The Magic Bullet - Softcover

Stein, Harry

3.27

222 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 044021808X ISBN 13: 9780440218081

Publisher: Island Books, 1996

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Daniel Logan has the world at his feet.  As the most gifted young doctor at New York City's top medical facility, he's been aggressively wooed to join an exclusive, lucrative private practice in the city.  Money, celebrity status, and great perks--but Logan turns it all down.  For he's more interested in a different kind of fame.  Logan wants to help find a cure for cancer, and is accepted into the prestigious American Cancer Institute in Washington, D.C., to do research with some of the best minds in medicine--and also some of the most ruthless, cut-throat scientists, who will stop at nothing to protect their own cancer-combative drug studies.
In The Magic Bullet, Harry Stein brilliantly depicts the brutal, deadly competitive world of the A.C.l, where egomaniacal senior scientists jealously guard their research turf from up-and-coming young doctors like Logan and the other new researchers.  When Logan and two of his colleagues unearth a component that may effectively help fight breast cancer, he learns first-hand just how desperate these scientists are.  As the doctors at A.C.I. use all their influence to sabotage his research, Logan frantically searches for more information about this wonder drug, the missing piece in the breast cancer puzzle, before the A.C.I. destroys his career.  But the show-down between Logan and the A.C.I. has even greater implications--the life of a highly-placed woman in American politics is in jeopardy, and only Logan's compound can help.
The Magic Bullet is a first-rate, gripping medical thriller, filled with fascinating--and terrifying--details about the cold-blooded world of high-stakes cancer research.  Harry Stein takes a disturbing look at the ivory tower world of medicine, where hubris, not commitment and compassion, is the rule.

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From Booklist:

Stein, who has written a number of articles on ethical issues, turns his attention to the ethics--or lack thereof--in breast-cancer research. His story is set in the fictionalized American Cancer Institute, where Dr. Daniel Logan, a brilliant young biochemist and M.D., suffers through a year from hell as a research fellow with the Institute. Not only are his bosses officious, obnoxious prima donnas with terminal cases of one-upmanship, but the intense competition for funding, fame, and a viable cure for the big C leads adult physicians to behave like ill-tempered five-year-olds. Fortunately for Dan, two classmates, John Reston and Sabrina Como, turn out to be good pals, and in addition to working 95-hour weeks, the three decide to launch their own research protocol with a drug called Compound Q. Disaster befalls the trio and their dream drug, but despite the drama, there's a happy ending. A serious and timely topic--curing breast cancer--can't keep this book from occasionally falling into the written equivalent of a bad soap opera, but it's an undeniable page-turner, full of medical crises, attractive hospital personnel, juicy politics, and slam-bang suspense. A possible best-seller, especially given it's "expos{‚}e" slant on cancer research. Emily Melton

From Library Journal:

The highly political world of medical research is the background for this sus-penseful novel by the author of Hoopla (St. Martin's, 1987). Young, bright, and compassionate, Dan Logan is honored to join a prestigious cancer research institute, even though the faculty and senior staff appear to care more about personal gain and prestige than finding a cure. Logan and his partner, the lovely Sabrina Como, believe that they have found a miracle medicine, but when their trials with human patients begin to go terribly wrong, they are dishonored by their colleagues. Has someone sabotaged their research? Stein's picture of the politics and all-too-human messiness of medical research is entertaining. Unfortunately, the reader will become distracted by other characters and issues that are sketched but not resolved; this dilutes the suspense and blunts the climax of the novel. Nevertheless, fans of medical drama will make this a popular choice for most public libraries.
--Elsa Pendleton, Boeing Computer Support Svcs., Ridgecrest, Cal.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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