Customer Reviews

Dead Air (Sammy Greene Thrillers)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Meet Samantha "Sammy" Greene, a young college co-ed at conservative Ellsford College in New England. She's the host "The Hot Line," a call-in show on the school's radio station, WELL. No topic is off limit for this show and Sammy has rubbed more than a few faculty and staff the wrong way when following a story. After finding the body of Dr. Burton Conrad, she decides she to dig deeper after the police conclude he committed suicide. Then one student supposedly commits suicide and another is supposedly sent home with chicken pox but never arrives. Sammy realizes the two students are connected by the fact that they were seen by the same doctor at student health services, Dr. Palmer and that he performs research at a very secretive on-campus facility. Complicating the investigation is the Youth Crusade led by Rev. Taft, who has been holding rallies and accusing the Ellsford Administration of promoting immorality and a mysterious fire which destroys the radio station. Sammy senses something sinister is going on in the halls at Ellsford but doesn't realize the person behind it all will kill to protect his secret. Can Sammy uncover the secret before she before her next broadcast becomes her last?

"Dead Air" by authors Deborah Shlian and Linda Reid, is a fantastic novel that introduces Sammy Greene as the host of WELL's "The Hot Line" and a dogged reporter. "Dead Air" grabbed my attention from the word "go" and I dreaded putting it down to sleep and go to work. It's a fast moving novel but by no means tedious. The character development was excellent: the young, enthusiastic co-ed, the good looking boy friend, the reluctant radio station manager and the mysterious doctor. A definite plus about the book is that it's not full of medical terms which only a med student would understand. There are enough of them to make a realistic novel but not so many that you get lost. I see excellent potential for future Sammy Greene novels and it is with great pleasure that I give this book 5 out 5 stars.

A rash of student suicides has hit the campus of Ellsford University! What can be the cause? Sammy Greene is determined to get to the bottom of things as a reporter and talk-show host for W.E.L.L., the campus radio station. She is tough, dedicated, and prone to exclamations in Yiddish, a result of being raised by her traditional grandmother. She plans a Memorial show for the most recent, a young man with a great future ahead, a talented musician and composer, and homosexual.

Interviews with professors, students, and friends trigger some questions as to whether these suicides are what they seem. A fanatical religious group, with an overly zealous leader preaching, anti-gay, anti-abortion, and anti-corporate funding of research, she begins to investigate the group as possibly responsible for the "suicides".

Having left her purse at the home of her biology professor during an interview, she returns the next morning to retrieve it, and the tape from her interview. When she arrives, Sammy discovers Professor Conrad is dead from a self-inflicted bullet. Another seemingly unrelated suicide? But why then did his mentor commit suicide in the same manner with the same gun 3 years before? Retrieving her purse, she realizes that it was running until it ran out, and possibly there will be some evidence on it.

Thus begins Sammy's thrill-ride as she battles against all comers including the police chief, her boyfriend, the Dean, other professors, and the Reverend Taft. No one will listen to her, and all warn her to leave it alone, they are satisfied with the suicide theory. Even Professor Conrad had tried to warn her off. If he was going to commit suicide, why the warning?

This story is fast-paced, factual in many ways, researched thoroughly by the authors who are well-versed in their subject. The suspense is high and the action continuous with little snippets of humor to ease the tension. Suspicions take sidetracks throwing Sammy and Campus Police Chief Pappajohn off course several times. Danger lurks everywhere. She is not even sure she trusts Pappajohn. Now, two students are missing. What is the connection?

A strong story and very current, the dangers in the world of today as we lose control of who owns what in business, what conglomerate is supporting life-saving research, this is a medical thriller that satisfies. When Sammy's missing tape is located after a suspicious fire destroys the radio station, answers start flowing thick and fast and in several directions. Everyone seems to suspect the wrong person(s). The race heats up all through the book, to a heart-stopping climax.

Both authors have written thrillers before. Both are in the field of health care and research. This is the first collaborative story by Deborah Shlian and Linda Reid, and the first introduction of Sammy Greene, which appears to me to be the beginning of a series. If so, I will be watching for the next episode!

Dead Air is a complete mystery thriller. I couldn't put it down and kept reading and turning pages. Medical thrillers are a favorite of mine but this one in a college setting was especially good because there were so many possibilities as to whodunit. I hope Sammy Greene with her occasional yiddish observations and bulldog tenacity will be with us for a long time.

When Sammy Greene, Ellsford University communications major and host of the talk show "The Hot Line," finds the body of professor Barton Conrad at his home, her investigative skills kick in. Conrad's death is considered a suicide, but Sammy is not convinced.

Sammy learns that students and faculty at Ellsford University are committing suicide at an alarming rate and she means to find out why. Sammy's mother also committed suicide so this cause is personal. Raised by her Jewish grandmother in New York, Sammy's language reflects her upbringing.

Authors Deborah Shlian and Linda Reid create an intriguing cast of characters including university police chief Gus Pappajohn, radio program director Larry Dupree, and the Reverend Taft, among others.

Fighting demons from her past and those who want her to sign off the air for good, brave and head-strong Sammy takes readers on an exciting ride. "Dead Air" is the perfect prescription for readers looking for a good medical mystery with a little Yiddish and Greek mixed in for good measure. I highly recommend it and hope more Sammy Greene thrillers will be out soon.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel - didn't have any idea of what I was in store for, and expected a fairly simple amateur sleuth tale about a persistent and stubborn radio talk show host. Instead, I ended up waking up early mornings to read before going to work. Loved the pacing - definitely more of a thriller than I expected, as Sammy, a complex and very sympathetic character, struggles with her own past and relationships and with mounting evidence of a nasty and dangerous violation of medical research ethics that is causing the deaths of several characters that you get to know fairly well. At the same time the novel is a good, old-fashioned who-done-it thriller with great characters, it explores a lot of interesting and fairly complex issues related to the ethics of medical research and the relationship between big pharma and academics. I thought it did a terrific job on both levels and hope to see more of Sammy.

In Vermont, communications major Sammy Greene attends Ellsford College where she is also the talk show host of "The Hot Line" on the conservative school's radio station, WELL. The show has no restrictions, which has at times alienated faculty, staff and students; however it is popular because of the anything goes attitude.

When Dr. Burton Conrad is found dead, the police officially claim he killed himself; Sammy has doubts and considers conducting an investigation. However when a student allegedly commits suicide while another is sent from school due to chicken pox but never arrives home' she knows she must probe into what is happening. She finds a link between the students in that both saw Dr. Palmer at the health clinic when he is conducting sort of top secret research project. Meanwhile Reverend Taft leads the Youth Crusade protests against the school and a deliberate fire burns down the radio station. Sammy digs deep not realizing she is under scrutiny by a predator willing to kill to keep a secret concealed.

This is an exciting, enthralling and seat of your pants riveting college amateur sleuth tale starring an intrepid heroine who is used to being in trouble so like any wannabe journalist she investigates. Sammy is terrific holding the story line together while the college cast is solid support. Although the solution and the villain are over the top of the Green Mountains, fans will enjoy Sammy's climb seeking the truth.

Harriet Klausner

I picked up Dead Air when I read it was a finalist in the Mensa Sharp Writ Book Awards this year. I can see why--the book was wonderful. I got hooked from the first page and literally read it in one sitting. The characters were true-to-life and appealing, the mystery was creative and unique, and the tension kept building until the very end. I felt as if I truly were at Ellsford University with student dynamo and amateur detective Sammy Greene.

The story begins on a bucolic New England Ivy League campus--but beneath the aura of tradition, fissures are disrupting the ivory tower. Students are disappearing and committing suicide. Professors who resist publishing, perish. Evangelical preachers sound apocalyptic warnings. A research partnership helps salvage the school's bottom line, but at what cost? Brooklyn-born radio talk show host Sammy Greene, a gefilte fish out of water in Vermont, gets her radar triggered with the possible murder or a beloved professor, and starts to dig below the surface of the academic patina, uncovering a web of corruption and greed. Can she find the killers before she herself becomes a victim?

I held my breath til the very end. Tight, sharp writing that makes each scene live inside your imagination. Action that keeps propelling the characters beyond their control. Ethical and philosophical questions about our educational system, religion and politics, and research and Big Pharma that are critically relevant today. Top notch on all fronts. You can enjoy the book and then mull over its themes with a re-read.

Five stars.

A shiver runs down the reader's spine in reading the first few pages of this fine new novel by Deborah Shlian and Linda Reid as a glimpse is offered as to what is about to unfold. Ellsford University is a prestigious and ultra-conservative New England college whose Student Health Services program is harboring some truly frightening secrets. Sammy Greene, a junior and host of her own college radio talk show, stumbles upon those secrets following her discovery of the body of a beloved professor of science and genetics at the college. When the official cause of death is determined to be suicide, her inner reporter and amateur sleuth kicks in, only to be made more determined when a talented student appears to have committed suicide as well, and Sammy believes that neither one fit the profile of a potential suicide. Animal studies [and the concomitant animal-rights protests] and other pharmaceutical testing, as well as the question of whether special interests have influenced academic and other decisions at the college, become part of the ensuing inquiries.

When Sammy, a New Yorker who doesn't back down from a challenge, discovers that there had been a third 'suicide' in the past two months, and two students have apparently disappeared from campus, her investigation goes into full swing, occasionally putting her in some TSTL moments but, what the heck, she is a reporter, right? There is little that is subtle in the writing, but that doesn't lessen the mounting suspense as Sammy's life is threatened when she gets too close to the truth. After a little while the reader, unlike the protagonist, isn't sure who, if anyone, can be trusted. A splendid supporting character is Gus Pappajohn, the Greek former Boston detective and current campus police chief, with whom Sammy has a mostly antagonistic relationship.

The topic is eerily timely: No less than the New York Times has in recent days published lengthy articles on the less sinister and more altruistic aspects of animal and human drug trials, in those instances dealing with current and apparently so far successful genetically targeted cancer 'cures.' The authors of "Dead Air" are both physicians and former medical directors of universities and principal investigators in medical research, so one must assume the plausibility of the plot, as comfortable as it might be to think otherwise. Which only serves to escalate its more terrifying aspects. Sammy is a terrific protagonist, one with, as she might say, a lot of chutzpa. The novel is a very satisfying read, and is recommended.

Dead Air, the first book in what will apparently be a new series, features Sammy Greene as a junior communications major at Ellsford University in Vermont. Sammy hosts a call-in show on the campus radio station, and in that capacity she finds herself digging up various skeletons and generally making herself unpopular with the school's administration and with the campus police. In this outing she's looking into a rash of suicides on campus. The tragedies, once she starts digging, appear suspicious to Sammy, and she winds up uncovering some unpleasant goings-on at the University's state-of-the-art science building.

Sammy is a tenacious journalist who's given to peppering her conversation with Yiddishisms. Both of these facets of her character annoy me, in both cases because they just don't ring true. Sammy was raised by her grandmother in New York City after the deaths of her parents, which is supposed to explain why she sometimes sounds like somebody's grandmother herself, but the expressions she uses just don't sound right coming from the mouth of a tough-talking twenty-ish coed. As for her tenacity and commitment to journalism, I simply can't believe that a college junior would be as devoted to her journalism "career" as Sammy is. Even if a college student wanted to commit themselves so thoroughly to their avocation, they wouldn't be able to. Students tend to have other obligations and interests. But while courses and exams are sometimes alluded to in Dead Air, there's virtually no indication that Sammy ever does any school work: she devotes herself completely to her work for the radio station and her amateur sleuthing. Nor does Sammy act her age. How many 19- or 20-year old college students would travel out of state to interview the president of an international corporation, or impersonate someone to break into a highly-secure building and look for clues? This series would work better for me if Sammy Greene weren't a student herself. Make her a former student who's stayed in town to work at the radio station and I'd find her a much more believable character.

-- Debra Hamel

"Dead Air" grabbed me from the very first page--I stayed up all night to read this outstanding mystery thriller. When beloved students and faculty start dying at a respected Ivy League University, campus radio talk-show host and investigative reporter Sammy Greene risks her life to hunt down the killers. Everyone's a suspect, from the Campus President to the Chief of Police. Sammy rips open the guts of this traditional Ivory Tower institution to expose corruption at its highest levels. If she can't uncover the truth, more student lives will be endangered--including her own.

I thought Sammy was awesome, warm-hearted and caring on one hand, but tough as nails on the other, having grown up on the Brooklyn streets. Wish I had her chutzpah, and her smarts. And her romantic boyfriend. Unless, he's in the conspiracy, too... Dead Air is a real page-turner. You won't be able to put it down--a highly recommended, thrilling roller-coaster ride.