Geneva
Richard Armitage
Audible Original
8 hours 54 mins
Released October 22, 2022
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Geneva is a gripping medical/psychological/techno-thriller about a brilliant scientist facing a devastating diagnosis, who has been picked to be the face of a game-changing new therapy. We listened to it as an Audible Original audiobook, narrated in part by the author, actor Richard Armitage. While it relies on tropes that have been done to death in recent years, so the twists were not as surprising as they should’ve been, and it was totally implausible medically, I still enjoyed it as an exciting story with an intriguing premise.
Sarah Collier is a Nobel prize-winning researcher, happily married to a neurologist, whose life has been upended by the discovery that she is suffering from early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. Her husband Daniel persuades her to travel to Switzerland to attend the glitzy launch of Neurocell, a brain implant with the potential to reverse her condition, but under pressure from those who want to use her for their own ends, Sarah must decide who, if anyone, she can trust.
This is mostly told from both perspectives – Sarah’s, increasingly confused and suspicious, regretting having agreed to the trip but grasping at the possibility of something that might help her, and Daniel’s, the resentful spouse who loves his wife, but whose life and career haven’t quite worked out as he planned. There are also chapters in third person about a few other important characters, including crusading conspiracy blogger Terri, who has her own views on Biocell, and glamorous marketing executive Helen who is determined to make the launch a success, no matter what…
I’m limited by what I can comment on here without spoilers, but let’s just say the medical aspects were preposterous and the plot holes problematic – this is set in the present but the technology as described just isn’t possible. Sarah is lauded as this amazing researcher who helped stop Ebola, but it’s never mentioned what she actually did – and why would a neuroscientist be working on that anyway? Certain characters’ actions just don’t make sense and for a supposedly brilliant doctor, Sarah does some very silly things. The final quarter turns into quite the action thriller, but I liked how it was all resolved and enjoyed the narration.
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