The Scientist Who Wasn't There: A true story of staggering deception

by Joanne Briggs

'A page-turner with a mystery to solve, and a meditation on what it means for a child to know their parents' - Cathy Rentzenbrink
'An exceptional, entirely unpredictable, real-life thriller' - Michael Mansfield

WINNER OF THE BRIDPORT PRIZE FOR MEMOIR

What would you do to find out the truth about someone you love? A forensic, propulsive book about the line between fact and fiction.

Renowned scientist Professor Michael Briggs was many
A Space expert at NASA
An adviser to the World Health Organisation
A successful Big Pharma executive

But Michael Briggs had a secret.

A scandal broke out in 1986 when research he conducted was revealed to be compromised. Patients were also claiming that a pregnancy test he pioneered had caused devastating birth defects. Soon after his fall from grace, Briggs was dead, struck down by a mystery illness in a foreign country

Briggs left behind a long list of publications, patents, and inventions. But he also left behind hundreds of people who believe they are victims of his negligence and who are still fighting for justice to this day.

And he left someone his daughter, Joanne. After decades of wondering who her father really was, Joanne decided to investigate for herself. In hypnotic prose, she uncovers the secret that shaped her father's entire life and made his story more fantastic than any science fiction. As she discovered, Briggs's greatest invention was himself.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Biography

288 pages, Hardcover

First published June 5, 2025

Reviews

[XOX]

Daughter of Michael Briggs, who had faked his qualifications and his research.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Briggs_...

[Stephen McNeill]

This is a memoir, parts of which are clearly true, but some are "as remembered", or simply presumed. But I don't think that really matters; it's a superbly written book, made more amazing by the fact that the bones of the story are absolutely true. There will probably be many other scientists like Michael Biggs who have manufactured data or expertise. Most are caught, some evade capture forever. Either way, it is somewhat embarrassing for "real" scientists like me. The book is thoroughly recommended.

[Angela Tuff]

Extraordinary happenings!

This book was fascinating. I was gripped - an extraordinary journey into her father's working life, Joanne asks question after question because things don't quite add up. "Why was he employed by NASA?" "Why did Mum get ill?". I gave my husband an update each evening, "guess what he's done now..." Extraordinary happenings! I loved the conversations between Joanne and her brother, beautifully written.

[Kelly Lambert]

”A forensic, propulsive book about the line between fact and fiction.” However, I wasn’t expecting a large chunk of this to be the author’s fictionalised account of her dad and his life.

The scandal is fascinating, it’s something I was completely unfamiliar with and therefore it made for such a compelling tale. I wonder if the author romanticises her father too much, and despite acknowledging his flaws and deceit still gives him far too much credit both scientifically and emotionally.

[Bertie L]

I found the story of her trying to find out the truth about her father interesting. However, It did get quite repetitive in places, though, and I found the fictional bits about what her father might have been thinking really started to irritate me. I ended up skipping through those, and there were a lot, towards the end.

Overall, an interesting story and an easy read, but I think it could have been a bit shorter.

[Marc Storey]

Was interesting until last 20 pages then author went down some sci fi bleck hole and kept quoting ray bradbury and went a bit off the page , could have mad emore of the ending of her father and removed the continbual re hashing of certainthemes that were rpreated unnecessarily

[Helen]

For a non-fiction book, there is quite a bit of fiction in it. That said, it is bravely written, with so many questions about her father utterly unanswerable it's a wonder Joanne ever even knew where to begin to unravel the unique and contradictory madness which was his life. A fascinating read.

[Sarah]

Enjoyed reading the exposure and analysis of what happened and the implications. Remove the padding out of story and it would gain more stars for me.

[Deb]

Interesting read and hopefully a cathartic exercise for the author too. Objectively researched and some questions of course remain that make this man's tale not quite fully unravelled.

[Ellen]

Fascinating! As the daughter of an enigmatic father myself, this was a thought provoking read.

[Georgia]

Book was gifted by publisher with no review expected. Overall a 3.5 ⭐️. This was a really interesting memoir, on a topic I had no knowledge on previously. We follow a daughter’s investigation into the hidden life of her father from very personal experiences to social scandals affecting the lives of many women and children. This was really interesting to learn about from a scientific perspective and how controversies and scandals from the past have been covered up and are hard to unravel. Due to this, the memoir doesn’t come to a clean conclusion. I also found the writing sometimes too fictional, with the author diving into the mind of her deceased father. Overall though, definitely worth a read to learn more about this interesting scientist and the public scandals surrounding him

[Janet]

I started this book thinking that it might be a bit dry, but no it held me, I could not put it down.
In 1968 I was given Primodos to see if I was expecting a baby. I was.
The pain that was caused by the scientists that developed this drug is unbelievable.
Anyone interrested in this terrible drug and the people it damaged please look at the Primodos website. www.primodos.org

[Keira]

Dropped this not long after begining the chapter where she attempts to write her father's thoughts. It was really odd putting to me, especially when she writes about herself from his perspective. It was too strange, I couldn't get past it which is a shame as the subject the book covers is really interesting.

[Simon Parker]

I really enjoyed the first half of this book but the second half incredibly tedious. It’s an interesting story but the writing style (particularly the “imagined” conversations and scenes) grated the more it progressed.

[Chloë]

a fascinating read

[Melanie]

DNF at 15%

[Rcolucas]

2,5 ⭐️

[Brodie]

interesting story but didnt really enjoy her writing or the style lol