Strange symptoms. Bloody secrets. Can one reporter solve a medical mystery before she ends up in a body bag?Jordan Reed put her world on hold to hunt down corruption. So when the gutsy journalist gets tipped off about blood money changing hands at a pharmaceutical company, she dives into the story. With an otherwise healthy worker dropping dead of multiple organ failure, Jordan suspects something … failure, Jordan suspects something far more sinister than a simple accident…
Daring to go up against big pharma, she gains an ally on the inside and recruits two friends to join the investigation. But after a string of false leads and tight-lipped witnesses, she ties her case to disturbingly similar evidence in a medical trial on the other side of the globe. And if she doesn’t expose the lethal conspiracy soon, Jordan is terrified she and her team could be the next victims of the lethal cover-up.
Can Jordan take down a greedy corporation before they sacrifice more lives in the drive for profit?
Toxic Deceptionis the first book in the gripping Jordan Reed thriller series. If you like tenacious heroines, underdog stories, and edge-of-your-seat action, then you’ll love K.C. Gillis’s page-turning tale.
Buy Toxic Deceptionto unravel a contagious mystery today!
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TOXIC DECEPTION by K.C. Gillis is an engrossing new thriller by a new to me author. A junior staff reporter versus an amoral biochem/pharmaceutical company and it just picks up in speed and suspense as it progresses.
Jordan Reed is a staff reporter on the metro beat at a small newspaper. She returns home one day after her morning swim to find an envelope taped to her door. It contains an obituary for a young husband and father who died under mysterious circumstances. Jordan is not a crime reporter, but when she starts to ask questions, she finds she has a story that may tie the pharmaceutical company and its COO back to an experimental drug trial that killed her mother.
With help from her ex-fiance, still best-friend Travis and her friend Charlie Choi who works at the CDC, Jordan fights to learn what the company is hiding. This lethal conspiracy needs to be uncovered before there are more victims, including Jordan and her friends.
I enjoyed this introduction to Jordan and her friends from K.C. Gillis. The thriller plot is an interesting investigation into the biochem/pharmaceutical industry and the massive amounts of money that corrupt the entire system. Jordan makes an interesting new journalist protagonist to follow, but she is at times a little too naïve to believe for her position. That said, she will hopefully be a little more careful in her decisions in future books. She is inquisitive and caring and I do not want those qualities to change. The secondary characters are well fleshed out and I hope to read more about Travis in future Jordan Reed books.
I recommend this thriller for a fast-paced, entertaining read.
This book not only uncovers evil essence of big pharma business and criminal depths some people may go to in order to make money, but it also portrays the journey of a young reporter and how quickly she has to learn to uncover what really stands behind a breakthrough medicine. This book impressed me on several levels. First, I was fascinated by the story. I could picture myself following Jordan in her investigation, agreeing, disagreeing, getting angry at some of her reckless decisions and applaud her for her courage. Since Jordan is at the beginning of her career and still doesn’t have all the journalism tricks up her sleeve, there were times I thought I would arrive at the same conclusion (even if it didn’t play out well for her) because I knew exactly how she was thinking and why she made certain decisions. Unlike many main thriller characters, she is very relatable. Second, I felt that even though I was never interested in biology, I learned so much from this book (the author breaks it down really well), that after I finished it, I spent a considerable amount of time online researching how a disease can be used as a weapon of mass destruction – it was addictive! Third, Jordan, Travis and Charlie make up for a great team. It’s amazing to observe their dynamic and how much they can achieve together. I loved the book and look forward to reading more stories Jordan will get herself into.
What could have been a fascinating novel was, unfortunately, marred by an unlikable main character. With the coronavirus taking up a majority of the daily news cycle, I was excited to read a mystery/thriller involving infectious diseases and pharmaceutical companies. Those parts of the book were excellent. Jordan, however, got on my nerves, and I found myself rooting for pharma to take her out. (Well, not quite that bad, but I certainly wasn’t rooting for her to succeed). It’s a timely book and a decent read if you can stomach the main character. For more thoughts, please visit my blog at Fireflies and Free Kicks. This review was written based on a digital ARC of the book, and all opinions are my own.