Venom: A Novel of Suspense [Hardcover]

Joan Brady (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 3, 2010

A gripping tale of international corporate intrigue from the award-winning author of Bleedout . . .

 

EASTERN EUROPE . . . Thirty years after Chernobyl, nuclear fallout is still claiming victims.

ILLINOIS . . . Fresh out of prison, David Marion doesn’t expect a hit man at his door. But when one appears, their meeting is lethal—for the hit man. Who sent him? David has no idea. But warned that a powerful secret organization is after him, he is forced to disappear until he can strike back.ALABAMA . . . Devastated by the death of her lover, physicist Helen Freyl escapes to her bee farm to care for a colony carrying a unique strain of venom. But when an unexpected job offer from a giant drug corporation arrives, it proves to be a much more intriguing diversion.LONDON, ENGLAND . . . Helen’s new company is close to a cure for radiation poisoning, but the sudden death of a colleague is followed by another, and Helen begins to doubt the organization’s motives. When she realizes her own life is in danger, what can she do and who can she call on for help?

Venom brings David Marion and Helen Freyl together as they fight for their lives against a backdrop of industrial espionage, corporate greed, and human tragedy in an exhilarating and fast-paced follow-up to the bestselling Bleedout.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Brady fails to make the most of an intriguing premise in this sequel to 2005's Bleedout. Wealthy Helen Freyl of Springfield, Ill., owns a small farm in Caton, Ala., where a curious strain of honeybees produces an unusual honey with unheard of healing properties. Helen, along with her crusty, imperious grandmother, become enmeshed, to their delight, in a struggle between two pharmaceutical giants vying for the patent to the bees' venom. Things turn infinitely darker after the women discover that one of the companies is conducting deadly experiments on the unsuspecting inhabitants of a region in Belarus not far from the infamous Chernobyl disaster. When Helen realizes her life is in danger, she turns for help to ex-con David Marion, who seized a chance to make people believe he was dead by blowing up his Springfield house in the first chapter. Readers with a taste for a well-written story who don't mind a sedate pace will be satisfied, but those looking for thrills to match the opening scene may be disappointed.
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Review

‘Fury oozes from [Joan Brady’s] pen, and has already spawned one bestseller, Bleedout, a thriller in the tradition of John Grisham and Scott Turow. Now it has bred another; Venom, a corporate whodunit involving big pharma, sinister government agencies, corporate criminals and an awful lot of blood’—Independent on Sunday

‘Almost reflective in tone, and elegantly written, Venom should be sipped, not swallowed – but it has a distinctive sting’—Daily Mail

‘Intriguing suspense’—Woman & Home March issue

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Touchstone (August 3, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743270118
• ISBN-13: 978-0743270113
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,412,035 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars exciting international thriller, August 7, 2010

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Venom: A Novel of Suspense (Hardcover)

Wealthy Springfield, Illinois resident physicist Helen Freyl owns a farm in Caton, Alabama. On her farm is a special honeybee hive that produces a type of honey, which can heal people; she is hiding there grieving the death of her lover.

The pharmaceutical industry upon hearing of the unique qualities of the honey claims the patent for the honeybee venom. Helen and her cantankerous grandmother battle the giants even as she joins a London based research team working on an antitoxin for radiation poisoning. However, Helen is stunned when she learns of scientific death testing research by Follation Medical Foundation in the Mogilev Region of Belarus near where the nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl occurred almost twenty-five years ago. Grandma and granddaughter know their lives are unsafe so Helen turns to former con artist David Marion, who killed a hitman and set up his home to insure that everyone will assume he died in a house explosion.

Although lacking the consistent message of the previous Freyl-Marion teaming (see Bleedout) even with the obvious set up to do so, Venom in an exciting international thriller. The story line is fast-paced from the moment David visits the Judge who muses how freedom loving USA has more people in prison than dictatorial Communist China. Although heavy handed, fans will enjoy the connecting of the dots starting in Springfield through Caton to London and Chernobyl as David and Helen know that greed is the capitalist engine of choice with the unprotected as its fuel in a way that would make Mendele proud.

Harriet Klausner

5.0 out of 5 stars Venom, October 9, 2011

By 

charm - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Venom: A Novel of Suspense (Hardcover)

The sequel to "Bleedout", really a super read right up there with the best writers.
Worth the price, the bookseller was great along with Amazon.

5.0 out of 5 stars Exciting International Thriller, April 19, 2011

By 

Eleanor Barrett (West Hollywood, CA, US) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Venom: A Novel of Suspense (Hardcover)

This is a fun read. This fast paced, well written, international thriller, moves quickly as diabolical plots thicken and come undone. Although a thriller, there is humor and a love story to boot. All this makes for a deliciously enjoyable romp of a tale. The author continues with characters introduced in her prior David Marion thriller, Bleedout. However, this novel stands alone. Her characters are quirky and interesting and ultimately get one thinking about the quality of human nature. This novel finds Helen Freyl, a physicist, missing David Marion, erroneously believing him murdered. However, David managed to escape and observes from the sidelines. When he learns that Helen, who has gone to London to work for Follaton Medical Foundation, a charity seeking to find a cure for radiation sickness, is in real trouble, he immediately drops his disguise and joins her there. Helen's wealthy grandmother had bought her a farm many years back. That farm has bees with a unique venom. Someone wants to buy the farm for a ridiculously high price and, if not the farm, then the rights to this patented venom. Will Helen sell? She wants to know why her bees are so valuable. She wants to know why she was given a valuable fellowship to work at Follation by Illinois megacorporation UCAI. She wants to know what Follaton is doing in Belarus. All of these questions lead to real danger for her and for David as they try to protect themselves and uncover the truth behind Follaton, UCAI and even the bees on Helen's farm. All becomes clear in the end leaving the reader well satisfied with having gone on this journey with Helen and David and the other characters that come to life in this book.