erin holds dear. And forever altering the course of human history . . .

Douglas E. Richards is incredibly smart. It’s very obvious when you read this book.  He is able to take such a complex subject as neuroscience and put it into terms that are compelling and easy to understand.  What would happen if we found a cure for Psychopathy?  What would our world be like?

Erin Palmer suffered a horrible tragedy when she was younger and that shaped her current self, and has led her to the field that she is in.  Miraculously she found the patterns and the genes inside the human brain that make psychopaths different from the rest of society.  Through controversial testing she confirmed that what she found, in fact cured psychopathy.

For the first 35% of the book I was enthralled.  The character of Erin Palmer had multiple layers to her built by the events in her past.  While she was incredibly driven in her field, she was also incredibly flawed and skeptical of everything around her.  It was hard for her to trust just about anyone.  The science being used, the what if scenarios that were being presented were well written and pulled you along page by page.  Up to this point, I was ready to compare this to a Jurrasic Park of sorts.  Everything seemed like it was so plausible.  I didn’t have to suspend my belief because it made me believe that this was possible.

Then comes a twist.  A twist that for me took me out of the experience, and I almost quit reading.  I’m not going to spoil it here, but it came from left field for me.  I don’t know whether I was just so jaded to these huge twists that come from nowhere in books that I’ve read, or if it was I was just disappointed in the turn it took.  I gave him a chance though, and I kept reading.

I’m glad I did.

I was ready at the point I almost quit to just say, screw it, 2 stars on Amazon, this is just too outside my realm.  He had me hook line and sinker, I was believing in everything he wrote, and now it’s gone.

But I’m not.

As the twists and turns unfold, and the action picks up, and you begin to see the broader picture of what’s going on, you start to turn the pages again at a break-neck pace.  You see the character of Erin Palmer grow and become a better person than she was in the beginning.  Everything starts to get put into perspective and the importance of her cure for psychopathy begins to take shape, and show that if she didn’t find it, there could have been dire consequences.

Once you get into the swing of things, don’t get too comfortable where you’re at.  The twists and surprises keep coming, and nothing is what it seems…even if you think things make sense.

The writing is sharp, the action is well done and well paced, and you’ll be rewarded if you hang on for the ride until the end.

The Bottom Line:  This book is going to live or die based on what you think of the twist.  It almost died for me, but thankfully I kept reading, and I think you should too.  At some point this goes from being a sort of medical thriller, to your typical high speed, hand to hand combat, action thriller.  That is okay though, because the writing is still smart, and he never loses where he’s going.  It’s tough to say that you WILL like it, but once I got past that first twist, I settled in for a great ride and enjoyed my time in his narrative.

You can pick this book up on Amazon.com by clicking the cover above.  It’s currently priced at $9.99

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