Storytime

Scientific suspense EIGHT LIVES by Susan Hurley, Affirm

In 1979 a Vietnamese boy is picked up from a boat by Hong Kong fisherman. Dong Tran weighed 14kg when he began a new life in Melbourne. Schoolmate Miles’ do-gooding mother, Sally, renames him David, feeds him nutritious food and at coffee mornings the handsome young man wins a flock of fans.

The “Golden Boy” medical student rises from intern to Chief Resident; then invents a wonder drug that could transform immunology. People line up to trial the new drug and eight are chosen. But when impatient David – nervous the investor will drop out – tests the drug on himself, his head triples in size, his body melts down and he dies. Gripping storytelling, loosely based on real-life UK medical trials.

Edgy thriller THE LOST NIGHT by Andrea Bartz, Simon & Schuster

There was Edith “Edie” Iredale, 23, bony, freckled and so sure of her beauty. And there was “After Edie.” After Edie shot herself in her Brooklyn loft in 2009, while her friends partied at a concert. Or did she? And was best friend Lindsay – our narrator – at the concert at the time? Ten years later Lindsay meets up with Edie’s flatmate, Sarah, as they reminisce about whether they should have known how depressed Edie was. Lindsay is instantly jealous as Sarah – who found Edie’s body and her suicide note – claims Edie as her best friend. When Sarah tells Lindsay she was not even at the concert with them that night, Lindsay realises booze has clouded her memory, and what we discover is alarming.

Fantasy THE MIGRATION by Helen Marshall, Titan Publishing

An unknown virus is paralysing children’s immune systems. Juvenile Idiopathic Immune deficiency – JI2 – is not understood yet by doctors and symptoms are becoming more disturbing. Sophie was living in a gorgeous Toronto house until her sister started showing signs of tiredness and was diagnosed with the syndrome. Moving to England where treatment is more advanced, Sophie, Kira and Mum move in with scientist Auntie Irene. When Sophie is sent a viral post of the autopsy of a boy, dead from JI2, the full horror of the misunderstood condition is revealed. The boy’ s leg jerks even though he is ”dead”. Doctors must study the past – The Plague – to preserve the future.