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Meds
One hot summer day, a man in a business suit running wildly down a busy street attacks a woman and her toddler, neither of whom have ever seen him before.
... As he waits in his pickup truck for his wife to finish shopping, a man decides to take the shotgun off its rack, go inside the mall and open fire on total strangers.
... While waiting to see her doctor, a woman takes a knife from her purse and begins stabbing others in the waiting room.
Something is making people become violent and murderous...something they all have in common. When Eli Dunbar discovers what it is, he becomes afraid, because it’s something he has in common with them–a drug prescribed to him by his psychiatrist. And now Eli is a ticking time bomb.
Do you know all of the risks your prescription drugs might pose? Does your doctor? Or has the manufacturer hidden them from the public in the interest of profits?
Meds...a thriller with deadly side effects.
... As he waits in his pickup truck for his wife to finish shopping, a man decides to take the shotgun off its rack, go inside the mall and open fire on total strangers.
... While waiting to see her doctor, a woman takes a knife from her purse and begins stabbing others in the waiting room.
Something is making people become violent and murderous...something they all have in common. When Eli Dunbar discovers what it is, he becomes afraid, because it’s something he has in common with them–a drug prescribed to him by his psychiatrist. And now Eli is a ticking time bomb.
Do you know all of the risks your prescription drugs might pose? Does your doctor? Or has the manufacturer hidden them from the public in the interest of profits?
Meds...a thriller with deadly side effects.
358 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 1, 2011
22 people are currently reading
117 people want to read
About the author
Ray Garton
180 books563 followersRay Garton is the author of several books, including horror novels such as LIVE GIRLS (which has a movie in the works), CRUCIFAX, E4 AUTUMN, and THE FOLKS; thrillers like TRADE SECRETS and SHACKLED; and numerous short stories and novellas. He's also written a number of movie and television tie-ins for young readers. He lives with his wife, Dawn, in California.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
June 29, 2020
Preachy!
I would have enjoyed this book a lot more if it was scary. I mean that’s why I purchased it. I thought it was a horror story. But it wasn’t.
Instead, it was a blistering “tell-all” of the corruption of the pharmaceutical industry and of the complicity of the FDA.
Don’t get me wrong, the pharmaceutical companies are money grubby criminals and they do need to be exposed, but l would rather read about that in a nonfiction arena.
I mean the book just goes on, page after page, chapter after chapter, talking about the drug companies... and the complicity of the government.
The side effects of the one particular drug in this story is told, repeatedly, to prepare the audience for the horror which never happens, or rarely happens.
I was so bored while reading this book that I could barely finish it. I finally have.
I would have enjoyed this book a lot more if it was scary. I mean that’s why I purchased it. I thought it was a horror story. But it wasn’t.
Instead, it was a blistering “tell-all” of the corruption of the pharmaceutical industry and of the complicity of the FDA.
Don’t get me wrong, the pharmaceutical companies are money grubby criminals and they do need to be exposed, but l would rather read about that in a nonfiction arena.
I mean the book just goes on, page after page, chapter after chapter, talking about the drug companies... and the complicity of the government.
The side effects of the one particular drug in this story is told, repeatedly, to prepare the audience for the horror which never happens, or rarely happens.
I was so bored while reading this book that I could barely finish it. I finally have.
October 21, 2016
A compelling tale, and quite relevant in these days of non stop commercial bombardments with drug ads for everything from cholesterol pills to a prescription to thicken your eyelashes. Yes that is a real thing.
So many drugs, so many side effects and risks, and so many warnings of what can happen if you suddenly stop taking your pills, yet millions of people flock to doctors asking for the latest pill they've seen advertising. Drug companies count on this, hence all the ads that tell you to "ask your doctor about (insert name of latest pill) today!"
In "Meds" Ray Garton presents us with a frightening (and not so far fetched) idea of what could happen if people were suddenly unable to refill their prescription for the latest antidepressant and suffered a psychotic break as a result.
So many drugs, so many side effects and risks, and so many warnings of what can happen if you suddenly stop taking your pills, yet millions of people flock to doctors asking for the latest pill they've seen advertising. Drug companies count on this, hence all the ads that tell you to "ask your doctor about (insert name of latest pill) today!"
In "Meds" Ray Garton presents us with a frightening (and not so far fetched) idea of what could happen if people were suddenly unable to refill their prescription for the latest antidepressant and suffered a psychotic break as a result.
March 3, 2018
Meh. I wanted more crazed people, less pharmaceutical company history.
April 7, 2019
A little of this, a little of that
Meds is not what i would call straight up horror. It is a hodgepodge of horror, medical thriller, and crime fiction. It is a great story, however. I am at times amused by how many side effects come from some prescription drugs. It seems like suffering from the effects of whatever disease you have would be better than experiencing the side effects of some drugs. This story goes with the premise of an extreme side effect that happens when people stop taking a prescription, against their will. Interesting, engaging story. Mr. Garton can spin a damn good yarn. Read this!!
Meds is not what i would call straight up horror. It is a hodgepodge of horror, medical thriller, and crime fiction. It is a great story, however. I am at times amused by how many side effects come from some prescription drugs. It seems like suffering from the effects of whatever disease you have would be better than experiencing the side effects of some drugs. This story goes with the premise of an extreme side effect that happens when people stop taking a prescription, against their will. Interesting, engaging story. Mr. Garton can spin a damn good yarn. Read this!!
September 12, 2019
Good story but it could have been shorter. Book is bloated with diatribe after diatribe about big pharmaceutical and the bad they do. Characters go on and on with factoids...no one would listen that long to someone rant. Glad I finished it. Almost didn’t. Garton needs a pill for his grumpy feelings about medicine.
July 4, 2024
Fun book, typical great Garton writing with some very prescient observations of print media and big pharma. I liked the build-up of the conspiracy but I thought the ending felt a bit rushed and a tad undramatic. Loved the villain's backstory - great character.
September 5, 2021
I really really liked this one!
August 22, 2016
Ray Garton is another author I read a lot of when I was a horror buff, and another author I felt like I should return to in order to see if he's as good as I remember. Meds came up as a random book to read, and it turns out to be one of his most recent novels. It also turns out to be a decent read, though it lacks a lot of depth.
The story is about the medical profession and its dependence on the pharmaceutical industry. Eli, the main character, is a recovered alcoholic who is on an antidepressant that helps him cope with his recovery. One day, he watches in horror as a man brutally beats a young mother and her child, and later he hears stories of a man who murdered his wife and child before committing suicide, and a man who entered a shopping mall with a shotgun and began firing. While he's hearing all this news, he's unable to refill his prescription for his antidepressant, which has a warning not to stop taking the medication abruptly. The story begins as he's finding that his drug is unavailable anywhere in the state, and that he may become a threat to those around him if he stops taking it.
The story is pretty good, even though it takes a while to get going. Garton structures the story in such a way that it's clear where the story is going to go, but he lets the story build up to its plot at the same pace as it would in real life. We know what's going to happen, but we still have to watch the characters figure it out for themselves. In a way, it's like the first season of Fear the Walking Dead, except that this book doesn't suck.
The characters are well developed, with Eli and his fiancee, Chloe, having a relationship that drives the story. As Eli starts to slide into the downward spiral of his drug withdrawal, it's easy to worry for him and root for him, even as he starts to do some questionable things, since we know he's not completely responsible for his actions. The story moves quickly, enough so that as I neared the end of the novel, I knew I was going to be with it until it ended, bedtime be damned. The ease of reading and fast pace of the story reminded me of Bentley Little (without the sexism), though Garton has been at this much longer than Little.
That being said, Meds isn't perfect. It relies too much on coincidence for some of the key plot points, and some of the characters acted out of their characterization at times. Plus, one of the key characters -- a well-known retired journalist -- gets involved with the investigation, and I wasn't convinced that how he got involved was realistic. It was almost as if Garton needed someone like that in the story and introduced him without giving a reasonable rationale for it. There was a rationale, but it didn't ring true to me. Also, the ending felt a little too pat, and a lot of things happened at the end that simply weren't believable. I think Garton was trying too hard for a happy (-ish) ending here.
Reading this novel, it's easy to believe that Garton has his own feelings about the prevalence of prescription drugs in medicine. He has a character in the story talk about how prescription drugs aren't there to cure your ills, but to help you live with them. In some cases, prescription drugs are there to treat conditions that don't exist, but that the drug companies want to convince consumers they have. There's also the heavy marketing that pharmaceutical companies push on doctors to prescribe their medications, and that the high cost of prescription drugs is due to all of the factors that go into that marketing. It's clear that Garton did a lot of research into the topic, and it makes me want to do some of my own to see if some of what he writes about is fact, because it's disturbing.
Garton uses that argument as the theme for this novel, and while it adds some depth to the story, it doesn't add enough to it to make it feel more like a beach read novel. Meds is entertaining to read, and encourages some thought outside of the story, but it's not the most memorable of stories. It's compelling and intriguing, and encourages me to keep Garton on my list of authors to revisit, but my guess is the story won't stick with me very long.
The story is about the medical profession and its dependence on the pharmaceutical industry. Eli, the main character, is a recovered alcoholic who is on an antidepressant that helps him cope with his recovery. One day, he watches in horror as a man brutally beats a young mother and her child, and later he hears stories of a man who murdered his wife and child before committing suicide, and a man who entered a shopping mall with a shotgun and began firing. While he's hearing all this news, he's unable to refill his prescription for his antidepressant, which has a warning not to stop taking the medication abruptly. The story begins as he's finding that his drug is unavailable anywhere in the state, and that he may become a threat to those around him if he stops taking it.
The story is pretty good, even though it takes a while to get going. Garton structures the story in such a way that it's clear where the story is going to go, but he lets the story build up to its plot at the same pace as it would in real life. We know what's going to happen, but we still have to watch the characters figure it out for themselves. In a way, it's like the first season of Fear the Walking Dead, except that this book doesn't suck.
The characters are well developed, with Eli and his fiancee, Chloe, having a relationship that drives the story. As Eli starts to slide into the downward spiral of his drug withdrawal, it's easy to worry for him and root for him, even as he starts to do some questionable things, since we know he's not completely responsible for his actions. The story moves quickly, enough so that as I neared the end of the novel, I knew I was going to be with it until it ended, bedtime be damned. The ease of reading and fast pace of the story reminded me of Bentley Little (without the sexism), though Garton has been at this much longer than Little.
That being said, Meds isn't perfect. It relies too much on coincidence for some of the key plot points, and some of the characters acted out of their characterization at times. Plus, one of the key characters -- a well-known retired journalist -- gets involved with the investigation, and I wasn't convinced that how he got involved was realistic. It was almost as if Garton needed someone like that in the story and introduced him without giving a reasonable rationale for it. There was a rationale, but it didn't ring true to me. Also, the ending felt a little too pat, and a lot of things happened at the end that simply weren't believable. I think Garton was trying too hard for a happy (-ish) ending here.
Reading this novel, it's easy to believe that Garton has his own feelings about the prevalence of prescription drugs in medicine. He has a character in the story talk about how prescription drugs aren't there to cure your ills, but to help you live with them. In some cases, prescription drugs are there to treat conditions that don't exist, but that the drug companies want to convince consumers they have. There's also the heavy marketing that pharmaceutical companies push on doctors to prescribe their medications, and that the high cost of prescription drugs is due to all of the factors that go into that marketing. It's clear that Garton did a lot of research into the topic, and it makes me want to do some of my own to see if some of what he writes about is fact, because it's disturbing.
Garton uses that argument as the theme for this novel, and while it adds some depth to the story, it doesn't add enough to it to make it feel more like a beach read novel. Meds is entertaining to read, and encourages some thought outside of the story, but it's not the most memorable of stories. It's compelling and intriguing, and encourages me to keep Garton on my list of authors to revisit, but my guess is the story won't stick with me very long.
May 28, 2014
3.5 stars. Good thriller about what would happen if people on an antidepressant were suddenly forced to stop talking it and the withdrawal effect was violent attacks of rage against society. Interesting and a fun read. Some of the timing issues in the plot were iffy, like what if a patient had just missed a few days of the medicine instead of running out completely, but a little suspension of belief took care of that. It kept me interested even with the pet peeve of running across a few typos during reading. Good book.
March 5, 2012
This was my first ray garton book and have t say it has left me confused. I enjoyed it, but at the same time, found it a hard read. However the last quarter of the book was fantastic as everything came together.
If the purpose of this book, was the get you thinking about the drug companies out there, then it did its job.
If the purpose of this book, was the get you thinking about the drug companies out there, then it did its job.
September 28, 2012
Another good read from one of my favourite authors. MEDS revolves around an anti-depressant drug and the violent side-effects that occur when its users suddenly stop taking it. There'll be a full review in the new zine... I find Ray's work reminiscent to that of early James Herbert in that it plays out like a film and you can't wait for the climax.
December 18, 2011
This is a great novel about the scams of the pharmaceutical industry, sure to scare the crap out of you! Done as only Garton can do it!
August 29, 2012
Homicidal maniacs!!!!.....to bad that they couldn't get their prescriptions filled but instead....blood was spilled
November 11, 2012
I enjoyed this book and it really made me think "what if the drug companies are really like this??" which made it all the scarier!!! Ray always tells a good tale!
October 25, 2014
Eh... Think Robin Cook plus repentant hit man.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews