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- The Neurology of Angels Reviewed by Norm Goldman of Bookpleasures.com
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- The Neurology of Angels Reviewed by Norm Goldman of Bookpleasures.com
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- The Neurology of Angels Reviewed by Norm Goldman of Bookpleasures.com
The Neurology of Angels Reviewed by Norm Goldman of Bookpleasures.com
- By Norm Goldman
- Published June 9, 2009
- GENERAL FICTION REVIEWS , ,
Norm Goldman
Reviewer & Author Interviewer, Norm Goldman. Norm is the Publisher & Editor of Bookpleasures.com.
He has been reviewing books for the past twenty years after retiring from the legal profession.
To read more about Norm Follow Here
Title: The Neurology of Angels
Author: Krista Tibbs
Publisher: Friction Publishing
ISBN: 978-0-9818803-0-3
Click Here To Purchase The Neurology of Angels
We often hear that writers should
write what they know and this is quite in evidence with Krista Tibbs’s The Neurology of Angels who really
knows her subject matter. Tibbs studied neuroscience at MIT and also holds an
MBA in health sector management from Duke University. She is presently employed
in the biotechnology industry conducting clinical research for diseases with
unmet medical needs.
With this in mind, we can readily
understand how she was able to craft a fascinating realistic novel focusing on
the pharmaceutical industry as she accurately depicts the dilemmas and
conflicts that arise among all of the major players.
Tibbs’ principal protagonist, Galen
Douglas is a neuroscientist who recently lost his fiancée to Transient
forebrain ischemia, a neurological disorder that leads to strokes. As a result,
Galen is determined to find a medical treatment that would combat this dreadful
condition and reverse these ischemic strokes.
As the story unfolds, Galen has just discovered, after a multitude of
trials and failures, a drug that he feels is the solution that he names 423.
When Galen approaches his best
friend, Eddy Parker, who incidentally was his late fiancée’s brother, to team
up with him to start a company in order to develop this miracle drug, he is
rebuffed. As Eddy states, “the thought of leaving his job to do something that
he wasn’t sure he’d be good at, that depended on other people for success, and
that had no security terrified him.”
Undeterred, Galen plunges ahead
and tries to persuade private investors to back him with his plan. This leads
him to a Grizzly Adams’ character, Amos Theriault, who is very well versed in
the raising of risk capital who introduces Galen to Myesha Knight. Myesha has
led finance, clinical and regulatory operations for start-ups that IPO’d for
millions. Eventually, Galen and Myesha form a company called Biolex that changes the
name of 423 to Lexistro.
During one of the phases of
Lexistro`s trials, the FDA, due to a patient’s death pulls another promising
drug for Fibromyalgia off the market. FDA employee Patricia Chen, who had done
everything according to the book and supposedly didn’t overlook anything,
originally approved the drug. As a result of the patient’s death, the
pharmaceutical company is sued and the attorney who is in charge of defending
the company is Elizabeth Rose. As we read on, it turns out that Elizabeth is a
single parent whose husband recently died and whose daughter has Transient
forebrain ischemia. Her life along with that of two other families including
that of Galen`s friend Eddy all become intricately intertwined with Galen`s
quest to find a solution to this dreaded neurological disorder. The result is a weaving together of an
Moreover,
what is a particularly important aspect of this serious novel is the author’s
underlying themes of how drugs are brought to market and the accessibility of
health care to those who can least afford it. Tibbs does a fine job in
effectively presenting both sides of the issues leading to an insightful
yarn particularly for parents who may be in the same situation as that
portrayed by the families in the novel.
Overall The
Neurology of Angels is a fascinating read, although at times I have to
admit that I felt as if I was playing catch up to what was happening as the
author jumped around from one story to the next without any smooth transitions.