Rating: 4 stars (Spotlight Review)

The story takes place at Ellsford University, a quiet yet posh New England college. You're introduced to Dr. Palmer who is conducting a scientific study at Ellsford. Palmer is a very detailed orientated individual that has decided to switch from testing on monkeys to testing on humans.

The only thing is, his field of expertise is AIDS research; he's developing a new vaccine for the disease. With an unsuspecting and trusting source of test subjects his studies go unnoticed at the college.

Sammy Greene is a tough-nosed New Yorker and the host of the "The Hot Line", a show on the campus radio station WELL. Sammy tackles tough and controversial topics on campus that affect the students. Following up on a story, Sammy discovers the body of one of the campus's most esteemed professor's, Dr Burton Conrad; a suicide. After speaking with her boyfriend, Reed Wyndham, whose completing his internship, as well as Dr. Conrad's ex-wife, Sammy's doubts about the professor's death begin to surface. When students start to die--also the result of suicide--Sammy finds herself not only trying to deal with current events around her but also the ghosts of her own past.

Sergeant Gus Pappajohn, an ex-Boston detective who relocated to Ellsford to finish out his career after being shot on the job and losing his wife to cancer, has a strong dislike for Sammy as she's always sticking her nose in his investigations. Pappajohn treats Sammy with anger and resentment and doubts her findings, as they don't match his. Both Sammy and Pappajohn have one thing in common--a dislike for each other--along with Taft, a televangelist who is bent on having the world agree and live by his Traditional Core Values, round out the main characters.

The authors have put together a tale of adventure from the everyday struggles of the people involved to corporate deceit and money hungry visionaries that will stop at nothing. This book has something for everyone. On the inside cover, the publisher states "If it's on Oceanview's list, then it should definitely be on your shelves" and after reading this book I would have to agree with that statement. An imaginative yet realistic story, with a plot that leaves you thinking what if? This is a must read.
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Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Oceanview Pub (December 7, 2009)
ISBN-13: 978-1933515502