cover image Immune Response

Immune Response

Steve Perry, . . Five Star, $25.95 (336pp) ISBN 978-1-59414-448-6

In this sexy medical thriller, Perry (Windowpane ) pursues the cure for cancer and AIDS and everything else. Rick "Doc" Scales, an attractive but aging physician's assistant, lives a solitary life in Washington State near the Makah reservation, facing middle-aged ennui with an obsessive fitness regime and quiet resignation. Things begin to look up for Rick when several terminally ill patients make miracle recoveries. First, an AIDS patient, then advanced cancer and leukemia patients go into spontaneous remission. However, as required by the genre, the cure turns out worse than the disease, and soon Rick finds himself helping "tough, drop-dead gorgeous" Tribal Deputy Jasmine "Jay" Hughes investigate the death of one of his miracle patients, discovered in the trunk of a wrecked Cadillac. After other newly recovered patients turn up dead, Rick and Jay hit the road to save their own skins and find out what's behind the deadly miracle cure. Perry's hot-blooded combo of action, romance and speculative science excites, though the abrupt ending—heavy on speechifying and sequel preparation—proves frustrating at best. (Feb.)