Customer Reviews

Capitol Reflections

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(17)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Capitol Reflections starts off running. It held my attention from the first page, which is not an easy thing to do. Since I was immersed in the book so quickly, it turned into quite the page-turner from page one.

The story is based on the science of genetically-modified food. It reminded me a lot of Michael Crichton's novels, combining fiction with real-life issues.

There's never a dull moment throughout, as the plot twists and turns around the investigations of an FDA doctor trying to figure out a series of strange deaths. There are various subplots that keep you guessing, but there's also a sense of predictability that makes you smile as you figure things out at the last minute.

I have no complaints about several ridiculous subplots or characters. I like my thrillers very "popcorny"... Capitol Reflections keeps things right on the edge of absurdity without going overboard. It's a fun mix of "this really could happen" with "I sure hope this doesn't happen."

All in all, an entertaining and informative novel that makes great nighttime, or beach chair, reading.

This was a great read. The book starts out with a chain smoking, caffeine drinking New York lawyer working pro-bono. Lawyers working for nothing??? Well I'll concede that it is possible. Anyway, this young impressive lawyer drops dead from a seizure, and the doctors call it natural causes.

Enter her best friend, a doc working for the FDA and a reporter, who of course used to be her ex-boyfriend. Independently at first and, later in the story, together they start to put together the clues surrounding this death and uncover a spate of others.

I found the plot fascinating. The author does a great job with explaining complex scientific theories and findings in lay terms. Given the Author's impressive resume in policy, politics and science I was pleasantly surprised that he didn't write over my head. I hate to have to google a term while reading.

Overall a gripping read.

This book was a welcome relief after the last several books I've reviewed here at Amazon. I found the plot complex but not confusing. The characters reasonably well developed and the writing to be overall very good. This book kept my attention through to the end and now I'm looking forward to re-reading to pick up on nuances I may have missed in my rush to get to the conclusion.

I see that other reviewers have complained that the basic story isn't new. Yes, this is true. If you look for vague enough general ideas you'll see that most entertainment (be it books, movies, music or games) is not entirely original. I mean, there are just only so many ways a story can go and I'm pretty sure all of them have been done at some point in recorded history. What's important to me is that the writer get there in an interesting and original way. And I firmly believe that Mr. Javitt has done so with this book. If you're a fan of dramas (particularly forensic or similar) you will most certainly enjoy this read.

Brief Plot Summary: Gwen Maulder's friend Marci dies suddenly after a seizure. Upon investigating her friend's death, it becomes apparent that her friend's seizure and death are not a lone incident. Gwen works for the FDA and has the resources to research unusual health events, but her digging gets her in trouble at work. She's given another assignment that is tantamount to a demotion. As she enlists the help of friends, their jobs and lives are also placed in jeopardy.

Capitol Reflections reminds me of a made for TV movie. There's a good idea in there somewhere but it got bogged down in the author's attempt to hold the suspense for too long. The majority of the book is spent with the characters running around trying to find out the cause of the seizures/outbreak of unusual behavior/deaths. There doesn't seem to be a consistent reaction to the genetically engineered coffee in this story. That may be more realistic, but it's also rather boring. And there is no connection to the actual outbreaks. Other than Marci, the rest of the victims are just numbers. Another factor adding to the lack of excitement is that this outbreak is so minor that no one noticed! Not exactly the stuff that thrillers are made of.

The characters could have been better developed. Just as Gwen is beginning to feel real, the author switched the majority his focus to her friend Mark Stern. And before he's fully fleshed, the author begins to consistently move back and forth between other characters. I did enjoy reading about Mark Stern's and Peter Tippit's exploits. Tippit was a cross between a geek and James Bond. Maybe not realistic, but he made for the most entertaining character in the book. The bad guys are particularly flat. They could have all been one man. They all seemed to be an murderous lot of men who were evil to the core and had an attraction to Asian women. And I simply couldn't understand their motives behind using genetically engineered coffee that could kill people. There's greed, but they were already rich. And why would they bother with such an elaborate cover up? If their secret had been discovered, wouldn't an apology to the public have been cheaper and simpler?

All in all, it wasn't as exciting as it could have been if death and mayhem had riddled the pages. The way this novel is written, it hinges on character development. Unfortunately, there's just not enough of it in this book.

If you've ever read anything by Robin Cook, this book will seem rather familiar. It's a suspenseful tale of intrigue and conspiracy and it centers around medical and scientific issues, all wrapped into government and political malfeasance. In this case, the subject matter is genetically engineered food. Along the way, the book takes a few predictable swipes at the major corporate interests that sell us cigarettes and coffee.

While the book is predictable, it is entertaining. He will grip your attention and I can see this being adapted for a television movie. In short, if you never read this book you won't miss much, but if you do run across it and read it, you will certainly be entertained.

When Gwen Maulder's best friend - a young lawyer, intense about her work, underweight and a light smoker - collapses in court and dies of a seizure, Maulder, an FDA official and Public Health Service doc, smells a rat. Her own husband, a former Secret Service agent, thinks she's obsessed with the case.

But when Maulder's friend at the CDC finds a nationwide pattern of suspicious health incidents - and Maulder suddenly finds herself yanked off the case - they realize they've stumbled into something much larger than one woman's death. It's a mystery with roots 30 years before in the dorm room of a brilliant Princeton undergraduate, a mystery some very powerful people want kept secret forever.

Jonathan Javitt's engaging technothriller takes us into the realm of genetically modified foods - troubling, he explains in an afterword, as they penetrate the marketplace in a regulatory environment that hasn't figured out how to treat them. A genetically modified food, he says, may cause no obvious harm, but may react subtly with the body, with other foods or with medications, in unpredictable or long-term ways. Javitt is a doctor with a long resume of high level health policy work, and doesn't do a bad job dramatizing his concerns.

Javitt puts together a convincing medical scenario. Maulder and her pals follow the clues while trying to elude the usual all-powerful bad guys stopping at nothing to foil them. Javitt's writing is workmanlike, his technical detail absorbing and the plot has enough twists and turns to keep you guessing until the end. I deem the last twist slightly ridiculous, and there's a sex slave subplot that seems superfluous, but you be the judge of that. These aren't enough to spoil an otherwise worthwhile read.

Gwen Maulder is a scientist with the Food and Drug Administration whose off-the-clock investigation of a friend's unexpected death leads her to uncover a nation-wide pattern of similar suspicious deaths. She also stumbles on a conspiracy involving prominent businessmen and elected officials, one whose roots lie in the arcane research conducted by a Princeton undergraduate in the mid-1970s. A handful of people wind up helping Gwen--an investigative reporter, a senator, a security specialist--and all of them wind up in danger of losing their lives at the hands of a secret cabal.

Jonathan Javitt's resumé makes him particularly suited to write about national health concerns from the point of view of a Washington insider: he has, among other things, served as senior White House health adviser in the last three administrations. His debut novel offers up a decent story with enough scientific background to sell the plot. But the book never quite manages to thrill: sometimes the explanatory sections slow the narrative down, and the book can get a little preachy. Javitt's dialogue can be clunky, and Gwen and her cronies never seem real enough to inspire emotional attachment. Javitt's characters also seem far too eager to jump to conclusions, and are sometimes too quick to understand the import of complicated data.

Still, Capitol Reflections is not a bad first effort. Javitt is currently working on a second Gwen Muldauer novel. With improved pacing and character development, it could be a book to watch for.

-- Debra Hamel

When young people across the United States die after suffering unexplained seizures, you would think that someone would become alarmed. More than a few healthy, young people have died or become seriously ill after suffering a seizure, and yet the unusual seizures and deaths have yet to capture anyone's attention until Dr. Gwen Maulder tries to explain the death of her best friend Marci Newman. What began as a suspicion slowly becomes a certainty as Dr. Maulder discovers that the death of her friend is but one of many. Gwen is aided in her quest by her doubting husband Jack, who also eventually becomes convinced, columnist Mark Stern and an array of other individuals.

Author Jonathan Javitt does reasonably good job of wrapping a thriller around the paranoia that surrounds genetically modified foods. There is some absurdity in this novel. For some reason author Javitt felt the need to throw nearly every conceivable basis for a conspiracy theory into his novel. We have a devious German, Asian sex slaves, ruthless and manipulative politicians, assassins, Central American bandits, and the list goes on. Eventually my brain went into overload with all the various nefarious individuals and plot devices Javitt threw into his plot. I must admit that I was mostly amused, but it was sometimes hard to keep track of all the individuals and their motivations.

In general, Javitt's writing is intelligent and interesting. I suspect that some readers may consider Javitt's writing pretentious because he sprinkles esoteric references into his novel, but those very references made me think and occasionally gave me a chuckle. For example, on page 59 of the review copy I received is a sample of Javitt's subtle and intelligent humor, "...to study with Kucherlapati was an opportunity that any biochemistry major with the correctly folded proteins in his cerebral cortex would not pass up." Few fictional novels contain the words alleles and somatic cell hybridization, not to mention casually throwing out references to folding protein chains.

The copy of this book I have is labeled "uncorrected review copy," and I can attest to the accuracy of that statement. Occasional grammatical and spelling errors distracted slightly from my enjoyment of the novel. I assume that these errors will not be in the final version.

I enjoyed this novel. I thought the writing was intelligent. Javitt wrote a credible story about the potential side effects of a genetically modified food, enhancing his story with relevant terminology. I am convinced that Javitt knows this subject well. I am also convinced that Javitt could be the next author that writes intelligent medical thrillers, following in the footsteps blazed so well by Robin Cook. Though this novel has its flaws, it is good first effort and it will appeal to discerning readers that look for more than another retreaded thriller.

Enjoy!

A friend gave me a copy of "Capitol Reflections" touting it as a thriller surrounding the FDA and dealing with genetically engineering food that could kill Americans. I found it both scary and realistic - when reading or watching a thriller there is always the thought of, "could this happen?" While reading Capitol reflections the answer is "yes, yes and yes".

It's always nice to find a first-time novelist who seems to have more talent and experience than their record would indicate. I received an advance readers copy of Capitol Reflections by Jonathan Javitt. Javitt put together an entertaining conspiracy thriller with the government and genetic food manipulation at the core of the plot.

Marci Newman is a hard-charging lawyer who lives her career. She's due to present in front of a judge on a pro bono case related to an unlawful eviction of an elderly Vietnamese lady. But after stopping for a coffee and a quick smoke, she suffers a seizure in the courtroom and dies. Her best friend, Gwen Maulder, is a Captain in the US Public Health Service. Gwen is unable to let go of the fact that a healthy young woman suffered a seizure with no known cause, and she decides to dig deeper to find the cause of her friend's death. A request to scan a new software system called BioNet uncovers a series of deadly seizures that spike in certain areas for two months and then disappear. But this request lands Gwen in hot water, and she's shunted off to a make-work job to get her to drop the investigation.

Gwen is convinced that tobacco is the main culprit in all these seizures. She contacts a reporter (and former boyfriend) who is known for his muck-raking columns. He starts digging into the facts, and sees that there's definitely a story *and* a high-level government/corporate coverup going on. The investigation becomes very personal when Gwen's own husband suffers the same type of seizure and nearly dies from it. The question becomes whether Gwen and her ad-hoc investigation team will uncover the true cause of the seizures before all of them are permanently silenced.

For a first-time novelist, Javitt does very well. The dialog works well, and the pacing of the plot keeps the reader moving along with no real opportunity to take a break. There were a few side plots that didn't seem to make much sense to me, such as the abundance of Asian women and how they got there. But fortunately they don't overwhelm the main action, and things keep building towards the climax. Javitt also avoids something that quickly turns me off of stories like this. He does have message that he wants to get out... the danger of genetically modified food. But where some well-known authors tend to club you over the head with their cause, Javitt puts it out there in such a way that it makes you think about the subject rather than trying to avoid the constant beating.

I hope this won't be a one-time occurrence for Javitt. If he decides to keep writing novels, I think he has an excellent career ahead of him.