Now that I have my eReader, I've been searching through the many free eBooks on barnesandnoble.com. (I'm sure that Amazon has them as well.) Some are free previews of books by published authors like James Patterson, but many seem to be self-published novels specifically for eReaders and honestly, the majority don't look like they're worth the trouble.
Thomas Hoover has a few free eBooks listed for downloading and after reading some of the reviews left by other readers I decided to give SYNDROME a try. I was pleasantly surprised by my choice!
Dr. Van de Vliet is pressured by Winston Bartlett, the owner of Dorian Institute in N.J., to take his experimental stem cell research a step further by trying to create the fountain of youth. Unfortunately, the injections created a disastrous effect on Kristen Starr, W.B.'s young girlfriend. Although she seemed instantly more youthful, her body and organs continued to digress until even her memory was reversed and she became childlike. Before her reactions deteriorated to this point, W.B. had Van de Vliet inject him with the same anti-aging drug and now the race is on to find someone with his same rare blood type to try to create an antidote to stop the progress of the injections.
Alexa Hampton, a young designer with a severe heart problem, is the perfect choice, especially since her brother works for W.B. and has provided him with her entire medical history. While trying to entice Alexa into the Institute for treatment (but actually to use her like a test-monkey), her old boyfriend, reporter Stone Aimes, has been working on a book to either celebrate or expose the studies going on at Dorian.
While it's not a great book, SYNDROME is definitely readable and is a medical mystery similar to those written by Robin Cook. In fact, it's actually better than the last Robin Cook novel that I read and reviewed here on my blog back in September, 2010. It's obvious that Mr. Hoover's book didn't have the benefit of editorial services, evidenced by various misspellings and typos, once I got past the first half-dozen chapters, SYNDROME turned into a fairly compelling novel.
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