REVIEW: PHARMACOLOGY by Christopher Herz

Christopher Herz's PHARMACOLOGY Shows Why No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

by Cyrus Webb, President of Conversations Book Club


Continuing with the first-person style that drew readers to his debut novel, author Christopher Herz is back with another literary treat that takes you into a world where nothing is ever as it seems. Our narrator Sarah finds out firsthand that when life happens it can disrupt the most simple of plans. She is looking for a way to make a difference and support herself and help her family, but when she finds out that her father has cancer, life begins to be just about doing all she can to help those who have been there for her.

In the process she becomes a part of a campaign seemingly geared towards advocating a client's product, but Sarah soon finds that it may be doing more harm than good. With the intent of making a difference, she sees a way of trying to warn the public about the potentially dangerous side effects of a drug--and in the process gets swept into a part of the world she is trying to protect people from.

PHARMACOLOGY is also about the rise of another powerful force in our lives: the internet. Sarah gets introduced to it and it becomes both a part of the problem and the solution she hopes to develop. To us she says this: "the internet, whatever it was going to bring, promised to assimilate and dilute the last gasp of rebellion left in the country and consolidate all of the small truck stops and little diners along the back roads of this country into Burger Kinds and Starbucks." In effect, Sarah saw the "convenience" of the internet as many have gotten to view it: as a way to tell us what to think, where to go and what to do.

This is a book that has twists and turns you would expect in a great novel, and by the end we come to realize that just as we believe we are making a difference it becomes revealed to us that our "freedom" was being controlled all along. Let's face it: Herz has done it again, casting a literary spell that has us all enthralled and ready for more.

Discover more about the world of Christopher Herz by visiting www.herzwords. His book PHARMACOLOGY is Conversations Book Club's monthly selection for March 2012. Get yours today at Amazon.com. You can join the live chat with Herz on Conversations LIVE with Cyrus Webb on Sat. March 10th @ 6pm et (5p.m. ct/3p.m. pt) by logging on to www.blogtalkradio.com/conversationslive.