The Cure

By: Douglas E. Richards

Narrated by: Peter Berkrot

Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

The Cure is a genre-bending thriller reminiscent of Michael Crichton or Douglas Preston, about the biological underpinnings of psychopathy. As a child, her family was taken from her by a serial killer. Erin Palmer is left orphaned and forever scarred. She dedicates her life to the study of psychopaths, conducting one-on-one interviews and tests with inmates. When Erin finally finishes years of exhaustive research, she finds herself in possession of the key to ending psychopathic behavior - in the species - forever. That' s when they try to kill her.

©2013 Douglas E. Richards (P)2013 Recorded Books

Great story, surprising twists

What made the experience of listening to The Cure the most enjoyable?

The easy flow to the story, the surprising twists. Nice character development

What other book might you compare The Cure to and why?

I would compare this to one of Michael Crichton's books Prey. There is an excellent story line and continuing action.

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

I was not impressed with the narrator's voice characterizations. He is not a narrator I would pick for this sort of book.

Any additional comments?

Well worth the time. Very entertaining with a some thought provoking dialogue.

loved it

Loved the storyline and idea of having aliens with a dangerous agenda. Keep writing and I'll keep listening! :)

Excellent adventure

Heavy on science, Philosophy, and cosmology, a little light on character development. Overall a really fun read.

Good but farfetched story

A really enjoyable story that held my interest throughout. Well researched with regard to psychopathy and basic quantum physics (is that an oxymoron?). Some of the dialogue was implausible for the two main characters, and the heroic near-superpowers of the female lead were a but over-the-top. Most of the "twists" in the story were obvious, and would not have fooled the Ph.D. physicist male lead, let alone the evil genius bad-guy. Finally, the author should know that "Exactly" is not not the only way a character can express agreement. It seemed like every character in the book, regardless of education level, region, or species, used that particular expression. I found that distracting; after a few repetitions, it took me out of the story every time I heard it.

Very modern in terms of tech used, refreshing

Many exciting plot twist and the modern technology references kept me listening closely the whole book. There is a relationship in the book that at first seemed like forced in nature, but I guess I got used to it when it proved to be relevant to the plot. Other than that I very much enjoyed the listen.

got weird part way through

I like suspense and stories with a medical bent which is what I thought this was. It was fine until part way through when it got weird and unrealistic. I didn't finish listening.

One of the best misdirections I've ever read.

The Cure follows masters/graduate student Erin Palmer who is orphaned after a brutal murder at the hands of a psychopath. Because of this moment, she dedicates her life to studying and hopefully one day "curing" the brains of psychopaths. She has finally done what she set out to do and in doing so opens her life up to an incredibly complex web of lies, deceits, and more.

This was the first audiobook I've listened to where Peter Berkrot narrates it, and he does a great job. This could have been narrated by a man or a woman (the way it was written would have lead to one or the other). But Berkrot nails this. Doing a great job showing empathy and her emotions while maintaining a perfect narrating voice throughout. Quality was good, the cover (I have added an alternate cover I mocked up based on the hardcover/kindle editions) from the audiobook company isn't very good though.

This book did a few abrupt 180's. Richards would have you steamrolling to one conclusion and then throw the main characters and reader into the wind with another explanation. There were a few times I was convinced that I had this book figured out, and wow was I totally wrong.

My first and only word of warning is that the intro/prologue has one of the most brutal scenes I've read in a long time. Now, I don't read hacker/slasher novels and I'm sure that there is much, much worse out there. But, I would just warn people with trigger warnings for rape.

With that out of the way, it really did set the rest of the novel up. It was the ultimate character builder. That one specific scene makes Erin into the woman that she is today.

Without giving anything away, this book confused me (in the best sense of the word) numerous times. Richards pulled off misdirection that magicians would envy. His writing style had me totally engulfed in one thought process when he would then reveal what was really going on. Absolutely epic writing leads to a book that you don't want to miss.

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outstanding

This book grabs you by the thought from the beginning and never lets go. Great stinking book!
Great characters, twists, threats, loved it!

Very well done

A real page turner, finished in one day. Hard to start but worth the time!

Fun and imaginative ride

This had a provocative story line that had a lot of plot twists which kept me guessing and also pondering the state of the human condition. My favorite literary genre is historical fiction and this book fit the bill well. I always go back and look up the factual elements incorporated in the stories to educate myself on some topic with which I was not familiar. I am not an astrophysicist so I had fun looking up the facts that grounded this story and made the outlandish plot line somewhat plausible.
There were a few plot holes and concepts that seemed forced but was very well narrated by Peter Berkot and well paced.
The prologue was tough to get through but it was the necessary fuel needed to propel the story.