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Side Effects May Vary
When Reece is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and her family members must become her primary carers, she is devastated.
Until, a cure is discovered. A cure that eliminates the disease entirely and allows the recipient to resume their life as they had before. Reece and her family join the entire world in celebration as the cure wipes Alzheimer’s off of the globe.
But when it is revealed that the developers of the cure are keeping a dark secret and preventing news outlets from broadcasting the truth, the celebrations soon turn to horror.
Reece is about to discover that Alzheimer’s has been replaced by something far worse and this time, she might not be so lucky.
Until, a cure is discovered. A cure that eliminates the disease entirely and allows the recipient to resume their life as they had before. Reece and her family join the entire world in celebration as the cure wipes Alzheimer’s off of the globe.
But when it is revealed that the developers of the cure are keeping a dark secret and preventing news outlets from broadcasting the truth, the celebrations soon turn to horror.
Reece is about to discover that Alzheimer’s has been replaced by something far worse and this time, she might not be so lucky.
265 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 17, 2017
2 people are currently reading
1319 people want to read
About the author
Ellis Reid
8 books19 followersEllis Reid was born and raised in Southampton, England.
Her debut novel Side Effects May Vary was released in January 2017.
Her debut novel Side Effects May Vary was released in January 2017.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
April 23, 2017
This book was a little different than what I usually read, but I really enjoyed it. The idea that there could be a cure for Alzheimer's and that it could actually be worse than the disease is an interesting and terrifying premise.
The main character, Reece, finds herself being diagnosed with Alzheimers and when a cure is found her family is faced with the decision of if they should give it to her. And why shouldn't they? What person wouldn't choose to reverse the effects of the disease and bring back the ones they love?
The first half of the book deals with Reece's disease and how her family copes with it. It is constantly hinting at what is to come after the cure and it just builds the readers anticipation of what's coming. I found myself wanting to to hurry and find out what was going to happen after the cure, and that part didn't disappoint!
Ellis does a good job of writing about human nature and emotion. At one point towards the end I found myself getting irritated at one of the main character's decisions, but then I had to think if I would act any differently if it was myself in that situation. And when it came down to it, no, I probably wouldn't. And as someone who has experienced the reprecussions of Alzheimers, the emotions the characters had and the trails they went through are completely relatable.
The only couple things I had problems with in the book was the jumping around in time during the first half. Every chapter was set in a different year and many of them focused on different characters. I sometimes found it hard to keep track of what had already happened during the different points of time. I also didn't feel particularly connected to any of the characters. I think this was because the book had a large variety of characters to tell the story that you just don't spend enough time with them to really fall in love with them. But they were all likable and memorable, and I enjoyed them.
Overall, this was 3.5 stars for me! It was a great first novel and I'm happy I had the opportunity to read it. Great job Ellis!
The main character, Reece, finds herself being diagnosed with Alzheimers and when a cure is found her family is faced with the decision of if they should give it to her. And why shouldn't they? What person wouldn't choose to reverse the effects of the disease and bring back the ones they love?
The first half of the book deals with Reece's disease and how her family copes with it. It is constantly hinting at what is to come after the cure and it just builds the readers anticipation of what's coming. I found myself wanting to to hurry and find out what was going to happen after the cure, and that part didn't disappoint!
Ellis does a good job of writing about human nature and emotion. At one point towards the end I found myself getting irritated at one of the main character's decisions, but then I had to think if I would act any differently if it was myself in that situation. And when it came down to it, no, I probably wouldn't. And as someone who has experienced the reprecussions of Alzheimers, the emotions the characters had and the trails they went through are completely relatable.
The only couple things I had problems with in the book was the jumping around in time during the first half. Every chapter was set in a different year and many of them focused on different characters. I sometimes found it hard to keep track of what had already happened during the different points of time. I also didn't feel particularly connected to any of the characters. I think this was because the book had a large variety of characters to tell the story that you just don't spend enough time with them to really fall in love with them. But they were all likable and memorable, and I enjoyed them.
Overall, this was 3.5 stars for me! It was a great first novel and I'm happy I had the opportunity to read it. Great job Ellis!
April 18, 2017
Ellis Reid is wise way beyond her years. She has written a truly marvelous first novel and it is both heartbreaking and horrifying. Side Effects May Vary is a very intimate novel of family and the unintended consequences of human hubris. Of horror unleashed while trying to do good for humanity. Of shortsightedness while trying to see the long term. Of professionals having a hard time to do duty when it is family involved. This is an amazing read. Ellis Reid gives an amazing critique of both the God complex and what happens to a society when it has figured it out and then thrown a curve ball they cannot deal with properly.
Side Effects May Vary is both an intelligent read and an easy style that propels you along. The story bounces between the intimate family and the larger society which compliment each nicely. Tightly written and well executed, do not miss this read.
Side Effects May Vary is both an intelligent read and an easy style that propels you along. The story bounces between the intimate family and the larger society which compliment each nicely. Tightly written and well executed, do not miss this read.
May 6, 2017
This, for me, was first and foremost a love story.
And a horror story.
The idea is that there is a cure for Alz' but the cure has a rather shocking side effect. In the real world, in the next 12 years Alzheimer's is estimated to hit 75 milllion people. Today there are around 50 million people suffering this fcuking horrible monstrosity. Every year the World Alzheimer Report estimates how many more sufferers there will be in the future and not once have we seen lower than expected levels, indeed the average numbers have increased. Dementias are a plague on our world costing nearly one trillion dollars (about GBP650 billion or AUD1.1 trillion) annually. If you haven't been affected by it yet, expect it. We have to do better.
There are three angles to this book;
We experience this story from the perspective of Reece, her partner Lois, and their daughter Jessie.
We hear it through the news reports sprinkled throughout.
We watch as the cure is pushed ahead without proper testing.
So, I called this a love story. I hate love stories. HATE love stories. Except this one. This is a realistic love story. And it's the magnificently written love that makes the bad parts so bad (the good sort of bad, not bad as in 'it's a bad book'. It's a great book).
This story is the one where you see someone for the first time and want/need to know them, that immediate intrigue followed by that immediate shyness. Months later you wake next to them amazed that either of you were able to fall asleep because there was still so much to talk about, and you want to ask them to move in but you know it's too way soon. Years later you're talking about trying for a second baby even though you're both still scared after the first miscarriage. Decades later you're in the kitchen at 4am desperately trying to remind the love of your life that you're not a burglar, you're their wife and they look at you without even a glimmer of recognition.
This is the story where you go to the doctor together knowing that it's going to be bad news, all the while holding on to every last shred of hope that it will be something else. That it's something treatable. Knowing that you will do everything you possibly can - together - to beat whatever it is.
This is the story where you have to make a will, now, because in a week or two you wont be able to. This is the one where you have to sit down and make legal plans for when you no longer recognise the people you love. Plans for what to do when you get lost in the street. Plans for how to deal with it when you forget to eat, when you no longer know what food is. For whether you want your family to watch and care for you as you slowly slip down a bottomless hole. Or whether you want strangers to look after you - will it even matter when everyone is a stranger? For whether you want to continue living after the you you have always been has gone.
What I loved about this is that it's from the perspective of the Alzheimers sufferer and her wife. Both of them tell their separate stories. In the Acknowledgements the author mentions that Alzheimers has reared it's head in their life and the brutal honesty herein makes that fact so apparent - a brutal honestly that so many people avoid lest others think poorly of them. We all think these things though. Take this paragraph from Lois:
The honesty of ideas like packing up and just leaving. Wanting just five more minutes to yourself when you wake up, rather than having to jump up immediately and change the sheets. Shutting yourself in the bathroom for some private time because there is literally nowhere else to hide to get your head on straight. And wishing to god that people would stop saying stupid, self-serving things like "Oh dear, I'm sorry" or "oh no, there's no cure for that, is there". Just an "are you ok" would be brilliant. And how in the beginning everyone wants to help and 'be here for you' but when you finally do buckle and ask, everyone has disappeared.
Then these two snippets from Reece:
Like I said, it's the magnificently written love that makes this so good.
Anyway, yes, they get the cure. Yes, things go south. I love the analysis of how, after getting through the horror of Alzheimers, they are able to face this next potentially worse new horror.
There is a bit of gore, but this is moreso a psychological thriller. This is not a sop-fest.
This is nothing like a typical 'love story', so if you hate that sort of stuff you'll likely enjoy the heck out of this.
Yes, this has zombies, not a lot, but it doesn't need a lot. The first Alien movie only had one Alien and that's a classic now. There's a wonderful zombie interlude at a supermarket.
The two main characters are lesbian and bisexual, they are married - to one another. I honestly give super-applause to the author for writing REAL people, not tokens, not stereotypes. You wrote me, you wrote my partner, you wrote our friends, you wrote humans. For the first time ever whilst reading a book, I honestly felt represented. I felt included. Thank you.
My one solitary gripe with this was grammatical, syntactical to be precise, however, I'm no Chomsky. I think most of the things that irked me were actually differences between my East Coast AU English dialect and the authors. Except the use of 'had had', that's always unforgivable. Though, I acknowledge, routes around 'had had' can oft' be lengthy.
For a first work this is fantastic. The story is amazing and extremely well written. The characters are real, realistic, and believable. The imagery, continuity, narrative, plot, big ticks. I really enjoyed this. I read it over a fortnight but when I read it I nearly absorbed it. The ink just smooshed into my eyes and settled on my brain like it belonged there.
Lastly, I declare my incredible bias. This book comprises three of my biggest interests: I studied Alz' at uni as a bit of a pet subject, and have experience of it; I am a nuclear lesbian (picket fence, happily almost married but it's not legal); zombies (Romero fan!!!)
My Rating: 4.5 happy families out of 5
~I read this book after winning it in a competition~
And a horror story.
The idea is that there is a cure for Alz' but the cure has a rather shocking side effect. In the real world, in the next 12 years Alzheimer's is estimated to hit 75 milllion people. Today there are around 50 million people suffering this fcuking horrible monstrosity. Every year the World Alzheimer Report estimates how many more sufferers there will be in the future and not once have we seen lower than expected levels, indeed the average numbers have increased. Dementias are a plague on our world costing nearly one trillion dollars (about GBP650 billion or AUD1.1 trillion) annually. If you haven't been affected by it yet, expect it. We have to do better.
There are three angles to this book;
We experience this story from the perspective of Reece, her partner Lois, and their daughter Jessie.
We hear it through the news reports sprinkled throughout.
We watch as the cure is pushed ahead without proper testing.
So, I called this a love story. I hate love stories. HATE love stories. Except this one. This is a realistic love story. And it's the magnificently written love that makes the bad parts so bad (the good sort of bad, not bad as in 'it's a bad book'. It's a great book).
This story is the one where you see someone for the first time and want/need to know them, that immediate intrigue followed by that immediate shyness. Months later you wake next to them amazed that either of you were able to fall asleep because there was still so much to talk about, and you want to ask them to move in but you know it's too way soon. Years later you're talking about trying for a second baby even though you're both still scared after the first miscarriage. Decades later you're in the kitchen at 4am desperately trying to remind the love of your life that you're not a burglar, you're their wife and they look at you without even a glimmer of recognition.
This is the story where you go to the doctor together knowing that it's going to be bad news, all the while holding on to every last shred of hope that it will be something else. That it's something treatable. Knowing that you will do everything you possibly can - together - to beat whatever it is.
This is the story where you have to make a will, now, because in a week or two you wont be able to. This is the one where you have to sit down and make legal plans for when you no longer recognise the people you love. Plans for what to do when you get lost in the street. Plans for how to deal with it when you forget to eat, when you no longer know what food is. For whether you want your family to watch and care for you as you slowly slip down a bottomless hole. Or whether you want strangers to look after you - will it even matter when everyone is a stranger? For whether you want to continue living after the you you have always been has gone.
What I loved about this is that it's from the perspective of the Alzheimers sufferer and her wife. Both of them tell their separate stories. In the Acknowledgements the author mentions that Alzheimers has reared it's head in their life and the brutal honesty herein makes that fact so apparent - a brutal honestly that so many people avoid lest others think poorly of them. We all think these things though. Take this paragraph from Lois:
In the early days, she had brought it up more and more often. "I want to go quickly. It's not fair on you to drag this out any longer than it needs to," was her general line of argument. I had objected without hesitation; to agree to it would have gone against all of my basic instincts, and I couldn't believe she expected me to stand there and promise to help the woman I loved kill herself. And yet when Reece's gradual decline took a sudden, sharper fall, the idea resurfaced in my mind.
The honesty of ideas like packing up and just leaving. Wanting just five more minutes to yourself when you wake up, rather than having to jump up immediately and change the sheets. Shutting yourself in the bathroom for some private time because there is literally nowhere else to hide to get your head on straight. And wishing to god that people would stop saying stupid, self-serving things like "Oh dear, I'm sorry" or "oh no, there's no cure for that, is there". Just an "are you ok" would be brilliant. And how in the beginning everyone wants to help and 'be here for you' but when you finally do buckle and ask, everyone has disappeared.
Then these two snippets from Reece:
I don't remember the first time I forgot her, just like I don't remember forgetting any of my other memories or abilities. I just woke up each day and these things were gone...
I never stopped loving her in those times; even when I forgot her, I liked to believe that there was an untouched piece of me that was always hers. Kept safe in the depths of my heart where Alzheimers couldn't reach it.
Like I said, it's the magnificently written love that makes this so good.
Anyway, yes, they get the cure. Yes, things go south. I love the analysis of how, after getting through the horror of Alzheimers, they are able to face this next potentially worse new horror.
There is a bit of gore, but this is moreso a psychological thriller. This is not a sop-fest.
This is nothing like a typical 'love story', so if you hate that sort of stuff you'll likely enjoy the heck out of this.
Yes, this has zombies, not a lot, but it doesn't need a lot. The first Alien movie only had one Alien and that's a classic now. There's a wonderful zombie interlude at a supermarket.
The two main characters are lesbian and bisexual, they are married - to one another. I honestly give super-applause to the author for writing REAL people, not tokens, not stereotypes. You wrote me, you wrote my partner, you wrote our friends, you wrote humans. For the first time ever whilst reading a book, I honestly felt represented. I felt included. Thank you.
My one solitary gripe with this was grammatical, syntactical to be precise, however, I'm no Chomsky. I think most of the things that irked me were actually differences between my East Coast AU English dialect and the authors. Except the use of 'had had', that's always unforgivable. Though, I acknowledge, routes around 'had had' can oft' be lengthy.
For a first work this is fantastic. The story is amazing and extremely well written. The characters are real, realistic, and believable. The imagery, continuity, narrative, plot, big ticks. I really enjoyed this. I read it over a fortnight but when I read it I nearly absorbed it. The ink just smooshed into my eyes and settled on my brain like it belonged there.
Lastly, I declare my incredible bias. This book comprises three of my biggest interests: I studied Alz' at uni as a bit of a pet subject, and have experience of it; I am a nuclear lesbian (picket fence, happily almost married but it's not legal); zombies (Romero fan!!!)
My Rating: 4.5 happy families out of 5
~I read this book after winning it in a competition~
June 12, 2017
I have real mixed feelings about this book. Firstly, and I hope this is not a spoiler, but it is a which is always a big turn-off for me, and this was not made clear in the blurb. However, it does have some amazing and heart-felt writing about a woman's descent into early-onset Alzheimer's disease, followed by her slow and torturous recovery. I would not be surprised if the author has seen this (the Alzheimer's) up close, as it was SO well done, as was the effect of the woman's slow deterioration on her family.
However there were many things about this book that I disliked. For example, the written news reports and TV news anchor dialogue which were ridiculously unrealistic, as was the process of developing a new drug - a little more research into what actually happens could have gone a long way. One minor point - the side effects did not vary, they were remarkably consistent, so what is the title about?
As for the writing, it was mostly good (even great in places) except for some glaring errors: you don't arrive TO a meeting, you arrive AT a meeting; also "they blamed the loud bangs to a thunderstorm". Another confusion is the author's misunderstanding of the word 'amount' - "there wasn't quite the amount of mice she was expecting" and "there was a minimal amount of chairs along the walls". Specifically, 'amount' refers to a quantity which is uncountable or abstract, whereas 'number' refers to something which can be counted, so it's a number of mice and chairs.
It has the feel of a first novel (not necessarily a criticism!) because the style does tend to vary - sometimes it's exposition and sometimes we're right in there experiencing what the characters experience, with the latter being far superior writing.
However there were many things about this book that I disliked. For example, the written news reports and TV news anchor dialogue which were ridiculously unrealistic, as was the process of developing a new drug - a little more research into what actually happens could have gone a long way. One minor point - the side effects did not vary, they were remarkably consistent, so what is the title about?
As for the writing, it was mostly good (even great in places) except for some glaring errors: you don't arrive TO a meeting, you arrive AT a meeting; also "they blamed the loud bangs to a thunderstorm". Another confusion is the author's misunderstanding of the word 'amount' - "there wasn't quite the amount of mice she was expecting" and "there was a minimal amount of chairs along the walls". Specifically, 'amount' refers to a quantity which is uncountable or abstract, whereas 'number' refers to something which can be counted, so it's a number of mice and chairs.
It has the feel of a first novel (not necessarily a criticism!) because the style does tend to vary - sometimes it's exposition and sometimes we're right in there experiencing what the characters experience, with the latter being far superior writing.
March 18, 2017
This book is about a young couple of two girls who love each other. They marry. They have a child. But then, one discovers that she has Alzheimer. They live complicated and difficult times together: so much pain, wasn't it all easier if they simply ended with all?
Until, a cure is discovered. Apparently, this cure eliminates the disease entirely and allows the person to resume her life as she was before.
The celebrations last a short time. It is discover that the developers of the cure are keeping a dark secret about the cure. This one is actually far worse than the disease.
This was an interesting read. With plenty of suspense, Ellis built this incredible futuristic world.
I really was amazed about how well Ellis described all the suffering and the life of an Alzheimer patient. While reading, I felt that the author had experience and knowledge about what she was writing and this made things so real! This part of the book was probably my favorite one.
However, I think that the main story wasn't so well developed as the rest. I felt that something was missing. Something that made me feel that this situation was possible. Scientists aren't so irresponsible, they spend years investigating medicines to make sure they are good to the world's health. But this doesn't mean I didn't like the main story. I liked it. I just don't like the way that this all started.
I have to confess that in the last pages there were some attitudes that annoyed me a little. I was like "C'mon ... What are you waiting for ? Stop being so stupid." . But I can live with that.
I have to confess, too, that I wasn't expecting what happened and how much the cure was worse than the disease like OMG. I wasn't expecting this.
And that finale... I have feelings Reid!!!
Overall, I consider this book a good read but I feel that with some adjustments it could be better. Nevertheless, I really liked the suspense, the deepness and the moral of the story.
Classification: 3,7/5
Thank you so much for sending me your book, Ellis! For a debut this was pretty good!
With love,
-Banal Girl
Until, a cure is discovered. Apparently, this cure eliminates the disease entirely and allows the person to resume her life as she was before.
The celebrations last a short time. It is discover that the developers of the cure are keeping a dark secret about the cure. This one is actually far worse than the disease.
This was an interesting read. With plenty of suspense, Ellis built this incredible futuristic world.
I really was amazed about how well Ellis described all the suffering and the life of an Alzheimer patient. While reading, I felt that the author had experience and knowledge about what she was writing and this made things so real! This part of the book was probably my favorite one.
However, I think that the main story wasn't so well developed as the rest. I felt that something was missing. Something that made me feel that this situation was possible. Scientists aren't so irresponsible, they spend years investigating medicines to make sure they are good to the world's health. But this doesn't mean I didn't like the main story. I liked it. I just don't like the way that this all started.
I have to confess that in the last pages there were some attitudes that annoyed me a little. I was like "C'mon ... What are you waiting for ? Stop being so stupid." . But I can live with that.
I have to confess, too, that I wasn't expecting what happened and how much the cure was worse than the disease like OMG. I wasn't expecting this.
And that finale... I have feelings Reid!!!
Overall, I consider this book a good read but I feel that with some adjustments it could be better. Nevertheless, I really liked the suspense, the deepness and the moral of the story.
Classification: 3,7/5
Thank you so much for sending me your book, Ellis! For a debut this was pretty good!
With love,
-Banal Girl
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews