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Rabid: A Novel [Hardcover]

T K Kenyon
3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)


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Book Description

April 1, 2007
In a thrilling novel with clever twists and turns, four characters—a graduate student, her professor, his wife, and her priest—spin out of control in a world where science and religion are in constant conflict. A priest of the modern Roman Inquisition arrives in a New England college town to investigate allegations of child abuse by the local parish priests who have suddenly and mysteriously disappeared. The priest, a famous scientist in his own right, is immediately drawn into the private hell—and bed—of a pretty parishioner who confesses that she wants to kill her husband because of his infidelity. The husband, a prominent yet self-absorbed professor, is relentlessly driven by his mad quest to win the Nobel Prize and by his brazen and reckless lust for his students. When one of them falls ill with a mysterious neurological disorder, no one knows how bad things really are—until the subject of the professor’s secret research is revealed and crescendos in a brilliantly depicted battle between faith and science.


Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

*Starred Review* A priest, a professor, the professor's wife, and his mistress--it sounds like the setup for a dirty joke, but debut novelist Kenyon isn't fooling around. What begins as a riff on Peyton Place (salacious small-town intrigue) smoothly metamorphoses into a philosophical battle between science and religion. You would think that in attempting to deal with so many different themes--shady clergy, top-secret scientific research, marital infidelity, lust, love, honor, faith--Kenyon would run the risk of overwhelming readers. But, and this is why Kenyon is definitely an author to watch, she juggles all of her story's elements without dropping any of them--and, let's not forget, creates four very subtle and intriguing central characters. This is a novel quite unlike most standard commercial fare, a genre-bending story--part thriller, part literary slapdown with dialogue as the weapon of choice (think Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?)--that makes us laugh, wince, and reflect all at the same time. Kenyon is definitely a keeper. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"A solid good read by a gifted writer."  —Thom Jones, author, O. Henry Award winner and National Book Award finalist

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 480 pages
  • Publisher: Kunati Inc.; First Edition edition (April 1, 2007)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1601640021
  • ISBN-13: 978-1601640024
  • Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 1.3 x 9.1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,915,409 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

TK Kenyon is an Iowa Writers' Workshop graduate, novelist, award-winning short story writer, pharmaceutical industry regulatory consultant, technical writer, molecular virologist, neuroscientist, minivan-driving mom, happy wife, cat slave, P90X devotee, surfer, high-handicap golfer, scuba diver, gourmet chef, mostly vegetarian, chocolatier, gardener, capsaicin addict, caffeine junkie, Apache and Scot descendant, native Arizonan, Connectikite, unapologetic Oxfordian, nouveau feminist, political moderate with extremist tendencies, radical atheist, Buddhist-curious, occasional UU, Tamil Ayer Brahmin Hindu by marriage, ex-actress, grown-up child beauty queen, PhD, MFA, BS (in so many ways), ASU Sun Devil, Iowa Hawkeye, UPenn Quaker, and always looking for something interesting to do.

Dr. Kenyon's Daily Writing Apple is a daily writing prompt to help you with your fiction work-in progress, instead of an unrelated writing exercise in creative futility that asks you to write about an elephant or how some other character feels. Subscribe via Atom Posts at http://tkkenyon.blogspot.com.

Twitter Handle: @TKKenyon.

Customer Reviews

I found the book very entertaining to start with. Piscean  |  5 reviewers made a similar statement
The book is way too long and boring at times. Cool Mama  |  4 reviewers made a similar statement
Rabid is periodically entertaining, but it is not flawless by any means. Graham Griffith  |  2 reviewers made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
32 of 36 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars It's Robin Cook on Steroids April 4, 2007
Format:Hardcover
Rabid is one of those reads that hit the ground at full speed and pick up momentum from there. Either T.K. Kenyon doesn't know where the brake pedal is or decided the hell with it, and frankly, I'd bet it was the latter. This is a full blown, balls-to-the-wall scorcher. Dual themes - out-of-control scientific research and[...]- make hot-as-the-devil premises and great platforms for the author's fascinating and often thought-provoking philosophical tirades. Whether science or religion, Rabid gives no quarter. These people are flawed, even hateful. Yet, you feel their pain, their doubt, their fear. They sear their way into your subconscious and in the end you love them and root for them because they are you. If the American priesthood is infested with [...], the underlying causes have never been explained better, made more exciting, or presented in a way that offers so much hope for the future. Get yourself a copy, strap yourself into your favorite chair, and find out what's really been going on in the places you never knew you'd need to start worrying about.

Also recommended: 'Bang BANG' by Lynn Hoffman, an inspiring read.
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22 of 25 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Highly readable yet surprisingly deep December 6, 2007
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I bought this book on a recommendation from a well-read friend, and after recently reading "Special Topics in Calamity Physics," "Saturday," and "Never Let Me Go," this book was exactly what I needed. At first blush, with its delightfully raunchy characters and turbo-charged pace, "Rabid" seems like a here-today, forgotten-tomorrow mass-market thriller you'd pick up in the front of an airport bookstore. However, this intelligent book has some intriguing, unusual themes stuck inside its highly digestible prose. The dialogue is, in my opinion, some of the best I've seen in any novel. The conversations amongst the characters are illuminating and entertaining without being unrealistic. Furthermore, as someone who has degrees in Biotechnology and Biomedical Engineering, I relished Kenyon's many references to laboratory culture.

Kenyon does an impressive job of juggling the four intertwined characters, and I was happy with three of the four endings. One of the character's endings just seemed abrupt and unfinished based on everything that had happened, but this didn't make me enjoy the book any less. This is an amazing and inspiring first effort. Kenyon skillfully teeters on the edge of absurdity with several of the elements in her plot; one almost expects her to take this plunge that many first-time novelists would indulge in, but she keeps the story firmly on the rails despite navigating amongst disparate settings.

If you're weary of a lot of the overwrought and unnecessarily obscure fiction that's been on the market lately and want a read that is unashamedly enjoyable yet thought-provoking, you won't go wrong picking up "Rabid."
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18 of 20 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars Know What You're Getting Into September 3, 2012
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Rabid is a fun fantasy of religion and science. It's entertaining in part because author T K Kenyon (no periods after the initials, please) likes showing off her vast knowledge of both. And of pedophile priests.

But fantasy it is. Events and personalities here are just not credible. At various points I asked myself, Is this a parody? Here's a list of a few of the things in the story. MILD SPOILERS AHEAD. A priest who looks like Antonio Banderas (she doesn't say that specifically; she usually compares him to an angel). A scientist who illegally experiments with rabies. Another scientist who illegally experiments with HIV and discovers the secret to the soul. Rampant and blasphemous priestly pedophilia, graphically described. A person tortured by their mother until they become a Catholic zombie. Lots of "casual f***ing." Interesting but inconclusive debates between faith and science. References to Voltaire, Marx, Newman, Joyce, etc. A woman raping a man. Religious renditions. Nobody escapes the Italian Inquisition. END SPOILERS

Really, this novel is a comic book. Realism is left far behind. That's not a put down. There is a place in this world for comic books. Just don't get the idea that this is literary fiction, despite the fact that the author got her MFA at Iowa, the most prestigious writer's training camp in the US. In many ways this reads like well-crafted fan fiction and seems to be part of a general trend toward the excess that occurs in the absence of gatekeepers. (And I speak as a self-published author myself.)

So enjoy it in the spirit of fun, with enough intellectual icing on the cake to make you think you're being deep.
... Read more ›
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14 of 17 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Kenyon refuses to play the complacency game November 14, 2007
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Rabid, by T.K. Kenyon, was released by Kunati, Inc. in Spring, 2007. It is an amazing book!
One word for this book: riveting. No, two words: riveting, compelling...actually, Rabid would take more words than I even know to use, and I'm a wordsmyth myself. I could not put it down.
T.K. Kenyon's Rabid is an amazing story. Masterfully woven plotlines and an absolute commitment to truth and utter refusal to play the complacency game left me feeling as if I had gone on an "explore" with the author. Kenyon has the gift of pulling the reader in to the world of her characters. She manages to make an untouchable character like Leila a sympathetic one.
I look forward to Kenyon's next novel. Can't wait.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars Disgusting
Why is your book a piece of trash? Let me count the ways......

You list your book as a Medical Crime Thriller. I stopped reading at 80% because I was just too disgusted. Read more
Published 2 days ago by Dorothy
4.0 out of 5 stars Rabid Novel
An interesting read but rather morbid in sections. Actually it was not the most memorable book I have ever read.
Published 3 months ago by Sewing gal
3.0 out of 5 stars Its okay...
The author is a skilled writer. The book kept me fairly interested, I very much liked all the medical terminology throughout the book. But it didnt live up to the title 'Rabid'. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Amber
1.0 out of 5 stars don't bother
After forcing myself through a couple of chapters without finding much in the way of "medical crime" I finally gave up on this one. Not worth the money...
Published 4 months ago by Jo Ann
2.0 out of 5 stars Not what I expected
I found the book very entertaining to start with. The author has a writing style which immediately sucked me in, even though there wasn't much action. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Piscean
3.0 out of 5 stars Not what I expected, but not bad
Although described as Robin Cookish, I found no similarities. The story was less medical mystery and move fictionalized court drama.
Published 6 months ago by R. nydam
2.0 out of 5 stars Started out well
This novel started out as a great read! I could not put it down, then I hit the half way mark, and I was more then ready for the novel to end. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Amy Williams
1.0 out of 5 stars dissapointing
This book gets technical and boring in several places, and it was hard for me to read it to the conclusion. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Karol Moore
5.0 out of 5 stars Good read
Enjoyed a lot. First time reading TK Kenyon. Look forward to more of writings from Kenyon. Try it. Think you will like
Published 6 months ago by M. Binch
3.0 out of 5 stars RABID
t

oo long - too wordy - somewhat boring - finished it - but did not care for it - the story could have been told in shorter version RABID
Published 6 months ago by Dorothy Kaye
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What is with that cross on her tongue?
I believe it symbolizes that religion is driving the character mad and that she is very distressed. That's just an interpretation, however.
Jan 3, 2007 by Aaron Kinney |  See all 7 posts
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