Customer Reviews

The Poison Plum

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1 star:		(4)

 

 

The Poison Plum is presented as fiction but yet the underlying basic message of the book is very true to life. This is a book that everyone needs to read. You don't have to be a Lyme disease patient to appreciate this gripping tale of political intrigue. It is most definitely a page turner and it was very difficult to put down.

The book begins in Alabama, back in the 1940s, where the famous Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment took place. This subject later ties into the plot. Next we visit New London, Connecticut where a retired respected colonel with lyme disease, takes revenge on a boatload of microbiologists returning home for the day from Plum Island. Plum Island is an animal disease research facility off the tip of Long Island, New York. One of Plum Island's employees, Susan Collins, was not on the boat that particular day because she was taking her son, Toby, to the doctor. Toby had contracted a mysterious illness and she was hoping her son would finally be diagnosed with something tangible so he could be treated.

Homeland Security and Plum Island officials discovered that the Colonel had been dying of Lyme disease and they realized that he had traced the origins of this disease to the research labs on this island. The officials did not want this connection to be discovered by the public, so to divert attention away from the Colonel and to put the blame somewhere else, the government officials then conducted raids on the offices of all the Lyme doctors in the area. A particularly famous lyme doctor, Dr. Glen Klinner, was arrested and taken to some unknown location. The Colonel had been a patient of Dr. Klinner and the official government lie stated that Dr. Klinner had given the Colonel specific drugs which caused the colonel to commit this desperate act of what the government called "terrorism", against the United States.

Congressman McDonald then became involved in this developing saga, as Dr. Klinner and his wife Fran, were very close friends of the Congressman.

In the meantime Susan Collins was still having problems trying to get her child, Toby, diagnosed. Susan returned to work at Plum Island where her bosses complained of all the time she had taken off to be with her sick son. They were suspicious and wondered why she hadn't been on the ferry that fateful afternoon.

Finally, Toby was diagnosed with Lyme disease and Babesiosis. Susan had difficulty finding a local doctor to continue Lyme treatment because all the Lyme doctors in the area had been arrested. While Susan is struggling to save her son's life, Congressman McDonald is trying to find where his friend, Dr. Klinner, had been taken to. The Congressman held press conferences to inform his constituents as to what was happening. McDonald received information which led him to realize that Lyme disease may have actually originated at and spread from Plum Island.

As the story evolves, many of the characters are connected, share information and together they fight for the Truth to be revealed. Sometimes the reader may be able to discern where the plot is headed and other times he may not.......especially near the end.

I feel that there is an important lesson to be learned from this book. The main idea I came away with was that we have to come together, we have to do what's right and we need to ask God for guidance, before it's too late.

This book encompasses many aspects of what is really taking place in our world and I think we need to heed the author's warnings. The Poison Plum is very well written and includes all the essential elements of a spellbinding thriller.

The above review was contributed by: Marjorie Tietjen: Marjorie is a freelance investigative journalist with a B.S. in nutrition. She writes on various topics but has a special interest in public health, education and awareness. Her writings can be found online and in several print publications. She also reviews books for Bookpleasures.

I wanted to like this book, which begins as grippingly as any Robin Cook thriller. But the book's large flaws quickly appeared: lack of editing; the author's uninformed political bias; and character thought-monologues that don't ring true. The author has his characters say and think in very cliched paragraphs that no one in real life would use. As the story progresses, it becomes more unbelievable--Roberts simply can't help himself enough to hide his politics, or his glee when someone gets his comeuppance. Many dead horses are flogged throughout the course of the book: when a good guy scores a point against a bad guy, the good guy (at least in his/her head) keeps on kicking them when they're down.

Unfortunately, Roberts wants to have his politics both ways: he blames everything he despises on the "liberals", even when the actions are those of Republicans. For example, he clearly hates the Patriot Act, but blames it on the "liberal New World Order"; he repeatedly refers to the post-Clinton presidency as the New World Order--he just can't face facts enough to call the post-Clinton president a Republican or conservative. I hate to break the news to him, but the New World Order is outdated by 10 to 15 years as a concept, let alone a meaningful label.

In another whopper, Roberts calls the ACLU responsible for "the most violations" against the Constitution! I guess he thinks the Bill of Rights (which it is the ACLU's purpose to defend) should never have been appended to the Constitution. (Perhaps he thinks the ACLU authored the Patriot Act.)

Roberts repeatedly portrays "liberal media" as opposing a rogue Congressman's attempts to investigate illegal arrests, searches, seizures, and imprisonment of U.S. citizens at Guantanamo Bay. Hello! Since when would a truly "liberal" reporter object to Congress trying to expose illegal actions by the Bush administration?! Roberts gets it backwards, apparently blinded by his political resentments against Clinton.

Before the book descends into excessive preachiness--and a rushed ending that's pure fantasy--I was caught up in the sick revelation that Lyme disease was intentionally government-engineered from syphilis. My government scares me, but not because it's "not conservative enough".

Beginning quite literally with a bang, Les Roberts' novel The Poison Plum is a whirlwind of suspense centered on the battle for truth in a country where lies and manipulation reign over justice and disclosure. The book follows Susan Collins, a single mother working at the Plum Island Animal Disease Research Center in Connecticut whose son Toby is suffering from a myriad of symptoms that seem to evade a definitive diagnosis. Meanwhile, a well-respected Colonel on the verge of death from a mysteriously debilitating illness decides to take justice into his own hands. When it is subsequently discovered by the authorities that the Colonel suffered from an often misdiagnosed and elusive Lyme disease infection, the response of the government is to raid the offices and homes of Lyme disease specialists and indefinitely detain the Colonel's personal physician at an unknown location. As news of the unlawful detainments surface, one lone moral congressman decides to take up the battle to release one of his closest friends who had been caught up in the sweep, but he and his dedicated team soon find that the implications of their research has high reaching tentacles and that they must battle through a web of deceit and cover-ups.

The events are rapid fire, and as more characters are introduced the plot thickens as they discover imperative historical links that reveal a darker side of the United States government's disease research. With witty dialogue and erudite characters, the book is a pleasure for the mind. Far from simplistic, the dialogue reflects the fervent mind of the author, and be advised this book is not for those averse to dictionaries. The characters are diverse and intense, and express great complexity through extensive dialogue. Moreover, the characters are heartfelt and real and the urge to sympathize with their plight comes easily. From the fiery journalist Macintosh McAdams and moral Congressman Harry McDonald to the self-sacrificing Cathy Collins and cunning Erin Giblon all the way to the excessively wicked heads of the CIA, DHS, and FBI---the whole spectrum of human personalities is covered. These aren't your average characters; they are exceptionally extreme in their respective fields with the good being exceeding good and wicked being intolerably evil. Roberts has drawn a line in the sand, and the reader is not left with any grey area but must choose from either side of the clearly defined line---black or white, right or wrong, good or evil. Roberts displays almost prophetic insight at certain points in the novel especially considering the time period in which it was written. Published in 2006, the novel had been worked on for several years prior so the content is especially shocking given what has come to light since the book was written. Though not quite Orwellian in nature, the framework for corruption within the US governmental agencies was outlined in The Poison Plum, and recent events can even be looked at as eerily fulfilling of the situations in the novel.

The old adage that truth is truly stranger than fiction rings loudly in Roberts' work, and valid concerns as to the nature of those tasked with protecting us are poignantly raised. The ethical concern of how much power an authority should be allowed to exert over its subordinates is a recurring philosophical theme, as are the questions of individual rights versus collective rights, the alleged transparency of government programs, and the fairness of military tribunals. Through his characters Roberts exerts a curious case that ties Lyme disease to a much larger conspiracy that seems too debauched to be true at first, but makes sense when history is taken into account. The coverage of historically documented events gives credence to Roberts' seemingly wild claims that the origins of Lyme disease have its roots not in nature, but in a lab manned by scientists operating under the veil of national security. There is nothing new under the sun, and Roberts emphatically tells how a basic look at this nation's history proves just that, and how the refusal to learn from history will ultimately doom us to repeat it.

This is one of the worst books I have ever read.They Wouldn't even take it for trade credit at my used book store. Check the publisher.

Not only a former medical researcher, a college professor, and the recipient of a Doctorate of Science degree, but a Lyme disease sufferer as well, I think I can give a very fair assessment of Les Robert's book. I found it very hard to put down. In spite of an otherwise hectic schedule, I managed to read it, completely, in three days. There were many parallels between my own three year struggle to obtain an accurate diagnosis for my condition (Lyme disease) and the central character's frustration with her son's mysterious, debilitating illness. My own son was diagnosed with Lyme six months later than he should have been. Why? Because doctors refused to test the tick that bit him. This book is a extremely believable account of how the government, and scientists, COULD conspire to cover up the real truth about the Lyme epidemic. I have seen firsthand, how, in the interest of "research", human induced (into animals) conditions and diseases were manipulated in the lab where I worked. Anyone who doesn't believe that illegal arrests and imprisonments might result from a cover-up needs to get a reality check. It was easy for me to separate the "possible truth" from the fiction (at the end), but I was both entralled, entertained, and amazed at the author's skill in delivering a VERY believable work of "fiction".

WOW here we are folks FINALLY the truth as to why MDs shy away from aggressively diagnosing & treating Lyme patients. Yes- we are desperately ill, yes - it is very difficult and costly to treat BUT the government has turned this into a political disease and has literally handcuffed doctors who try to cure their patients with the extensive medical treatments & medications that they need. What is the government hiding? Read the book and WEEP for all of us.

I feel defrauded by the reviews that praise this book. This book has a total of one thing going for it, which is what attracted me to it, namely its recognition of the strong evidence that the epidemic called Lyme disease originated at a U.S. "biodefense" center on Plum Island.(Read Michael Carroll's Lab 257 for a presentation of that evidence in a non-fiction format.)Otherwise, The Poison Plum is a hack job -- miserably written, terrible, wooden dialogue, much of the book is Person A telling something to Person B, then Person B telling Person C the same thing ad nauseum. The underlying purpose of the book is to illustrate how the world works according to the Christian Fundamentalists. At the end, God takes matters into His own hands. But until we are thus saved, we are treated to a view of politics that blames the New World Order on "liberal" politicians and media. At page 433, the author reveals that his heroes include Senator Joseph McCarthy and FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. I am a longstanding patron of Amazon Books -- for the first time ever, I feel obliged to demand my money back.

This "fiction/novel" for the first time that I know of, accurately sheds light on the plight of Lyme disease victims in the USA in the novel format. The story is fictional, but like "historical fiction", it lets its readers into the sad, frustrating world of lyme disease. And its right on the mark.

The story is interesting and kept me captivated all the way through. It is a very good read.

As a avid reader with a degree in English/Communications, I think this book eventally deserves a thorough editing by a top-notch editor. There are some problems that a professional editor could remedy.

But I loved the book, as an avid reader, as an English major, as a human being, and as a person who has Lyme disease and has loved ones who are also battling this horrendous, insidious, life-robbing disease.

Thank you to Les Roberts, for this book. I will be recommending it to everyone I know, and hope soon to see it prominently displayed in the bookstores. And please, please, if you have the "spoons" to do it, make the publicity circuit...go on Oprah...and let your book spread the word.
Thank you so much, Mr. Roberts.

Laura Rendone

This book has all the sizzle and excitement of a Clancy or Grisham novel with realistic characters you get to know and some you'll wish you didn't know. Some you may even recognize.

Did it happen - Will it happem?

Whether you are a Lyme disease sufferer, know or support one, or are just looking for great thriller/conspiracy story - this book fits the bill.

I enjoyed it very much!

Don't bothering buying this book. I cannot believe the good reviews for this novel! It could have been written by a racist 3rd grader! I cannot honestly say I read it the whole way through because I couldn't, it was so awful! So who knows??? MAYBE the TERRIBLE story line got better after the first 120 pages. HOWEVER, the writing could NOT have gotten better! Don't waste your time or money on this self published novel!!!!