The Bottom Line: A gritty, exhilarating medical thriller featuring a truly memorable heroine and impeccably written action scenes. Highly recommended.
Molly Jones isn’t like other people. In addition to being a top neurosurgeon, she’s also physically incapable of feeling fear. While part of a team responding to a measles outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, she finds herself surrounded by an incoming militia. Compelled to deliver a dying patient and her husband to a hospital, she elects to travel via motorcycle through treacherous terrain and a war zone.
Her reckless decision ends in disaster. When Molly wakes up in an American hospital three days after a crash, she learns that she was the only survivor. But sadly, that’s just the beginning of her troubles. Before Molly can even leave the hospital, she’s approached by a woman claiming to be from the U.S. Army Research Laboratory. In a chilling reveal, she knows about Molly’s condition, and tells her she’s one of just 400 people in history to have it. She promises to cure Molly, but only if she accepts an exceedingly dangerous mission.
In Molly, author Cameron K. Moore has created a truly memorable protagonist that readers won’t soon forget. What she views as “a curse” is also a superpower, and unfortunately for her, that’s not lost on America’s enemies abroad. Sharing the spotlight is Dr. Karl Shepherd, a Lieutenant who initially views Molly with searing disdain. The complexity and arc of their relationship is a rewarding one throughout, although readers will find themselves pining for Molly’s return every time she’s not on the page.
Moore infuses the book with a surrounding cast of characters, each of who have something Molly needs, but are just sketchy enough to need to earn her trust (like a certain surgeon who, in Molly’s estimation, sounds “more like a slick salesperson than a medical professional”). Given Molly’s unique way of perceiving the world and its threats, riding along with her as she sizes up people and situations – and decides how to act on her impulses – is a ton of fun. Let’s hope Molly earns a spot in the next Trident series book.
