Customer Reviews

Miracle Cure

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

i had no idea this was an old book either. shame on either amazon or the publishers for not stating that somewhere. I was convinced Harlen Coben did not write it and forced myself to read the whole thing. The story is cheesy and the dialogue even cheesier. what a waste of time.

Author Harlan Coben has inserted a signed note in the front of this new printing of "Miracle Cure" that urges readers who haven't read any of his other books to put this book down immediately. He goes on to critique the story and explain that it's one of his first novels. I respect his honesty and wish that I had taken his advice about trying another book.

The book has a lot of problems. The most egregious is the storyline, which revolves around the HIV/AIDS crisis and the search for a cure, and is badly dated. It includes a fallacious debate about the morality of AIDS sufferers where more than one person posits that victims contract the disease because of they are gay or drug users. Hurtful comments and totally omitting any reference to the millions of non-drug using heterosexual victims of the disease worldwide. This was a known problem even in 1991 when this novel was written.

"Miracle Cure" includes a serial killer and a high-level conspiracy to torpedo research being done to develop a vaccine to stop AIDS. Those elements are the book's greatest strengths although the conspiracy angle is never fully resolved at book's end. The novel's characters--a pro basketball player, a popular TV journalist, politicians, scientists and assorted family members--had interesting possibilities, but they are not really fully developed. The one exception is the serial killer who is described in careful detail, but ultimately becomes nothing more than a device to further the storyline.

Author Corben in his opening warning about the book states that for all of the book's flaws, he still admires it for its energy and risk-taking. I don't share that view. This just isn't very good writing. So why reprint it now? The publisher must have seen a way of squeezing some extra bucks out of the author's present reputation as one of the most successful writers of popular fiction. It's a shame that Coben didn't at least insist on revising some of the weakest parts of the book.

I had no idea that this was an old book. I had a terrible time with it, just couldn't get interested. I read about half, skimmed some, and then read the end. I am a Coben fan and buy his books but feel a trifle cheated when the publisher sneaks in an old book and charges full price for it. I will think twice before I order another book by this author

I have read all of Harlan Coben's books and can honestly say I was a fan. But this stinker was terrible. It is a political screed full of finger shaking judgements and stupid characters. Frankly I found it hard to believe that he wrote this book. Then I read in another review that this was his first book. Why, I wonder, would his publishers release such a bad book? It will be a while before I put a Coben book on my Kindle.

I was so excited to see a Harlan Coben book I had not read yet but once I started reading it I could not believe he wrote it. Only when I went back to the review page today did I notice that he wrote it a very long time ago. I guess that explains why it was not up to par with this more recent books. I am having a hard time even finishing it. All of his more recent books I finish in 1 or 2 days. He is one of my favorite authors. If this is his first book, written while he was in his 20's, well I give him a pass because every other book I have read of Harlan's is excellent.

i am a Harlan Coben fan, but this book was terrible. If you are an extreme liberal and you hate all conservatives, you may like it though. Not only was it extremely "preachy," but many boring parts written about someone's tie or someone's past boyfriend or something that had nothing to do whatsoever with the plot. I ended up skimming through most of the book. It was not one of his better books. And not everyone who is against abortion or homosexuality or considers themselves a Christian is a "lobomized follower").

MIRACLE CURE by Harlan Coben is a dated, agenda driven book that at its best shows a glimmer of the greatness to come for Coben. And Coben admits it in the forward of the book. Readers who haven't read any of his books shouldn't read it. Start with something else. Read his Bolitar series, or read his current books, but don't try this one because you might never read Coben again.

This book is much worse than his other early novel to be released (PLAY DEAD). The major problem with this novel is that the entire plot revolves around the AIDS epidemic of the early 1990s. AIDS was still just beginning to be understood, and the disease was misunderstood and misrepresented as a primarily a problem of the homosexual community. Coben uses the novel to give hidden and sometime outright messages about the AIDS issues. One of the characters, a televangelist, is the perfect stereotype of a religious nut who thinks AIDS is God's way of punishing homosexuals. The problem here: it required no creativity. It's as if Coben pictured Jerry Fallwell, then changed his name. I don't care what your feelings are regarding any issues in the novel, you won't enjoy the way they are dealt with in this book. Agenda driven novels are boring.

Coben novels are known for their twisting plots and great twists. MIRACLE CURE is more of a straight forward thriller, with little foreshadowing and a less than surprising conclusion. I've read most of Coben's novels, and he never again goes the "preachy" route again. Fans of Coben won't be harmed by reading this novel written two decades ago, even if it is only to marvel at how much Coben has improved.