MADicine

by Derek Armstrong

Escaping a facility in California, a virus intended to help cure the world of violence unleashes an epidemic of rage infecting every nation on earth. A relief organization with the unfortunate acronym... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 160164017X
• ISBN13: 9781601640178
• Release Date: May 2008
• Publisher: Kunati Inc.
• Length: 347 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.5" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

It takes WART to stop a killer virus

That's the World Advance Response Taskforce led by Alban Bane, a Scot who can be more than a wart on the backside of people who get in his way. He's not entirely sure why he's been called to California to save the world yet again, but he gets a taste of the virus firsthand when the pilot of his transcontinental plane goes nuts and nearly kills everyone on Flight 411. Enter, Dr. Ada Kenner, Harvard trained CDC doc who first identified the plague and named it MADS because the primary symptoms were dementia, sociopathy, and violent psychotic breaks. She's a bit mad herself because no one was willing to listen to her until Bane stepped in. These two, along with help from Nam Ling, kung fu champion and Panji, a Native American pop star also known as Little Coyote, will lead the forefront in the fight against the deadly virus. There's a lot to recommend "MADicine." It's not just typical plot driven page turning suspense. Alban Bane and the other supporting cast members are all strong characters with their own beliefs and painful pasts. In addition, while Armstrong knows how to dish the action, he can also keep you from raising your blood pressure too high with an occasional laugh. His comment, "I plan to sleep. Hopefully, you don't." to an obnoxious pilot had me rolling and that was just within the first few pages. Finally, the mystery comes in with just the right amount of clues to keep me reading and guessing almost until the last of the book. The imagery here was so vivid, I'm casting the movie in my head while I'm heading off to order Derek Armstrong's first book in this series, The Game. Rebecca Kyle, June 2008

MADicine: Fasten Your Seatbelt, Baby.

A friend recommended I read Derek Armstrong's MADicine. I hadn't heard of Mr. Armstrong before, but I trusted my friend's opinions on books, particularly where it comes to mysteries and thrillers. I have just finished reading MADicine and have to say it is the most unique mystery I have ever read. In good ways. The novelist doesn't take himself too seriously, and yet is obviously serious about the material he is lampooning. Reading MADicine, which is about a virus that causes normally reliable people to turn MAD, is like going on a roller coaster ride where you're sharing the seat with someone who is constantly poking you in the ribs. You can't help laughing while you're clinging to the edge of your seat. Whereas many mystery series that have the same protagonist often lose their edge, I look forward to reading more stories with Alban Bane and his array of friends.

Engaging medical thriller

Having read Armstrong's "The Game" last year, I was looking forward to meeting Alban Bane on the page once again. Who can resist a character who, when asked by a young kid on a plane if he is like James Bond, responds, "Better looking and funnier." This is a thriller with charm, humor and sexy-edge. Armstrong's dialogue is so smooth, you will feel as if you're hearing the characters, rather than merely reading them. Looking for an entertaining summer read? Grab this book.

Move Over, James Bond

You gotta love a hero who works for an organization called WART, which is the evil-fighting World Advance Response Team headed by Alban Bane, a smart-mouthed Scot who saves the world in his spare time. In this satirical thriller, Bane tackles a plague that's spreading across the globe causing people to go into violent, murderous rages. He figures out that the cause is a virus developed to CURE violence (oops!), but then has the fun job of stopping it before the world's entire population starts frothing at the mouth and doing bad things to each other with baseball bats and claw hammers. Bane calls on a trio of beautiful assistants, a kung-fu champion, a pop star, and Ada Kenner, a CDC virologist who serves as the perfect foil for Bane's acerbic wit. Together they hop the globe as required by all high-performing international crime fighters, whizzing from L.A. to Europe to Hong Kong to Africa. Any reader who doesn't catch the 007/Charlie's Angels/Michael Crichton references suffers from an incomplete education. It's a spoof, of course, (did I mention the zombies?) but not so over-the-top outrageous that it gets in its own way. You can certainly enjoy it as a fast-paced thriller with appealing, memorable characters and a well-thought-out suspenseful plot, but you'll be missing half the fun if you don't stop every once in awhile and wallow in the comic dialogue and sly pokes at the conventions of the genre.

That's Bane, Alban Bane

Ian Fleming was a master entertainer who always gave away the tongue-in-cheek nature of his game with his outrageous, over the top villains. Armstrong outclasses Fleming and Bond in this sexy thriller with a villain that's totally impersonal-a virus. This virus, developed to cure the tendency to violence (an anti-violence virus?) turns out to have an unintended consequence. It causes otherwise normal, even well-disposed people to have fits of destructive rage. What can stop the violence? Who will be the bane of rage epidemic? Well, Alban Bane of course with his trio of beautiful female assistants:(Gentlemen, tell me if this matches any of your fantasies. . .) a kung-fu adept, a luscious Harvard-trained doctor from the Center for Disease Control, and a pop star. What makes this book so wonderfully entertaining is that the satire is all at the meta-level. You could read this entirely as a thriller and never crack a grin. But that would be a waste. This is also an extremely droll fable on the fate of good intentions and the continuing breakdown of what we used to call civility. I hope the movie doesn't make a mess of it. Lynn Hoffman, author of The New Short Course in Wine