Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    A Cure To Die For: A Medical Thriller
    Unavailable
    A Cure To Die For: A Medical Thriller
    Unavailable
    A Cure To Die For: A Medical Thriller
    Ebook417 pages6 hours

    A Cure To Die For: A Medical Thriller

    By Stephen G Mitchell

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    A genetically engineered cure for the common cold turns out to be a cure for cancer. It threatens to put a major pharmaceutical company, along with about half the medical community, out of business. They will stop at nothing to destroy it before it destroys them.

    Amid harrowing kidnappings, manhunts, political and corporate intrigue, Wall Street corruption, drug addiction, suicides, arrests and terrifying escapes--in the Montana wilderness, in the high-tech world of Houston, Texas, in the political cesspool of Washington, D.C., in the teeming jungles of Mexico and on a 26,000 square mile Indian reservation—two lovers, Dr. Alex Farmer and botanist Cyd Seeley, fight to survive a perilous journey where the fate of a healthy planet hinges on the survival of a tiny seed.

    A crisis of medical and corporate greed sweeps the country. The government and the media conspire with the medical industry to keep a miracle drug off the market. A Cure To Die For is a medical thriller that is part adventure, part mystery and part love story; a novel about two people who stand against a broken world.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherStephen G Mitchell
    Release dateJun 14, 2012
    ISBN9780983206026
    Unavailable
    A Cure To Die For: A Medical Thriller
    Author

    Stephen G Mitchell

    Stephen G. Mitchell writes fast-paced, relevant thrillers about memorable characters and timely events. An avid reader, Mr.. Mitchell is a sailor, swimmer, mountain biker and hiker. He lives in Montana in a 19th century Victorian home with his lifelong companion Beverly, two dogs, three cats and an undetermined number of squirrels. Mr. Mitchell's debut novel was "A Cure To Die For", a medical thriller about a wonder drug, a miracle cure and a conspiracy to destroy it. His newly released novel, "2076: A Revolutionary Tale", is a dystopian thriller about a tomorrow ruled by the plutocrats of today, about an America where all systems have failed. His forthcoming novel, "The Book from Hell: Run while you still can!" is a sweeping historical thriller, a romance, a story of horror and suspense that pursues a mystery too dangerous to solve.

    Related to A Cure To Die For

    Related ebooks

    Suspense For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Excerpts From The Works Of The 2024 Whiting Award Winners

      Apr 10, 2024

      The 2024 Whiting Award winners were announced Wednesday night. Below are excerpts from their work.

      19 min read

    • Article

      A Taxonomy of Wind

      Jun 4, 2018

      A Taxonomy of Wind
      8 min read

    • Article

      Are You Lonesome Tonight?

      Aug 8, 2019

      Are You Lonesome Tonight?
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Beyoğlu Municipality Waste Management Orchestra

      Jun 8, 2021

      Selim the half-wit hoarded everything—that was the story they told me my first day in waste management. Selim had lost his wife, and I guess everyone figured he took up hoarding as a way to fill the void. It started out with stuff his wife might have

      24 min read

    • Article

      Crescent City

      Dec 1, 2021

      Crescent City
      5 min read

    • Article

      79 The Terrible Grinning Men

      Sep 10, 2020

      79 The Terrible Grinning Men
      8 min read

    • Article

      Peter Heller

      Apr 23, 2019

      Peter Heller
      4 min read

    • Article

      A Hard Man To Forget

      Jan 8, 2024

      A Hard Man To Forget
      4 min read

    • Article

      ‘Starling Days’: Featured Fiction from Rowan Hisayo Buchanan

      Apr 7, 2020

      In today's edition of featured fiction, we present an excerpt from Rowan Hisayo Buchanan's latest novel, Starling Days. The post ‘Starling Days’: Featured Fiction from Rowan Hisayo Buchanan appeared first on The Millions.

      5 min read

    • Article

      Running Away

      Feb 22, 2021

      Leaving London behind her, Millie drove faster, picturing thousands of crazed fans in pursuit, desperate for what – a lock of her hair? Or Julian; except after the last gig, somehow she knew he wouldn’t follow. She knew from bitter experience that di

      5 min read

    • Article

      Part 1 WHEN FISH FLY: The Revolt on the Slave Ship Creole

      Jan 1, 2022

      Part 1 WHEN FISH FLY: The Revolt on the Slave Ship Creole
      6 min read

    • Article

      JT in My Mind

      Mar 16, 2020

      JT in My Mind
      7 min read

    • Article

      Falling

      Jul 6, 2021

      Falling
      17 min read

    • Article

      The Smoke of the Land Went Up

      Mar 4, 2024

      The Smoke of the Land Went Up
      11 min read

    • Article

      Sleep Nights

      Oct 5, 2021

      Sleep Nights
      18 min read

    • Article

      THE HOUSE with the BLUE DOOR

      May 7, 2020

      THE HOUSE with the BLUE DOOR
      6 min read

    • Article

      Tessa Castro

      Oct 20, 2021

      IN COMPETITION No 272, you were invited to write a poem called The Umbrella. The subject brought out such weird imaginings in many competitors that ordinary death seemed mundane. Katie Mallett warned against ‘Hemlocks, brollies to close down / All hu

      2 min read

    • Article

      The Trouble Gene

      Jul 1, 2020

      One clear thing about trouble—it can set you back to zero, a personal cone of silence. And reading, writing, listening allow entry into that troubled solitude; you disappear into it regardless t of the time or place you really are in, be it bed, kitc

      12 min read

    • Article

      Cristina Rivera Garza

      Jun 15, 2018

      She would remember everything, out of the blue and in full detail. She would see the jade ring wrapped around her ring finger and, immediately, she would see the other jade ring. She would open her eyes wide and, without knowing why, would fall silen

      13 min read

    Reviews for A Cure To Die For

    3.5/5

    50 ratings22 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      A Cure to Die For is a well written book, but I think more conflict (especially between the drug lords when the product hit the streets), and showing a more unresolved ending would better serve the subject matter. I don't think I really wanted to see as much closure given to the storyline. Because of this, I think it started to slow down a little bit as the ending became too predictable.
    • 5/5
      Excellent!
    • 5/5
      I enjoyed this book. It kept my attention from the first page to the last.
    • 2/5
      **I received this book from a Goodreads Giveaway**Overall, the concept of this novel was interesting, but it was poorly executed. The characters were just not believable in their interactions with each other, and the writing style was difficult to read. The writing was choppy, strangely descriptive where not necessary, and missing detail where it was needed. The writing style was almost adolescent (thin word choice and sentence structure). The first few chapters were especially bad in this respect, but luckily, the novel improved a great deal through the middle. I was troubled by the author's characterization of various groups throughout the novel (e.g. Southerners, African Americans, Native Americans). The descriptions seemed to be caricatures or based on stereotype rather than any real understanding. This was especially true in the author's use of inaccurate and unbelievable dialect, which was very uncomfortable to read. The lack of authenticity really detracted from the believably of the characters. Also, although I'm moderate politically and usually enjoy hearing diverse political perspectives, I thought that the political commentary was transparent and over the top which took away from the story. I would not recommend this book.
    • 5/5
      I received this book for free as a winner from a giveaway through Goodread's First Read program. As a winner, I am not required to post a review.This was a fast-paced romp through many regions of the United States as well as travel into Mexico. It kept me well entertained throughout, and I recommend this book to any readers who enjoy an adventure! Thank you for a fabulous read. I look forward to the other writing projects of the author.
    • 3/5
      An enjoyable action adventure. Starts off a little slow, but the plot ad action speeds up and gets more interesting as the story progresses. The story can be a bit violent in places. The audio book was well done with sound effects.
    • 2/5
      I received this as a Library Member Giveaway thru Audible as an audio book in exchange for an honest review. To be honest, it was difficult to listen to it. So many noises, most unnecessary - for example clumping feet noises when walking up to the attic, just about made me want to scream. The story although, somewhat interesting, just was unrealistic to me. The Thrill aspect was overwhelming, I think every possible horrible encounter was written into the book.... sticking with one or two would have made it more believable. I didn't hate it... just really didn't like it. I did however really hate the music. Maybe reading the book would be better than the audio, but I doubt it. Thanks for the giveaway... sorry.. just not for me.
    • 3/5
      A Cure to Die for is a medical thriller wrapped up in conspiracy theory.Alex Farmer, an ER doctor and veteran, is on his way to visit his friend Maury; when he arrives Alex finds that Maury has been killed. Maury and his graduate assistant Cyd have genetically engineered a plant, called Cannastar, that can cure anything...cancer, addictions, even the common cold. You can drink the Cannastar tea and voila!, you are cured; the catch is that you have to keep on drinking the Cannastar, or your disease will come right back.The company sponsoring Maury's work, Rxon, is not impressed with Cannastar since it will mean the end of every other drug that they sell. Now, Rxon will do anything to stop Maury, Cyd, Otis, and Alex from growing and distributing the Cannastar. The story weaves the characters through constant dangers within the many conspiracies. The characters were very developed and I did enjoy how we learned the back story of each throughout the story. The secondary love story of Otis and Eloise was perfect; however I could have done without some of the other secondary love stories. I did see one plot hole in this story, which is that if Cannastar is able to cure everything and you have to continue to take it for the rest of your life...why would Rxcon not realize that they could still make tons of money? This is sort of addressed at the very end of the book. Anyway...if you can see past that it's still an enjoyable read.This book was received for free from the author in exchange for an honest review.
    • 4/5
      Very entertaining. Great story and interesting cast of characters. Lots of action and tight situations. My first read of this author and look forward to reading more of his work.
    • 3/5
      Firstly and as always, I received this audio book because it came to me as a free download from Audible. After having listened to it would I have paid money for it? No way.To begin, if I had to categorize this I'd put it in the realm of paranoid medical suspense novels. As a million other reviews will tell you, a scientist develops a panacea for all of human disease and the drug companies scramble to cover it up. This is pretty standard fare really so I won't go further. That's what you're getting in to.On the positive side, it's vaguely entertaining in a rather primitive way. I listened to it at work while doing something else and it didn't crush my soul and in a strange way made my work seem more interesting and coherent by comparison.To the negative side, the characters sometimes say incredibly implausible things and the dialog is at times redundant and wooden. At one point a character utters the exact same sentence twice. This may have been a flaw in the audio book recording or an issue in the writing but it certainly stood out. On the topic of recording, the sound effects in this audiobook weren't the worst I've ever heard but they sure didn't live up to the expectation set by the phrase used in the description of this item "fully produced audio production with narration, music, sound effects and a talented cast of actors". Note that even the textual description put out by the company contains the redundant phrase "produced audio production". That's the sort of thing you're in for. The acting is far from professional and for about an hour one of the actors appears to be standing way too far from the mic. Attention to detail fail.In summary, this was better than listening to the creeping, deathly silence of my workplace on the day before New Year's Eve. Using this recording for any other purpose seems like a waste of time and also of $17.95.
    • 4/5
      I couldn't put this book down. It's the story of what happens when a cure for cancer and other diseases is discovered and how a major pharmaceutical company will go to any lengths to destroy it and all who know about it.It made me start to think about what would happen it the story was true. Would the world rejoice or would certain companies want to get rid of it.
    • 2/5
      Someone is murdered to keep a miracle cure silent.That is the basic premise of this book. However, like most "cures," you have to continue taking it, or you will get sick again. How often it is taken depends on the ailment. The cure comes from genetically combining 2 incompatible plants. There is a lot of telling instead of showing.However, the villains are evocatively portrayed and truly despicable, perhaps too despicable. Especially as the "heroes" are deeply flawed and somewhat unlikeable, which makes them difficult to rally behind.Overall, a disappointing read.
    • 5/5
      Very interesting and really pretty fast pace read....A needed cure for cancer is discovered that many do not want on the market and so murder occurs but all evidence did not get destroyed so the "race" is on to get the much needed drug released for everyone to have access too....An exciting Plot!!!!
    • 3/5
      Stephen G. Mitchell's novel A Cure to Die For is a quick, amusing read. If that's what you seek, you won't fail to be tickled by this tale. But underlying this wacky plot is a very serious purpose Mitchell is seeking to articulate. So, at best, this book could make you laugh for a few hours, and it could leave you with some substantive questions to ponder after you breeze through this quick thriller. When I discovered the work I expected it would be pretty absurd in content, and that the wild creativity of the author expressed in a implausibly strange plot might prove a delightful change of pace. There was plenty of absurdity, but I did not get the book I imagined exactly. So, I will share with you some surprising qualities of this read because while they didn't prevent my enjoyment of this book, I know a lot of readers may wish to avoid a book like this.1) The Problems: The first thing that surprised me is that the novel did not only lack the sophistication I expect to find in literature meant to be art as well as entertainment (clearly not an ambition pursued in this work as everything about it indicates). Unlike most light novels, A Cure to Die For does not possess noteworthy strength in writing style, character development, structure, or any of the fundamental areas necessary to successful execution of the craft of fiction writing. Mitchell's prose was not particularly fluid, the dialogue was stilted and hollow, and characters weren't developed in any significant way. They existed for the plot's purpose.2) The Saving Grace(IMHO): Other than the weaknesses in form, I was further surprised by another feature I didn't imagine this novel would possess. Specifically, I did not know about Mitchell's artistic purpose before I began reading the book. During my reading, I checked out the book and the author online through some casual searching. An interview available on the Amazon profile for this title includes Mitchell's sincere discussion of the consciousness raising he hopes a novel could help him accomplish about the corrupt influence and dangerous power of Big Pharma in our country. This novel is mediocre as a commercial thriller, but when I looked at it in the light of the important thematic content that had inspired Mitchell to write, I saw much more to appreciate. In sum, I thought Mitchell's novel worthy of my respect and time despite some weaknesses. It was also a quick, amusing read regardless of the substantive message it presents for the reader to contemplate after breezing through it (which for me is a major plus factor). Make what you will of that, fellow readers. Kudos Mr. Mitchell; I wish you good luck with your continued activism whatever form it takes.Please be advised I was lucky enough to win a free copy of this book through the Goodreads Giveaway program in exchange for my promise to publish this honest review when I finished reading. Thanks for reading my ideas; I hope they are useful to you somehow.
    • 1/5
      You might die of disappointment if you waste your money on this book.This audiobook presentation is awful. The novel's storyline is implausible at the macro and micro levels and the dramatization is pathetic. The narrator can't read his lines in the right rhythm and the characters' accents are way off base. The Asian guy slips and slides into an Irish accent and the fantastically well-educated scientist sounds like he grew up speaking Yiddish. The elderly woman Annie has the voice of a 30 year old and she lacks the requisite North Carolina accent. The music is lifted straight from Firefly. I could not bear more than a half-hour of this thing.I received a review copy of the audiobook A Cure to Die For by Stephen G Mitchell through Librarything.com.
    • 3/5
      Drug-addicted, disgraced emergency room doctor, Alex Farmer, travels to Montana to visit an old friend who has asked for his help. But when he get there, his friend is dead; an apparent hunting accident which turns out to be murder. It seems his friend has developed a marijuana plant to can cure cancer among other things. And everyone wants to stop this from happening; including the pharmaceutical companies and the government.Advertised as a medical thriller, it seemed to be just up my alley. But this was not as thrilling as I had hoped. Much of it was far-fetched and unbelievable, but then it’s a novel and you want to be entertained, not looking for reality. The writing is choppy and sometimes the narrative too descriptive when it didn’t need to be and not enough when it pertains to plot points. The dialogue was also stilted and didn’t seem right. Lastly, character development is a must in any story and I couldn’t feel for any one of these characters. Although, fast-paced and still an enjoyable story, just not a great book.
    • 5/5
      “A Cure to Die For” is a fast-paced thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat. It’s one of those page-turners that keep you sitting up long into the night so you can read “just one more chapter.”Greed and hypocrisy are the watchwords of the pharmaceutical company that has been sponsoring the research of geneticist Maury Bernstein --- work that has resulted in the discovery of a plant that will cure virtually any illness. Such a discovery would essentially put the pharmaceutical companies out of business; they, of course, now have a vested interest in preventing that occurrence, no matter what steps they are required to take to make that happen. The resulting murder, conspiracies, and adventures join together to tell the story. Tension mounts as the story unfolds; at its conclusion, the reader will have much to ponder.Highly recommended.
    • 4/5
      I received this book for free from the Goodreads first reads program.

      I was looking forward to reading this book because I love medical thrillers. The premise of this book, that the big pharmaceutical companies and doctors would try to stop a cure for cancer because it would lose them money, is completely believable. My daughter has leukemia, and the $5,000 per month that we have to pay for drugs is criminal.

      So this was a fast paced story. The characters were believable and interesting. There were several romances in the book that I enjoyed watching develop. I was rooting for Otis and Eloise to get together. It did seem a little too convenient that the heroes would have such easy access to unlimited funds, but the evil of the politicians and drug companies was very believable. Unfortunately there are too many people in the world who worry more about making a profit than doing what is right.
    • 5/5
      Stephen G. Mitchell did an excellent job on this book! I was totally sucked into a world where a "miracle" plant exists, and can cure all diseases and addictions. The characters were very vivid, in my mind, as were the locations and the storyline, itself. I finished the book yesterday and caught myself daydreaming about it today, wishing and wondering how the world would be if a plant like the "Cannistar" actually existed!!!
    • 5/5
      This is a well-written, exciting, and fast-moving medical thriller that places Stephen G. Mitchell in the company of good medical thriller writers as Robin Cook and Stephen White. A scientist discovers a weed that when it is genetically altered and boiled into a tea and drunk turns the human immune system into a fighting machine that attacks and cures most diseases from cancer to the common cold. It is the end to illnesses and suffering. Unfortunately for the pharmaceutical industry, it is also the end to their business. So the head of one pharmaceutical company had the scientist killed and confiscated his notes and all remaining weeds. Or so they thought.The industry was helped by a US Senator who tricked his niece into working for this scientist. Her job was to report back to the pharmaceutical company what he was doing. After all, he was being paid by the company for his research, so there was nothing wrong with the company keeping tabs on him. She became very attached to the scientist and didn’t realize until too late that she was harming him.This scientist had a very close friend, a physician, who became addicted to drugs. When he realized that members of the industry intended to kill him, he called on him for help. He also hid some of his weeds in one place and his formula in another. The company thugs found and destroyed his papers and whatever weeds they could discover, but they missed one package of the weeds.The scientist had another friend, the local undertaker. He was helping the scientist by growing the weed in his house. After the death of the scientist, the undertaker met an attractive woman who soon began to live with him. One night, the police raided his house and confiscated all of the weeds. He soon figured out that the woman was a plant by the company to find the weeds.One problem with the cure is that its effects do not last long. The tea must be taken frequently. The drug addict friend began to take the drug to cure his addiction, and it worked. The niece who worked for the scientist and his friend the undertaker took it to cure their cancers, and it worked. But now, when it seemed that all the weeds were gone and the scientist’s papers destroyed, the doctor will become addicted again and the two others will die. The three join forces to find the weeds and protect them from the company. Readers will enjoy finding out what happens. Will the three be able to grow more weeds? Will they save their lives? What people will come to help them? What will happen to the people in the company that is trying at all costs to stop people from having the cure?
    • 5/5
      I received this book free in return for a review.This "medical thriller" (I've never heard that phrase before) is enjoyable, captivating, exciting, entertaining and funny. The author has a knack for describing his characters succinctly by means of memorable and often amusing turns of phrase, so the reader easily remembers who's who.The story begins with the murder of one of Alex's old friends, Maury. It turns out Maury has secretly been working for years on a potentially controversial cure-all product, a hybrid between the cannabis plant and a poisonous plant called the Death Star. It can cure both Aids and cancer, as well as everything else, apparently. An unscrupulous, evil pharmaceutical company, or rather its boss, turns out to have been responsible for the murder, since the new product, Cannastar, would eradicate the need for all medicine. Alec, a likeable doctor with health problems of his own, gets together with Maury's friend, Cyd, and the mortician Otis and together they fight to save the live-saving Cannastar seeds that Maury had sacrificed his life in developing.The action is extremely fast-paced, the heroes continually getting themselves into arduous, apparently inextricable, situations, only to escape at the last moment.The book is an amusing, though on one level serious, parody of modern American society, the book's theme being based on the actual sorry state of affairs in present-day USA, since it addresses both the ruthlessness of the medicinal companies who have no interest in curing anybody but are focused only on earning billions of dollars at the expense of public health. Perhaps the author is at the same time making a statement about the actual curative properties of the illegal cannabis plant. He also gets a few digs in at the legal profession and the media.It is the story of a battle between good and evil. The "baddies" are portrayed in such a way that you're let in no doubt as to how diabolical they are, so you're not offended if they come to a bad end. Alex & Co. are aided in their quest to save Cannastar by a wealthy Native American and a notorious drug baron with a soft heart also plays a leading role. In fact drug dealers all over the country do their bit.The story has also a romantic side, and we follow the love lives of the main characters, all of whom find loving partners, eventually.The book is extremely well-written, except for a very few grammatical mistakes, including the use of semi-colons where it would have been more correct to use colons. There were also many places where the author suddenly changes from describing things from the perspective of one character to another or to the omniscient author's viewpoint in a somewhat disconcerting or jarring manner.But, all in all, I found this to be a delightful, highly amusing page-turner of a book. I got the feeling the author really enjoyed writing it. I would recommend that you read the book - it's one of the most entertaining books I've read for a long while.
    • 3/5
      Who would be upset if you found a cure for cancer and other diseases? Think about that for a minute.

      The intriguing premise of this book is plausible. Would the world welcome such a medicine? Mitchell's story flows gracefully, urging the reader along to a satisfying conclusion. I'd recommend this book for almost everyone except those who will only read literary fiction. The author provides characters you'll enjoy, a variety of locations and situations, and plenty of action. Travel from Montana to Texas, from Mexican jungles to the Navajo Nation, on the run and trying to preserve a plant-based cure and the seeds needed for more plants.

      I enjoyed this book.