108 of 113 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Early Novel by a Future Superstar, December 30, 2006
This review is from: Miracle Cure (Paperback)
MIRACLE CURE is one of Harlan Coben's first novels, written in 1991 when he was in his mid-to-late twenties. The novel is essentially a fast-paced whodunit about a series of murders involving the recipients of an experimental AIDS vaccine. This book is now out-of-print and almost impossible to find. I'm a big fan of Coben's work, and I was lucky enough to track down a very old copy of this novel in my local library.
This novel did very little for Coben's writing career. MIRACLE CURE didn't sell very well, and it would be another four years before Coben wrote his next novel, DEAL BREAKER, which introduced Myron Bolitar. I recently read an interview with Coben where he openly admitted that this novel was bad.
MIRACLE CURE isn't exactly terrible, but it is easily the worst written novel I have ever read by Coben. The characterization in this book is pretty cardboard, and most of the dialogue is rather stilted and flat. The plot is slow-paced at the beginning, and then quickly spirals out of control toward the end, with one overblown plot twist after another.
This is also the most political book written by Coben, with a very strong gay-rights stance and many barbs aimed at religious conservatives who oppose AIDS funding (in fairness, there's a twist at the end that will probably annoy a lot of liberals too). I'm guessing that some of the political views taken by Coben in this book were probably quite daring at the time. Unfortunately, some of the scenes in this book are overly preachy, which may even annoy readers who agree with Coben's beliefs.
I was also somewhat surprised by some of the rather graphic sexuality and language in this book. Part of the book takes place in the red light district in Bangkok, Thailand, and Coben vividly describes some of the sexual activity that takes place there. If you're not a fan of these types of scenes, then you should avoid this book.
MIRACLE CURE is a nice reminder that good writers often need time to develop their talents. This is definitely a subpar novel, but it does contain some glimmers of Coben's talent. The plot is inventive and some of dialogue is sharp and funny. Still, it would be another ten years before Coben would write his breakout book, TELL NO ONE, that would transform him into one of the biggest superstars in the suspense genre.
My advice is to skip this book unless you're a Coben completist.
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31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Bit of a Miracle if you Can Find a Copy of Coben's Second Novel, April 11, 2010
This review is from: Miracle Cure (Paperback)
Harlan Coben's first two novels
Play Dead (1990) and Miracle Cure (1991) were published by a small publishing company called Judy Piatkus. Obviously this publisher wants a substantial amount of money now that Coben is one of the top and highest selling modern authors, to give up the rights to these two stories but we've just seen Play Dead re-released so there is hope for Miracle Cure to come out by a mass market publisher in the future. Coben's current publisher doesn't even acknowledge these two books exist in the previous novels lists at the front of their books. This means the first miracle is you find out these two novels exist, and the second is that you can get yourself a copy. You should though, they are both very good novels.
Miracle Cure isn't quite in the masterpiece league of his debut novel Play Dead or what he achieved with Tell No One and the other independent storyline (non Myron Bolitar) novels, but it is still a very good novel. Written when the paranoia of AIDS was at its height and before it crossed massively into the heterosexual community and many people saw it as a homosexual or drug addict disease, Coben through his characters argues adamantly that funds need to be allocated to find a cure for this disease. Unfortunately 19 years after this story was published we still haven't found a cure, but this book asks the question of what would happen if we had and a powerful bigoted element of society who did whatever it took to stop that cure being known.
Like with Play Dead (and later the Bolitar novels) one of the main characters is a basketball star. What also makes this story brilliant is you've got to remember, this was first published in September 1991, two months before Magic Johnson announced in November of that year that he had AIDS, changed popular opinion on the disease and made the public acknowledge that people who sleep with women, can get AIDS too. What Coben portrays in this fiction novel in some aspects actually happened a few months later in real life.
Basic plot of Miracle Cure - A research scientist knows his life is in danger after himself and his fellow scientific partner discovered they had potentially found a way to make those who are HIV positive, HIV negative. Unfortunately he meets up with a hit man who makes him write a suicide note before throwing him out a window 11 stories high. This is on the heels of a serial killer who is killing gay men, the media does not care but the remaining scientist knows these victims used to have AIDS and were two of those whose blood now showed as HIV negative. Luckily he has a family friend who he can confide in who happens to be a smoking hot and the upcoming next big thing TV journalist Sara Lowell who is equally passionate about his clinic keeping its funding and finding a cure. With religious preacher con artists, powerful politicians and family members against her, Sara will have to use all her journalistic skills to work out what is happening and save the clinic.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Terrible, October 8, 2011
I love the Bolitar novels, but this is dreck. Is this something he wrote in high school? I've seen better writing on bathroom walls. If I were one of the characters in this novel, I'd commit suicide, too.
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