Geneva

British scientist Sarah Collier hasn’t yet had time to savor her Nobel Prize win when her life skids off course in this propulsive debut from actor Armitage. Already struggling with her widowed father’s accelerating Alzheimer’s, Sarah begins to experience alarming symptoms herself, including blackouts and memory loss, which she and her neuroscientist spouse, Daniel, fear could herald the same diagnosis. Reeling, Sarah craves nothing more than cocooning with her family—especially her young daughter, Maddie—before the disease takes hold. Then she receives an offer she can’t refuse: an invitation to Geneva’s prestigious Schiller Institute to be the guest of honor at biotech tycoon Mauritz Schiller’s gala launch of Neurocell, a revolutionary neural implant designed to treat memory disorders including Alzheimer’s. At the event, Sarah is forced to battle her own failing body as money-hungry scientists and executives hope to grab a piece of the Neurocell pie for themselves. Switching the narration back and forth between the sympathetic Sarah and her more aloof, mysterious husband, Armitage speeds his thriller around a twisty plot as hair-raising as an Olympic luge run. Though a few reveals strain credibility, readers will plow right through them. This promising performance demands an encore. Agent: Amy Mitchell, United Agents. (Oct.)