Customer Reviews

The Angry Puppet Syndrome

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

John Menkes has woven a striking, intense story of medical, legal, and business intrigue. In the atmospheres of medical academia and class action legalism, a mediocre researcher who is an astute and dedicated clinician is threatened and embattled by his superiors and by the hierarchy of a powerful drug cartel as he attempts to force recall of a newly approved antidepressant associated with devastating, yet inconstant, side effects. Working with a brilliant and attractive woman attorney, he faces innumerable illegal and immoral roadblocks as he struggles to prevent further distribution of this potentially useful but dangerous drug. Well-written, medically and legally erudite, this book is a fascinating, quick-moving tale that provides both nail-biting entertainment and valuable education. The details of the development of the drug, of its clinical usage, of its bizarre side effects, of its monetary value to the drug company, and of the legal maneuverings by both plaintiff and defendent could only have been written by someone privy to the most intimate details of medical research and the judicial process.

Review of The Angry Puppet Syndrome, by John Menkes

"The Angry Puppet Syndrome" is a tautly written medical-legal thriller about corruption and greed in high places-a work that informs as well as entertains. Menkes provides us with an insider's view of what goes on between big-time pharmaceutical companies and the medical profession and it is not an edifying picture. But some of the leading characters are forced to do battle with their conscience and come out on the side of right. At the same time others close their eyes to the damage done by the use of experimental drugs on unsophisticated patients. The author's delightful asides on the human condition give promise of what we can expect from his next work. This is a book that is hard to put down. If you are going on a long plane trip take it with you. Time will fly!

Laguna Reader.

A timely and almost too true well-told tale. The protagonists are real and the conflict perhaps increasingly common. It is not only a good story but a needed warning. As an old mystery reader, I'm glad a friend touted me on to it. The author not only knows his subject but his people as well. Rings true.

Every pediatrician knows Dr. Menkes as an author of Textbook of Child Neurology or a discoverer of 'Menkes kinky hair syndrome.' I haven't read through the thick textbook yet, but I finished The Angry Puppet Syndrome to the last page. I don't like the ending and the scene of some Japanese researchers making a blunder, although it is quite realistic, unfortunately. I found the author a very good storyteller and learned some of the research funding system of the US which is quite different from Japan. I expect his next novel eagerly.

Review of The Angry Puppet Syndrome, by John Menkes

"The Angry Puppet Syndrome" is a tautly written medical-legal thriller about corruption and greed in high places-a work that informs as well as entertains. Menkes provides us with an insider's view of what goes on between big-time pharmaceutical companies and the medical profession and it is not an edifying picture. But some of the leading characters are forced to do battle with their conscience and come out on the side of right. At the same time others close their eyes to the damage done by the use of experimental drugs on unsophisticated patients. The author's delightful asides on the human condition give promise of what we can expect from his next work. This is a book that is hard to put down. If you are going on a long plane trip take it with you. Time will fly!

Laguna Reader.