Serenity

by Tom Bleakley

Obtaining FDA approval to market a drug is knowing the right people and taking good care of them. It has nothing to do with good science. It’s a matter of form over substance and it’s good form to take care of your friends.



When an unfaithful husband headed toward an unwanted divorce takes a drug noted for its effects of causing bizarre behavior and winds up killing his wife, who is to blame? Is it the killer or the avaricious drug company making huge profits and trying to hide news of the drug’s terrible effects? A jury decides guilt or innocence . . . or does it?


“I can’t stand the thought of how this is going to end. I’ve got to let the world know what this company did. . . . I promised myself that whatever time I had left I was going to spend on telling this story. I got out of bed and put on my street clothes. I walked to the nursing station and signed myself out of the hospital. AMA they called it. Against medical advice. I went home and started writing.”

393 pages, Unknown Binding

First published July 20, 2012

Reviews

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was very enlightening. I love that the author is an expert in the field that the story is centered on. I randomly found this book on the shelf and thought it looked cool. As soon as I read the back flap, I was 100% invested.
This book is very much from a man’s perspective, but I think it’s fitting because it is set in a man’s world. Power, sex, more power promised, blackmail, more control gained, repeat. Sounds pretty realistic to me. The profit machines that are drug companies aren’t out to make people better nearly as much as they are to make more money.
It was very interesting to learn more about these topics somewhat in the guise of a fiction text. The text is so real in so many ways. Steep settlements happen so profits can continue and big boss can get away with all hell, and continue raking in the cash at any cost. Who needs mortality?
So glad this book found me, and my gratitude to the author!

[Justine · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well, it was a strange book. The characters were flat, and some of them were not very bright, especially since they well educated professionals. The bad guys had no redeeming qualities, the good guys were either naive, or just plain weak. I quit reading and started skimming when a woman appears out of the blue for a job as a legal aide for the defense, and she just perfect in every way. It was way too sketchy and I knew she had to be working for the drug company. It was really obvious. The incidents of sex and lust were weird and didn't seem very realistic.Examples: The bad guy lawyer brings alcohol to a meeting so he can trick the worried wife into having sex with him. One scientist knows there is something wrong with the animal studies, but does nothing and even takes more responsibility because his wife distracts him by having sex with him. The doctor that did the prison study can barely answer questions or focus because the FDA lady is so sexy, apparently.(The same FDA lady that is sleeping with her boss.) And, oh yeah, she also has sex with another FDA dude out of gratitude for helping her with the case. Now that I think about it, the women in this book didn't come off looking terribly bright at all.
There were also some distracting grammar and spelling errors. They were brought to my attention because the person that checked the book out from the library before me corrected them all in pen.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is a must read. You won't want to put it down!!! Bleakley is the next Grisham.