FOREVER: A Medical Thriller is for everyone who thinks that the world of academia is staid and steady with hardly any blips marring its predictability. Author Geoffrey M. Cooper shows how wrong that notion is through Brad Parker. Hardly the dashing, young, athletic heroes that readers are used to in thrillers, Parker is a genome researcher on sabbatical. The action begins on page one when a couple of FBI agents land at his lab seeking his assistance. There is important information being leaked–the FBI think it’s a spy working for the Chinese government–and they need Parker’s help to find the culprit. As the investigation continues, Parker is introduced to the Monroe Foundation, which seems to have an unusual interest in his research. This is where things begin to really heat up and start to move at breakneck speed as Parker realizes his life might be in danger.

Parker’s character is presented as a true-to-life as an academic whose chief worries are his research and sources of funding. Being a scientist and academic administrator in his previous life, it’s clear that Parker is–at least in part–based on Cooper’s experience. And while the topic of genetic engineering is highly complex, the author has the writing skills required to make that part of the story both convincing and understandable for the average reader. Although the book has plenty of action, Cooper manages to keep it completely grounded sans unnecessary histrionics. Just like Parker himself.

FOREVER has a heart-thumping, nail-biting plot that keeps the reader hooked without respite. Cooper  peppers it with just the right number of incidents and turning points to maintain the reader’s steady interest. Around halfway through the book, it becomes pretty evident where everything is going, which makes Parker’s slowness to recognize who his real enemies the only disappointment in an otherwise very well conceived book. But “happily,” as Parker would say, this predictability does not totally ruin the suspense element, which is also buttressed by refreshing turns in the story like Parker’s honesty, candor, and loyalty to his partner.

Geoffrey M. Cooper’s FOREVER: A Medical Thriller is a tight, edge-of-the-seat whodunit recommended for fans of meticulously researched science-based thrillers.

~Swati Nair for IndieReader