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The Magic Bullet
Daniel Logan has the world at his feet. As the most gifted young doctor at New York City's top medical facility, he's been aggressively wooed to join an exclusive, lucrative private practice in the city. Money, celebrity status, and great perks--but Logan turns it all down. For he's more interested in a different kind of fame. Logan wants to help find a cure for cancer, and is accepted into the prestigious American Cancer Institute in Washington, D.C., to do research with some of the best minds in medicine--and also some of the most ruthless, cut-throat scientists, who will stop at nothing to protect their own cancer-combative drug studies.
In The Magic Bullet , Harry Stein brilliantly depicts the brutal, deadly competitive world of the A.C.l, where egomaniacal senior scientists jealously guard their research turf from up-and-coming young doctors like Logan and the other new researchers. When Logan and two of his colleagues unearth a component that may effectively help fight breast cancer, he learns first-hand just how desperate these scientists are. As the doctors at A.C.I. use all their influence to sabotage his research, Logan frantically searches for more information about this wonder drug, the missing piece in the breast cancer puzzle, before the A.C.I. destroys his career. But the show-down between Logan and the A.C.I. has even greater implications--the life of a highly-placed woman in American politics is in jeopardy, and only Logan's compound can help.
The Magic Bullet is a first-rate, gripping medical thriller, filled with fascinating--and terrifying--details about the cold-blooded world of high-stakes cancer research. Harry Stein takes a disturbing look at the ivory tower world of medicine, where hubris, not commitment and compassion, is the rule.
In The Magic Bullet , Harry Stein brilliantly depicts the brutal, deadly competitive world of the A.C.l, where egomaniacal senior scientists jealously guard their research turf from up-and-coming young doctors like Logan and the other new researchers. When Logan and two of his colleagues unearth a component that may effectively help fight breast cancer, he learns first-hand just how desperate these scientists are. As the doctors at A.C.I. use all their influence to sabotage his research, Logan frantically searches for more information about this wonder drug, the missing piece in the breast cancer puzzle, before the A.C.I. destroys his career. But the show-down between Logan and the A.C.I. has even greater implications--the life of a highly-placed woman in American politics is in jeopardy, and only Logan's compound can help.
The Magic Bullet is a first-rate, gripping medical thriller, filled with fascinating--and terrifying--details about the cold-blooded world of high-stakes cancer research. Harry Stein takes a disturbing look at the ivory tower world of medicine, where hubris, not commitment and compassion, is the rule.
400 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
7 people are currently reading
111 people want to read
About the author
Harry Stein
77 books21 followersConservative author Harry Stein is known for his light touch on hard topics: How I Accidentally Joined the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy (And Found Inner Peace): I Can't Believe I'm Sitting Next to a Republican; The Idiot Vote -- The Democrats' Core Constituency; etc. Now, with his comic novel Will Tripp, Pissed Off Attorney-at-Law , he does his bit to take back popular culture from the radical left.
Harry Stein is a veteran author and journalist who, in his earlier life as a liberal, regularly wrote for The New York Times Sunday Magazine, Playboy and Esquire, among other places he will never appear again. A contributing editor to City Journal, he written twelve books.
Harry Stein is a veteran author and journalist who, in his earlier life as a liberal, regularly wrote for The New York Times Sunday Magazine, Playboy and Esquire, among other places he will never appear again. A contributing editor to City Journal, he written twelve books.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
October 13, 2017
this book started out very interesting and exciting, I'm a sucker for medical thrillers, but a third of the way in it simply became whiny and annoying. the main character, Logan, went from being a likable guy to being the mental equivalent of a spoiled toddler. and don't get me wrong, I understand the research world is competitive especially for federal funding but the writing of this book went from fresh and exciting to extremely basic so suddenly, it was like 2 different people wrote each part
March 2, 2023
Ceritanya tentang Dr. Daniel Logan yang diundang untuk bergabung dengan Yayasan Kanker Amerika. Dalam pikiranku, oke ini tentang riset obat kanker gitu. Dan ternyata, ini eksperimen sialan—tidak peduli meski di sini mereka mendapat persetujuan penuh dari si pasien. Sialnya entah yang mana yang pasien dan yang mana yang kelinci percobaan. Dr. Logan melakukan observasi lewat makalah riset, artikel, dan seterusnya, dan menemukan bahwa campuran J berpotensi mampu melumpuhkan sel kanker. Dipilihlah 15 perempuan dan disuntiklah mereka dengan campuran J itu. Selang berapa minggu muncul efek samping—pendarahan, gejala gagal ginjal, dan seterusnya—lantas si campuran J dibawa ke lab, diusahakan untuk dapat memisahkan molekul-molekul yang kemungkinan merupakan racun penyebab efek samping, lalu setelahnya disuntikkan ke 12 kelinci bertumor untuk melihat keefektifan si J yang baru ini. Aku langsung kayak...serius loe?
Final rate: 3,7 of 5.
Final rate: 3,7 of 5.
June 29, 2016
Read the summer of 1995 and this was my review at the time: The magic bullet is a cancer cure. The researchers are warped and lots of people die. Forgettable.
January 31, 2021
This is a tense, detailed medical thriller about a potential cure for breast cancer. Dr. Daniel Logan, a thirty-one-year-old junior fellowship associate of the American Cancer Foundation (ACF) at Washington D.C., working with Dr. Sabrina Como, and Dr. John Reston, develops a new treatment for the disease using a drug called Compound J. This research led them into a maze of medical conspiracy, where reputations and personal advancement take primacy over patient needs, and betrayal becomes the order of the day. This novel is a true page-turner, with mesmerizing insights into the ethics of big medicine. In this story, the author skillfully depicts the vicious, deadly competitive world of the ACF, where egomaniacal senior scientists jealously guard their research turn from up-and-coming young doctors like Daniel Logan. I give it 4 stars out of 5.
September 16, 2023
Is cancer curable? This racy research-based fiction on trying to find a cure for breast cancer is unputdownable. Chugging back and forth between the 1930s and 1990s, this is one book you are going to enjoy even if you are not a science buff.
June 25, 2019
Technical, scientific information aside this was a good medical thriller. Not read anything quite like it before. Will read more of this authors books.
September 2, 2022
!!!!!nie wierze ze doczytałam, ta książka była jak ten obrazek z koniem, gdzie realistyczna kreska z poczatku zamienia się w coraz większe bazgroły....
November 16, 2024
I found this book super boring. The last 80 pages were the most interesting and the ending left some unanswered questions.
September 3, 2014
I had this book setting around for a while, as the plot sounded interesting but often not interesting enough for me to pick it over other options. So I took it on vacation, where I had only 2 choices. Turns out, my reservations about the plot were legitimate, as I got about halfway through, and nothing significant seemed to have happened yet.
Dr. Daniel Logan chooses a career at the country's leading cancer research institute over more profitable options at leading hospitals. Upon arrival, he finds that competition is fierce and that it is all but guaranteed that most of his superiors will hate him with a passion once he chooses whose research projects he would like to make a contribution to with his work. In most places, this competition would be considered healthy and a factor in leading to great advances in treating cancer, but here, it is downright cutthroat. Logan and two of his colleagues discover an orphan drug that was hoped to be a treatment for AIDS patients but had negative effects on their adrenal glands. They feel they can spin those effects into a treatment for breast cancer, also glandular tissue, but when their patients in the trial die a horribly rapid death, much is at stake, including the scientists' jobs, their long term reputations, and perhaps their lives.
The premise seemed OK, but as I read, I didn't feel a connection to anyone but Logan, as his colleagues (with the exception of perhaps his female co-researcher/love interest from Italy) seemed aloof and only out for themselves, and the senior researchers were all egotistical jerks towards everyone around them, similar to the junior researchers, but 10 times as obnoxious. The subplot Stein included about the First Lady getting cancer was far more interesting than the main story, but readers only get snippets of that until the stories converge.
All in all, not the worst book I've ever read, but not particularly memorable either.
Dr. Daniel Logan chooses a career at the country's leading cancer research institute over more profitable options at leading hospitals. Upon arrival, he finds that competition is fierce and that it is all but guaranteed that most of his superiors will hate him with a passion once he chooses whose research projects he would like to make a contribution to with his work. In most places, this competition would be considered healthy and a factor in leading to great advances in treating cancer, but here, it is downright cutthroat. Logan and two of his colleagues discover an orphan drug that was hoped to be a treatment for AIDS patients but had negative effects on their adrenal glands. They feel they can spin those effects into a treatment for breast cancer, also glandular tissue, but when their patients in the trial die a horribly rapid death, much is at stake, including the scientists' jobs, their long term reputations, and perhaps their lives.
The premise seemed OK, but as I read, I didn't feel a connection to anyone but Logan, as his colleagues (with the exception of perhaps his female co-researcher/love interest from Italy) seemed aloof and only out for themselves, and the senior researchers were all egotistical jerks towards everyone around them, similar to the junior researchers, but 10 times as obnoxious. The subplot Stein included about the First Lady getting cancer was far more interesting than the main story, but readers only get snippets of that until the stories converge.
All in all, not the worst book I've ever read, but not particularly memorable either.
March 22, 2013
Zázračná léčba od H. Steina
Hlavní postava je Daniel, který dělá v nemocnici lékaře. Je nadaný srdečný a jednou by chtěl být vědcem a pomáhat s léčbou rakoviny.
Uznávaná firma ARN dělá každý rok konkurz a přijímá 10 nováčku na 3letou praxi a Dan váha zda tam jít nebo ne. Přeci zájemců bude tisíce… Nakonec se rozhodne a jde. První pohovor ho rozladí nepříjemný Larsen se s nám pomalu ani nebaví a hodinový pohovor je do 10 min ukončen. Tak na další čeká v parku před budovou.
Najednou k němu přijde starší pán a dosti svérázným způsobem začne na Daniela s otázkami. Dan mu začne odpovídat a baví se. Najednou vyletí a zjistí, že má už jen minutku do schůzky, ale stařec ho zastaví, že ta přeci už dávno probíhá…
O to je víc překvapen, když ho vyberou mezi vyvolené. Prvotní nadšení zkrotí systém v ARN. Mají svojí politiku poslouchat a řídit se pravidly a možná někdy něco dokáže.
Ale Dan se spolu se dvěma kolegy rozhodne, ač v prvním roce o speciální experiment. Je možné, že by starý lék fungoval na rakovinu prsu? Trošku se v tom pohrabou, dostanou povolení od komise a samotné testy mohou začít.
V ARN jsou divné vztahy vedoucí různých projektů si jdou po krku a nesnesou úspěch někoho jiného. Zároveň však podporují prohry.
Je to hnusný boj o moc a spletitá situace, kde si nikdo nemůže být ničím jist.
Kniha se čte sama, odkryje Vám zákulisí politiky léčby. Vše je o penězích a o moci. Kdo si myslí. Že ne je naivní…
Nejlepší vyjádřeni je asi tohle: Revolta - Až se naše děti vzbudí…..
Hlavní postava je Daniel, který dělá v nemocnici lékaře. Je nadaný srdečný a jednou by chtěl být vědcem a pomáhat s léčbou rakoviny.
Uznávaná firma ARN dělá každý rok konkurz a přijímá 10 nováčku na 3letou praxi a Dan váha zda tam jít nebo ne. Přeci zájemců bude tisíce… Nakonec se rozhodne a jde. První pohovor ho rozladí nepříjemný Larsen se s nám pomalu ani nebaví a hodinový pohovor je do 10 min ukončen. Tak na další čeká v parku před budovou.
Najednou k němu přijde starší pán a dosti svérázným způsobem začne na Daniela s otázkami. Dan mu začne odpovídat a baví se. Najednou vyletí a zjistí, že má už jen minutku do schůzky, ale stařec ho zastaví, že ta přeci už dávno probíhá…
O to je víc překvapen, když ho vyberou mezi vyvolené. Prvotní nadšení zkrotí systém v ARN. Mají svojí politiku poslouchat a řídit se pravidly a možná někdy něco dokáže.
Ale Dan se spolu se dvěma kolegy rozhodne, ač v prvním roce o speciální experiment. Je možné, že by starý lék fungoval na rakovinu prsu? Trošku se v tom pohrabou, dostanou povolení od komise a samotné testy mohou začít.
V ARN jsou divné vztahy vedoucí různých projektů si jdou po krku a nesnesou úspěch někoho jiného. Zároveň však podporují prohry.
Je to hnusný boj o moc a spletitá situace, kde si nikdo nemůže být ničím jist.
Kniha se čte sama, odkryje Vám zákulisí politiky léčby. Vše je o penězích a o moci. Kdo si myslí. Že ne je naivní…
Nejlepší vyjádřeni je asi tohle: Revolta - Až se naše děti vzbudí…..
July 28, 2011
This book reads more like a medical drama than anything else. You really get a feeling for the characters except for Dr. Shein and Dr. Larsen. Dr Shein keeps you confused as to what side he's on and Dr. Larsen is just an overall vindictive person with no control over his emotions. Everyone else is well-rounded and you really get to like the main character, Logan, based on his morals and how he deals with situations.
That said, the story paints a very dark picture of medical research full of backstabbing and politics. I'm not sure how accurate this is but I'd like to think most medical professionals aren't like the higher-ups described by Stein.
That said, the story paints a very dark picture of medical research full of backstabbing and politics. I'm not sure how accurate this is but I'd like to think most medical professionals aren't like the higher-ups described by Stein.
October 10, 2015
As a member of the medical field,I found this book amusing to read, being set up in a world I'm familiar with in terms of work, but not much when it comes to literature or entertainment, but I bet any non-medical personnel will find it dull and too much medical terms involved,right?
but on the other hand,the ending could have been better given the pace of the novel where we got to live each detail of the story,but not the same with ending which I felt was like watching a cheap movie who it's director just wanted to end it!
and btw,I feel that this book was wrote to be a scenario or somehow!
but on the other hand,the ending could have been better given the pace of the novel where we got to live each detail of the story,but not the same with ending which I felt was like watching a cheap movie who it's director just wanted to end it!
and btw,I feel that this book was wrote to be a scenario or somehow!
May 19, 2009
This book is about a man named Dan Logan who gets a job at a hospital. He finds out there is a new cure that just may work. They test it on some cancer patients, and the results are great! Until everything gets deadly. The patients start to die, and they can't stop it! Then Dan does a test on some rabbits with cancer and finds out it works perfect! Could it just be Dan's boss's arch enemy, who tried doing the same thing but failed?
~Sophia Johns
about 430 pages
~Sophia Johns
about 430 pages
June 27, 2011
This is the story of a doctor and his friends, trying to find a cure for cancer. But their is secrets and power that people will do anything to protect.
This book was good, you figured out a few things ahead of time but it was interesting. You were trying to figure out what goes wrong right along with them. It wasn't wonderful though, just good.
This book was good, you figured out a few things ahead of time but it was interesting. You were trying to figure out what goes wrong right along with them. It wasn't wonderful though, just good.
September 5, 2009
Good; Doctors at cancer institute battle over possible cures - one faction starts killing patients
March 26, 2010
I liked it, but probably not enough for a reread. 3 and a half stars. C'mon Goodreads-give us a half star!
August 6, 2010
Great twist and turns! It totally kept me in my toes. I can't put it down. Just brilliant science fiction!
October 15, 2010
I did like the book, but it wasn't quite a 4 star rating, maybe a 3.7 rating.
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November 16, 2011great book, will use for letter essay
August 13, 2017
462 - 2012
December 11, 2012
The book was great, the ending, well it stunk. It was like he ran out of time or something, it just all ended so suddenly.
October 3, 2015
The medical field seeks a cure for cancer. Dan Logan is one of the researchers at an important research center. He stumbles across faked data and jealousy.
November 11, 2015
I enjoy intrigue, and this story goes behind the scenes in the medical research field, where supposedly a real cure for cancer is being both discovered and fought over.
December 4, 2015
Great medical thriller
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews