Pharmacology

by Christopher Herz

1993. San Francisco. The digital and pharmaceutical industries are booming. They're looking for the young, the hip, and those on the counterculture fringe to be both the face and consumer of their new world order. Recruited by an advertising agency focused on targeting a new drug to her own age demographic, Sarah Striker is grateful for the steady income, but she begins to question the side effects of the products she's pushing. A kinetic, hyper-stylized jolt of pure energy, Herz delivers a strong follow-up to his debut novel, The Last Block in Harlem . Full of vibrant characters and razor-sharp dialogue, Pharmacology captures the voice of the Internet generation with style, heart, and soul.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Medical, Audiobook

214 pages, Paperback

First published December 6, 2011

About the author

Christopher Herz is the author of The Last Block in Harlem, Pharmacology, and Hollywood Forever. He has worked every kind of job imaginable, from washing dishes to selling chimney sweep services to writing interactive cartoons for the Pokemon Learning League. He lives in Brooklyn with is wife and continues to write novels that invoke reactions and entertain on the edge of comfortability.

Reviews

[Erin · Rating 1 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book from Goodreads First Reads.

This is another book where the description on the back is misleading. It sounds like a great story from the synopsis, when in reality is not great at all.

The biggest flaw of Pharmacology is the main character Sarah. I understand giving a character a unique voice to help the story, it help a lot when a book is told in first person. Sarah's voice, however, was annoying. Nearly every sentence leaves out the leading pronoun. Here is a quote from the book to give you an idea.

"Lived in that house about a year. Moved in six months after I'd landed in the city. Left after they started stealing my socks."

I can understand a few lines being like this. Many people talk like that, including myself, from time to time. This was an entire book of these types of sentences.

The second biggest flaw is the story line. Like I said before, the synopsis makes it sound like a great story, but it took half the book to even get to that part. Most of the book is a map of San Francisco and a look into the lives of junkies in the early 90's.

There were a few entertaining parts. I found it interesting to read about the pharmaceutical companies and the development of disorders that are all too common in life now. If only there were more of that, this would have been a much better book.

I cannot say I enjoyed this book at all.

This review was taken from my blog, www.theultimatebooknook.blogspot.com

[Sam Arnold · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is always with in-trepidation that you start the second novel from an author, when you loved their first. It was with this in mind that I started Pharmacology by Christopher Herz. Would the book be as good as the first? Was this author just a one hit wonder? Could he continue his writing form into another novel to be loved?

Through this book we are taken into a world that we know exists, but may not be comfortable admitting exists. The world of pharmaceutical companies and the tactics that they use to manipulate the everyday public into buying their drugs. In essence within the book there were areas that remind me of another of my favourite books 'State of Fear' by Michael Crichton. Both depict how the everyday public can be manipulated by clever media to think in a certain way. The one line that I love from the book which describes the main thread running through the novel is

“Pharmaceutical companies were using homeless people in the city to run experiments in early clinical trials after the FDA had said that testing on mice was no longer a viable option”

However, it would be unfair just to review this book in these terms as it is so much more. The main character Sarah Striker is engaging and well written. By the end of the book you really feel like you have bonded and got to know her, warts and all. The book is written as if it is Sarah's memoirs and this is expressed well when the character at times floats from one thought to another and back again. There is a lovely subtle connection between the legal drugs used by the pharmaceutical companies and the illegal recreational drugs that some characters use. I loved the author's use of some of the old rock bands of the 80's. Growing up in the UK and having to import my favourite American music it is nice to know I didn't dream up some of these bands in my younger days.

In essence the book is a thoroughly enjoyable novel which is well written. The underlying theme in the book is written in such an engaging way that you are left pondering the ethics of these companies in society now. The theme is very different from the authors first book. However, it also has the twist towards the end, that I must be honest I didn't see coming at all. This is similar to his first novel. I feel compelled to say that this novel is better than his first. Although this leaves me feeling guilty like I have just picked my favourite child. I could write so much more about this novel but I don't want to spoil it for anyone. Go and read it yourself you will not be disappointed. My only criticism, if there was one, is that 214 pages is just not long enough. Although don't all excellent authors leave you wanting more.

[Cyrus Webb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Continuing with the first-person style that drew readers to his debut novel, author Christopher Herz is back with another literary treat that takes you into a world where nothing is ever as it seems. Our narrator Sarah finds out firsthand that when life happens it can disrupt the most simple of plans. She is looking for a way to make a difference and support herself and help her family, but when she finds out that her father has cancer, life begins to be just about doing all she can to help those who have been there for her.

In the process she becomes a part of a campaign seemingly geared towards advocating a client's product, but Sarah soon finds that it may be doing more harm than good. With the intent of making a difference, she sees a way of trying to warn the public about the potentially dangerous side effects of a drug--and in the process gets swept into a part of the world she is trying to protect people from.

PHARMACOLOGY is also about the rise of another powerful force in our lives: the internet. Sarah gets introduced to it and it becomes both a part of the problem and the solution she hopes to develop. To us she says this: "the internet, whatever it was going to bring, promised to assimilate and dilute the last gasp of rebellion left in the country and consolidate all of the small truck stops and little diners along the back roads of this country into Burger Kinds and Starbucks." In effect, Sarah saw the "convenience" of the internet as many have gotten to view it: as a way to tell us what to think, where to go and what to do.

This is a book that has twists and turns you would expect in a great novel, and by the end we come to realize that just as we believe we are making a difference it becomes revealed to us that our "freedom" was being controlled all along. Let's face it: Herz has done it again, casting a literary spell that has us all enthralled and ready for more.

[Mrs. Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is The Time Capsule you NEED to break open! Read this novel NOW!

For those of you who lived life through trial and error in the 90's, Pharmacology offers you an opportunity to shake your head and remember all of those experiences that should have left you rocking in a fetal position in the corner.

Christopher Herz takes you for a joy ride into the coming of age of twentysomethings in San Francisco circa 1993. The author exposes a very real sub culture of executives with a penchant for dominance and a group of vampires for hire more than willing to sate their cravings for the right price.

He introduces us to life in the cube, jacked into a computer and head set when people were still reliant upon bike messengers to transport documents. Ahhhh, what ever did we do before email and hand held devices? He holds our hand as we pass the threshold into the digital age and leave our sanity and attention span behind under the guise of progress.

This novel is different from anything else that is out there right now because it is truthful. There is an honesty that resonates in his writing, a truth that emerges through his characters and the world they are forging. The author depicts how lost we really are when we feel we are in the most control of our destiny.

Pharmacology forces you to question why you are taking those over the counter drugs that you can't seem to get through life without. You begin to question advertising and marketing tactics. You begin to question life and how you fit into it. He forces you to think and evolve through contemplation.

Pharmacology offers a look into the past to shed light on our present and future.

If you only pick up one book this year, Pharmacology needs to be THE book.

Read this from cover to cover, then repeat and pass it on!

You will not be disappointed.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finding what your are looking for never looks like you think it will"... A perception of Sarah Striker.. and can be applied to most of the human race. Pharmacology is a interesting mix of cultures an worlds that intertwine in one womans path in life for a time.. Characters are colorful and unique all unto themselves. While you see thru Sarahs eyes the journey she embarks on trying to find herself,do the right thing and help her Pops.. (which is what I call my dad) you see the people she surrounds herself with also need saving and are struggling on their own paths. A fate creates and puts the correct people in your path when its needed she is able to get into a world that has direct connection to her own.. she is given a chance to enlighten the world with the truth.. although anoymously she feels the need to tell the tale.. In this life we trust with our hearts as sarah learns the hard way.. but also learns what is important in this life that is so short.. We cannot go thru this life without lessons.. Loved this book.. Chris Herz story telling is to me amazing.. Sarah is someone to connect to.. Read it ... Tears shed at the end.. grab a tissue..

[Kasa Cotugno · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel has caused me to open a new virtual shelf. The digital revolution is so recent, so immediater we are barely aware that the world has changed so irrevocably in such a short time. Sarah Striker ius a good soul who moves to San Francisco in order to make the most money possible to help her ailing father in Kansas City. Misssouri (she always stresses that distinction). Her McAllister Street housemates, a collection of x-gen "types," provide her access to the underworld of the City/ One of my favorite lines, "Junkies don't do their own laundry," sums up that experience. But the world in is transition and so is Sarah. Never forgetting her mission to save her Pops from distress, she finds herself in an escalating series of positions providing her enough money to exist and still send some home. There are surprises and twists, and the location is used most effectively. I know the neighborhood well -- lived near enough that Sarah and I might have shared a seat on the 5Fulton ;at some time or another.

[Danielle Lynd · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is no way to sum up the literary complexity of Herz’s book Pharmacology. It is amazing, there is so much going on. Herz’s characters break new grounds. He takes you farther into the dark truths of every one of his character’s lives. I thought I knew or understood Herz’s writing, I was so wrong. Just when I thought I might have figured it out I’d get slapped with a new twist. I loved it. My head is still spinning from all the lessons that could be taken from it. You will not be disappointed when you read it. You have to give yourself the chance and the time to really “feel” it. You also must have the nerve to stick with it. There is some really big envelope pushing going on here but when you finish the book you are the one that is ready to pick up where it left off. I am ready to preach it to any one that will listen. If they don’t listen I’m crumpling the envelope and throwing at them for their ignorance.

[Jess · Rating 5 out of 5]

Christopher Herz has done it again-greating a moving, surprising plot that will keep you hooked until the end in his second novel "Pharmacology"!
Herz creates vivid characters that jump off the page. Their true to life struggles and experiences pull readers in and keep them invested in the story until the last page. The plot and storyline are unique and captivating, leaving readers thinking about how modern technologies and medications have an effect on their own lives.
You won't want to miss out on this thought-provoking novel and its inspiring message!

[August · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ehhhh. I was not enamored by this book. The concept and the style were really interesting at first, so I pressed on, and by the time I was bored (give or take 60% through) I wanted to know how this awful depressing tale was resolved. (For the record: the ending made me cry and was more or less what I expected, but satisfying to a degree.) I'm kind of relieved it's over. I know Herz was trying to write something that would make me uncomfortable, and he succeeded. Good for him, I guess, but definitely not what I needed while trying to pull out of a lethargic slump.

[Stacy · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the second time in my whole life that I did not finish a book. I got to page 35 and I could not read anymore. This book is awful! It is about a girl who moves the city and shares a house with other young kids. There is a young couple who is addicted to drugs and makes a living by being prostitutes. The book might turn into a inspiring story in the end but I could not even get though the beginning.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book club selection.

[Radheshyam · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is interesting book

[D L Lombard · Rating 1 out of 5]

At no point in this book did I care about anyone or anything I was reading. Had to quit 2/3 of the way through. Found it boring and dull. 🤷‍♀️

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Review originally posted on my blog, misprintedpages.wordpress.com)

Pharmacology is an interesting breed of book. In one big pot it melts together music, gay and lesbianism, joblessness, and biggest of all, drugs and the world we live in—how it’s changed and continues to change, carried as we are on the currents of life.

The novel follows Sarah Striker, a girl who’s anything but brittle and knows the value of money and will do anything she can to get her hands on it. Her cause isn’t a selfish one, though. Her father is diagnosed with cancer, likely an adverse effect from his depression medication, and the insurance won’t cover what was warned about in the fine print. As the bills begin to pile, Sarah leaves home for San Francisco, rooming with heroin addicts who steal her socks, eat her cereal, and sell her belongings as they try to drag her down into their dark and seedy world of vampire fetishes and sex dungeons.

Sarah won’t have any of it. She survives on Ramen noodles and sends money home each month to “Moms” and “Pops,” taking odd jobs to make ends meet. Pharmacology is half a coming-of-age story and half a larger commentary on the corrupt pharmaceutical industry and the submergence of drugs in our culture. When Sarah finally accepts an insidious invite to create ads and design strategies to convince people that disorders like ADD are real and morbidly profitable, she’s sucked into the very world she abhors and criticizes in her underground zine, Luddite. She struggles to expose the truth in the name of her dying father and a dwindling society that’s being overturned from print into the digital information age, but she’s also rocked by the throes of soul-searching and identity—as the money gets better, her Dad gets sicker, and drugs pin her (and the reader) down from all sides, from the California streets to the big companies staffed with confused kids turned corporate zombies.

Author Christopher Herz realizes Sarah through a distinctive voice and well-written prose that, in its many attempts at communicating wisdom about the ups and downs of life, fails and succeeds in alternation. Sometimes what Herz writes rings painfully true, while other times his words seem to miss their mark by an inch. Lines like these were only weakly manifested in the text and failed to feel wholly graspable:

"You need to be careful of people who tell you that adventure exists at the next turn—because it turns out that they are not really walking into a story, but running away from a history that chases them throughout time."

While ones like these could be felt down to the very bones of the book:

"It’s like that, I think. Only a few stick with you down the entire way because on that path, there are so many missteps and falls that cause deep wounds and lasting scars, most people shy away when the pain starts. It’s the ones who walk with you through it all that allow you to understand love."

There’s no doubt that Herz has a lovely handle on imagery when he wants to, shaping it into something psychedelic …

"Stars (or birds) were flash-bulbs from the photographers."

… or something authentic:

"Dishes slapping down on the tables are rattling like the train that used to come through Kansas City before moving across the rest of the country."

I have to wonder about the deeper implications, though. The novel ends beautifully but feels ironic throughout: Sarah not only contributes to the industry she hopes to topple, but she sells drugs to junkies and experiments with them herself. Is one less destructive than the other? Or are drugs merely inescapable—one form moving into the space of another’s absence?

Pharmacology puts up a good fight but just doesn’t reach its nirvana, and its sub-cultural idiosyncrasies may prove difficult for many readers to penetrate.

I’ll end with one of my favorite quotes from the book, aside from the one at the top:

"‘But I don’t write what’s happening. I am what’s happening. Besides, you already have what you need. You’ve been watching it all. That’s the kind of person you are. That’s your drug. Intake.’"

[Victoria · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this book for only one reason- the title. Pharmacology has been a subject that I originally intended to study in college, and seeing a novel with this word as its title drew me in. I enjoyed reading the book, although it is a lot more "hipster" than most of the books I read. I feel that the back cover summary does not adequately describe what actually happens in this book, though. I felt misled by it. What follows is my nitpicking at details in the summary.

"Recruited by an advertising agency focused on targeting a new drug to her own age demographic, Sarah Striker is grateful for the steady income, but she begins to question the side effects of the products she's pushing."--- Sarah actually applies for the job because she wants to spy on the pharmaceutical industry from within in order to write "underground magazines" about how evil it is. She "begins to question" way before she even moves to San Francisco, since her own father got cancer as a side effect of depression pills that he took. This sentence could also refer to the information that Sarah finds out about her company in the last seven pages of this book. In that case, this sentence grossly misrepresents what the key points of the plot are.

"Sarah begins publishing an underground zine to expose the secrets behind the pharmaceutical industry's aims." --- By following the previously stated sentence, this sentences makes it sound like Sarah publishes the magazine after discovering how corrupt the place she is working at is. But she actually was publishing the magazine all throughout the 100 or so pages that precede her getting the job there. She also got the job to have new material for her magazine.

"Fulfilled by her quest to spread the truth, her new life seems to be working out perfectly- until she realizes that she herself is perilously close to becoming a victim of this new corporate world."--- As previously stated, Sarah only discovers that she is a "victim" in the last 7 pages of the book. Her life also does not seem to work out perfectly at any point in the book, because she constantly worries about sending money for her sick father, has relationship troubles, and frequently shows dissatisfaction with her job.

One final comment about the narration style Herz chose to use. Written in the style that Herz chose to use as well. Always found it annoying when writers choose not to adhere to proper grammar in order to make their writing seem "edgy". But I guess it's not so bad, since it is meant to signify that the Internet has taken its toll on Sarah and she could not use the $250,000 she saved up to hire an editor that would add pronouns and subjects to her sentences.

[Alysia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have never ever heard of this book and found it when I did a search for audiobooks narrated by Kate Rudd. You know Kate! She narrated The Fault In Our Stars! I loved her work with that book so much it made me purchase this one solely based on her work (and the price of course).
This story centers around Sarah Striker, a young high school graduate who moves to San Francisco to make some money to help pay for her father's cancer treatment. At the time of her leaving Kansas City, Mo. San Francisco is on the verge of the 90's internet boom and there are new and exciting things popping up everywhere. Like cafe's offering internet and computer usage.
This story was not a huge hit for me. There were a few things I was not really into. Most of the male authors I have read that write from a female perceptive seem to get women. Really get them in an eerie kinda way. It's like they become a women while writing the book. I didn't have that feeling at all with this book. Sarah just seemed to be so one dimensional and have no real interest. She just hung out with friends who had interesting drug habits and almost surreal lives. I found it hard to connect with her and I really wanted to. Also, I am not really into the young drug addicts slowly killing themselves stories. (a la Trainspotting). Those kinds of characters are everywhere in this book and in Sarah's life. Is that normal for a non-drug using 18-ish young girl from Missouri to get hooked into that crowd and stay clean the whole time?
There were some great points to this story. Really! One, the overall topic of where and who created ADD as well as the behind the scenes of the big pharmaceutical companies was extremely interesting. I have to say now I don't look at their commercial the same way anymore. I have no idea if the author based the story point on real information but it seems real to me. Second, Kate Rudd (narrator) did a good job. In the beginning of the book she was not as "ON" as she was toward the middle and end of the audiobook. So far, The Fault In Our Stars is by far her best.
I will be looking at other audiobooks by her.

[Leigh · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poorly written, poorly edited books like this infuriate me. I don't care how "indie" you or your book may be, if it's not well-written and barely even edited, then why is it even published? It's insulting to me, as an avid reader, bibliophile and writer myself, that someone would consider this a finished work. It reads like the outline for a screenplay someone dashed off on the back of a napkin coming down from a meth binge.

The concept (damn the man/overmedication of society) is interesting. The setting is nostalgic (the 1990s) and somewhat magical (San Francisco). Everything else about this book is atrocious. The narrative style of the main character is beyond obnoxious, regularly leaving off the subjects of sentences like a barely literate grade schooler would dash off list items in a journal required for a school project. And for some reason, other characters frequently speak in same stifled manner.

The flatness of just about every element of this book makes what could have been a pretty good story feel dull and cliche, like an episode of My So-Called Life that (thankfully) never got made. It's like Herz took every single archetype of the 90's grunge/goth/punk/junkie scene and threw them all in a blender with what I'm sure sounded like Deep Thoughts and Revelations About the Nature of Life and Love when you were twelve, but forgot to keep the lid on, spraying a huge mess all over everything.

I will give Herz credit for not exploiting Sarah's bisexuality and making a big deal out of it; her relationships are fluid, despite being fleeting and endlessly flat. It also easily passes the Bechdel test, with multiple named female characters having conversations about topics other than men. Here's a cookie.

[Carmen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Storyline was interesting but it dragged a bit. Towards the end, story felt like it could be a film which I would like to watch :)

Novel was about a teenager whose dad was suffering from an illness and he has been taking drugs doctors have been prescribing him but he suffers from the side effects of the medications and treatments. Sarah, the protagonist moves to San Francisco to find work to support her fathers medical bills. She goes through a series of relationship problems (would like her more if she wasn't bi/more towards les no offense).

Sarah later becomes a pretty successful woman working at an internet advertising place connected with the pharmaceutical company but she is not an ordinary employee. She works there to create her zines of Luddite to tell the world about the pharmaceutical world.

I like this novel in that this really is true around us, most pharmaceuticals were/are making money off of the world by selling and creating so called diseases to make you want to buy their medications...but, true as it may be, we live in a world of lies but we feel comfortable in all these lies.

[Izabela · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book wasn't exactly what I was expecting or really hoping for. I really thought it'd be a story discussing the evils of the pharma industry. While it does get into that bit, it only happens during the last quarter of the book.

Quick summary: Sarah is a Midwesterner who has settled in San Francisco hoping to turn her life around. Unfortunately, her parents needs money so she must get a real-life job, and here comes a well-paying job in the pharma industry. Sarah works as a double agent of sorts: by day, she works in the cube farm and by night she writes about all the evils that happen at her day job.

A couple of things that this story suffers from:

1. It is incredibly short. This story could have been flushed out much more and would've been more interesting.

2. The writing style is not my favorite. The author uses this broken up language where sentences seem to start in the middle: "Writing out a review about a book I didn't feel much about."

3 starts cause I didn't love it, but I didn't really hate it.

[Dani Landry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't even remember how I came across this book. It might have been a Kindle recommendation baded on other downloads . . . anyway, I'm glad I read it! Solid 4 stars!

I don't typically give a synopsis of the story when I do my reviews, you can do that work for yourself. I'll just give ya what I liked.

This book had a little of a lot of things. It had some intrigue, some romance, some drugs, some modern day urban vampire wierdness. Most of all it had a good solid story. AND it made you THINK!! How many books these days really make you do that anymore, huh? When I put this book down I found myself thinking, do the drug companies really make up their own illnesses? How is that legal? I've always thougt ADD was overdiagnosed, but how much of this book is really based in truth, I'm not sure. I've had some contact with Christopher Herz while reading this and haven't asked him this question. I think it's because I'm afraid to know the truth.

[Jax · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmm - this book missed the mark for me. I enjoyed the PREMISE and the look into life on the cusp of computers and technology, but it spoke more to me as someone who is longing for a time before computers who also has a personal vendetta against the health care industry. The part where Sarah's artist friend Colin quit the high paying job because he couldn't stand to look at a computer screen anymore really seemed irresponsible but I guess things were simpler and life was cheaper and easier to live back in the 90s?

And her dad was dead for a year and she didn't even think to question it? And somehow her horrible ideas were praised as ingenious every time she opened her mouth and even though she hated her job she got mad at the owner for selling out?! And they would discard lab monkeys by throwing them in a trash can that was easily seen by a random person walking around? This book was asking me to suspend disbelief and to love the main character and I kind of hated her.

[Commodore · Rating 2 out of 5]

Basically what everyone else is saying: interesting premise that falls a bit flat, and an obnoxious main character that ruins it all. The main character seemed to slingshot back and forth between annoying cynicism and even more annoying naivety. I can see what qualifies as tough in Missouri being chewed up in San Francisco, but it didn't read that way. It was just a bad patchwork of traits. The sans-pronoun sentences didn't bother me, as I assumed they were meant to show how her attention span had been destroyed.

I guess in the beginning the Internet was largely used by corporations, but I think it's a little disingenuous to act like the Internet was just murdering artistic creativity left right and center. Plenty of people use the Internet to reach people, to spread their art to an exponentially wider audience, and are arguably able to research and find many more sources than they would otherwise.

[Dana Berglund · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was worried about this book when I started it. The voice of the narrator, Sarah, is jaded and 1990s-hipster. Much of the book is written in phrases that leave out the subject pronouns, and she also seems to report on what is happening rather than react to it. She seems detached, and the book floats along without much of a clear sense of how much time has passed. Events happen to her and she just keeps swimming...I wanted to feel more than I did.
However, I just kept reading. At some point, I knew I would see the journey through to the end with her. The mid 90s Internet and pharmaceutical booms are related here through the eyes of someone who is trying to plan out her life and see the long run. While I wouldn't describe this book as "gripping", I liked it enough to care about what happened to Sarah and to her father.

[Gina · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn't hate this book more. It was free, and the fact that I continued reading it is a mystery to me. As a pharmacist, I was intrigued by the sub-plot of Sarah going “undercover” for a marketing firm that “creates” disease so the drug companies can make millions “treating” said disease. The concept of that part of the book was great. But it got bogged down with the people in Sarah’s life. It seemed to be more of a story of drug-abuse, sex dungeons, and the fringe people of San Francisco. Still can’t figure out how that was part of the storyline. Could have been a great story but it was like having ADD, bouncing between the strange people, Sarah’s personal life, and the interesting undercover work at the marketing firm. Perhaps the author was one of the studied subjects. Disappointed.

[Anneliese · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not sure what to say about this book, exactly. It's half expose of some oddball San Fran residents and half expose of the drug marketing industry; half internal conflicts blended with love, feeling, and disappointment, and half views of how to survive in reality. Drugs, booze, the law, women and men and relationships, real life and a career, living with yourself, scary half-truths of drugs and disease. I dunno. The review here is as scattered as the book sometimes, but ultimately I liked it. In the end, all you really need to do is stay true to yourself.
(Minus a half star or so for writing style. I did see one complaint about the author in that he drops subjects from sentences a lot: "Opened it up...," "Looked around...," "Sat down..." It gets choppy after a while.)

[Akeiisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sarah Striker is a creative Midwesterner who follows the California dream and lands in San Francisco just in time for the digital boom. She dives into the underground scene, before going undercover to expose the bad practices of the pharmaceutical industry. Along the way she learns she's not alone in being on the fringe, just how easy it to lose yourself, and how far people will go to make money.

Overall a good read. It took me a while to get into/over the writing style (the missing I in sentences really grated on me in the beginning). I appreciated the descriptions of San Francisco although the focus on the counterculture/underground scene felt a little too drawn out, with not enough time spent on life in Kansas City or working for pharma.

[Gina Basham · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh. The description should have been, "I am going to use a lot of catch phrases from the San Francisco sub-culture so you'll know I was really there." The description was completely misleading. The sub-culture could have been summed up in a few paragraphs. That era has been described so many times, and in a much better way that the book brings nothing new to the table. The obscure slang words "can" to refer to spray can of the graffiti artist or "zine" to refer to a underground magazine are totally overused. We get it - you were there. Couldn't finish. Wish I didn't waste my money. The only people that may enjoy this book are people that grew up in that culture. Should have read more reviews before I bought the book.

[Adriane · Rating 4 out of 5]

The dawn of the digital age and the coming of age of the drug industry intersect in a perfect storm of unethical marketing and testing. The novel follows Sarah who is living on the fringe in San Francisco, trying to put out her Zine and make enough to get by. She is recruited into this new drug marketing industry as she looks to make money to help out her father who has cancer. Herz uses a somewhat abrupt writing style that took a little to get used to, but the tone really does fit the characters and the setting. I really enjoyed the book. Even though it's fiction, it's completely imaginable. It left me wanting to throw away all my gadgets and my meds...

[Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this book up for my kindle as part of a $1 deal. I was not expecting to like it all that much because it is not my normal genre. I need to start taking more chances with books that are well reviewed that aren't my normal read.

The book was a quick read. The story moved along and the cast of characters were well thought out and development was good. The gimmick of the plot twist wasn't annoying and gave me food for thought for several days. Overall, I enjoyed the book.

For an eBook, there weren't many instances where formatting was wonky - most of the time an extra space existed between the first two characters of a word, so I could easily figure the meaning.

[Gemma · Rating 1 out of 5]

The synopsis of the book sounds great. The writing seems hip. I got maybe 1/3 through the book and I kept waiting for a Plot. I read books for plot and storyline. If you do too, don't bother reading this book.

The main character wonders around: new roommates, new city, new drugs, maybe new guy, new zine. ZERO plot. Maybe the plot is at the end of the book? she hasn't started working for a drug company. No idea what her zine is about after she's talked about it a few times. I just stopped reading the book, and nothing makes me want to pick it up and ask, 'how does it end?' because I can't even answer the 'how does WHAT end?'