Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Publication
London : Little, Brown, 2017
Description
Fiction. Suspense. Thriller. HTML:In this gripping page-turner, an ex-agent on the run from her former employers must take one more case to clear her name and save her life. She used to work for the U.S. government, but very few people ever knew that. An expert in her field, she was one of the darkest secrets of an agency so clandestine it doesn't even have a name. And when they decided she was a liability, they came for her without warning. Now she rarely stays in the same place or uses the same name for long. They've killed the only other person she trusted, but something she knows still poses a threat. They want her dead, and soon. When her former handler offers her a way out, she realizes it's her only chance to erase the giant target on her back. But it means taking one last job for her ex-employers. To her horror, the information she acquires only makes her situation more dangerous. Resolving to meet the threat head-on, she prepares for the toughest fight of her life but finds herself falling for a man who can only complicate her likelihood of survival. As she sees her choices being rapidly whittled down, she must apply her unique talents in ways she never dreamed of. In this tautly plotted novel, Meyer creates a fierce and fascinating new heroine with a very specialized skill set. And she shows once again why she's one of the world's bestselling authors..… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member jfe16
An ex-agent goes on the run when the agency decides she knows too much and, therefore, is a liability. Through diligence, the use of different names, and frequent moves, she’s managed to elude those who would see her dead.
Her former handler offers her a way out, but that involves doing a job for
The heroine is well-drawn; readers will admire her strength and her unique skills. However, in the early chapters of the book, readers may find it difficult to relate to her, a situation created, in part, by the constant switch in the names she uses and the way she identifies herself by each of those names. Some rambling explanations and repetitious descriptions may be off-putting for readers but the overall fast pace and twisting plot help the tension mount despite some rather implausible moments in the narrative.
Her former handler offers her a way out, but that involves doing a job for
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the agency. And the information she acquires only serves to put her in even more jeopardy. Her choices dwindle; her unique talents may be her only way to safety. But will she forfeit too much when she falls for a person who will complicate her survival?The heroine is well-drawn; readers will admire her strength and her unique skills. However, in the early chapters of the book, readers may find it difficult to relate to her, a situation created, in part, by the constant switch in the names she uses and the way she identifies herself by each of those names. Some rambling explanations and repetitious descriptions may be off-putting for readers but the overall fast pace and twisting plot help the tension mount despite some rather implausible moments in the narrative.
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LibraryThing member VPbookseller
Stephenie Meyer's new book is quite a departure from her previous books. No hunky vampires or parasitic aliens. The Chemist is a full fledged action suspense adult novel. The heroine is an extremely intelligent chemist that is a loner just trying to stay alive. It's a complicated plot that will
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keep you glued to the book. I may have stayed up way too late to finish. Show Less
LibraryThing member tjsjohanna
The action is interesting and the plot is complicated enough to maintain interest. The characters were maybe a little too unrealistic, though is works for the point of the character development that occurs. Mostly just entertaining.
LibraryThing member skraft001
An exceptional book that drew you in from the very start. She is an expert interrogator who uses drugs to elicit the needed information is how the book got its title.
LibraryThing member gail616
Had a hard time getting through this. It would start to pick up and then just another love story.
LibraryThing member AMKee
I almost did not pick up this book as I struggled with reading "The Host", but I am truly glad that I did! AMAZING BOOK. The female character is one of the best ever. She is strong and resilient, but has a soft side that rarely comes through to the forefront. She is the female Jason Bourne! I hope
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this one becomes a series as I would love to experience more roller coaster rides with this story. Very well written and keep you on the edge of your seat the entire time. Show Less
LibraryThing member gypsysmom
Fortunately this book was a straight-forward thriller with no vampires as Stephenie Meyer's Twilight books were known to have. I don't do vampires. Even the original vampire book, Bram Stoker's Dracula, was rather silly I thought and the modern books just don't do anything for me. However, as I say
Dr. Juliana Ferriss used to work for a secret agency of the US government which extracted confessions from terrorists. Dr. Ferriss's speciality was using drugs that would cause pain but not kill. She was very skilled and had a great track record for getting the information the government needed to foil terrorist threats. Three years ago someone killed her mentor and almost killed her. She has been on the run ever since and has been targeted three more times. She managed to survive each attack. Careful to avoid detection she checks her email from a safe location and finds a message from her old agency that they need her special skills. If she does this job she will be safe they promise. She doesn't really believe them but three years on the run has her thinking that it would be nice to live normally again. She meets with the man who sent the email, Carston, and learns that the target is a teacher who is involved with a Mexican mobster who has a deadly toxin he intends to unleash in the US. Knowing she could save the lives of thousands of innocent citizens and clear her name is irresistible. When she kidnaps Daniel Beach she gets far more than she bargained for including a romance with her victim.
I can just see this being made into a movie. The romance is pretty far-fetched but it would draw in people who wouldn't come to a straight-forward thriller and the action scenes would attract people who wouldn't be caught dead at a romance.
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this book has no vampires and I enjoyed it moderately.Dr. Juliana Ferriss used to work for a secret agency of the US government which extracted confessions from terrorists. Dr. Ferriss's speciality was using drugs that would cause pain but not kill. She was very skilled and had a great track record for getting the information the government needed to foil terrorist threats. Three years ago someone killed her mentor and almost killed her. She has been on the run ever since and has been targeted three more times. She managed to survive each attack. Careful to avoid detection she checks her email from a safe location and finds a message from her old agency that they need her special skills. If she does this job she will be safe they promise. She doesn't really believe them but three years on the run has her thinking that it would be nice to live normally again. She meets with the man who sent the email, Carston, and learns that the target is a teacher who is involved with a Mexican mobster who has a deadly toxin he intends to unleash in the US. Knowing she could save the lives of thousands of innocent citizens and clear her name is irresistible. When she kidnaps Daniel Beach she gets far more than she bargained for including a romance with her victim.
I can just see this being made into a movie. The romance is pretty far-fetched but it would draw in people who wouldn't come to a straight-forward thriller and the action scenes would attract people who wouldn't be caught dead at a romance.
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LibraryThing member danaenicole
So, the synopsis didn't really draw me in with this one, but I figured that since I've enjoyed everything else I've read by Stephenie Meyer, there was a good chance I'd enjoy this one too. I was right.
I've noticed that, while I usually don't put forth much of an effort toward imagining the settings
I particularly liked the attention to detail regarding the precautions Juliana takes to stay alive, though I can understand how some people would grow bored of that. [SPOILERS] And I loved Daniel, though I did think the romance was slightly unrealistic, particularly in the beginning when I'm sure Daniel would have had to overcome some psychological obstacles before he could think of Juliana in a romantic sense.[END SPOILERS]
I also thought that the dogs were sometimes unrealistic in their behavior and I noticed a couple of grammatical mistakes, but neither was too bad.
My last complaint is that there were elements of this story that reminded me a lot of her other books. Mostly, it was the female protagonist with two male "sidekicks". And the dynamic between the three reminded me a lot of "The Host". Again, not a huge problem. Just a weakness I've noticed in her writing.
Even though most of what I've said in this review is negative, I did really enjoy this book, I promise. Haha.
I've noticed that, while I usually don't put forth much of an effort toward imagining the settings
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in a book, I often have very clear images of settings from Meyer's books. I'm not sure why that is.I particularly liked the attention to detail regarding the precautions Juliana takes to stay alive, though I can understand how some people would grow bored of that. [SPOILERS] And I loved Daniel, though I did think the romance was slightly unrealistic, particularly in the beginning when I'm sure Daniel would have had to overcome some psychological obstacles before he could think of Juliana in a romantic sense.[END SPOILERS]
I also thought that the dogs were sometimes unrealistic in their behavior and I noticed a couple of grammatical mistakes, but neither was too bad.
My last complaint is that there were elements of this story that reminded me a lot of her other books. Mostly, it was the female protagonist with two male "sidekicks". And the dynamic between the three reminded me a lot of "The Host". Again, not a huge problem. Just a weakness I've noticed in her writing.
Even though most of what I've said in this review is negative, I did really enjoy this book, I promise. Haha.
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LibraryThing member plumaria
Good book! I enjoyed the characters and their personalities, but thought the love interest between Alex and Daniel was implausible. Perhaps Daniel could have fallen in love over time, instead of “at first sight” and even after everything Alex put him through? I loved the inclusion of the dogs
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in the story and the ending was creative and fun! I look forward to reading The Host soon. Show Less
LibraryThing member mom2lnb
The Chemist is Stephenie Meyer’s latest book, and it’s pretty different from anything she’s written before. Gone are the paranormal and sci-fi elements of Twilight and The Host. Instead this is a standard contemporary suspense/thriller with just enough romance for me to be comfortable calling
After running for so long, the heroine and main narrator of the story has a number of different aliases. Her real name in her old life was Juliana, but since there’s a death certificate for that name, she feels like she’s not that person anymore. The name by which she goes for most of this book is Alex. Alex is a smart, independent woman who was recruited to work for a secret government agency. Initially her job entailed the creation of special chemical compounds and drugs that were used to interrogate suspected terrorists or persons of interest. Eventually, because they needed someone with knowledge of how these compounds affected the human body and how much to administer, she ended up becoming the interrogator herself. Alex was one of the most well-respected experts in her field, second only to her former mentor, until one day her mentor started becoming paranoid and schooling her in what to do if the worst happened. Then her mentor died in a “lab accident,” and Alex only narrowly escaped being in the room, too. That’s when she realized her employer was out to get her and went on the run. She’s been living in isolation ever since. When her old handler comes with his offer and she kidnaps the man they want interrogated, her whole life begins to change.
Readers who didn’t care for Bella from the Twilight series and felt that she was too much of a doormat, should like Alex. She’s an intelligent, capable, self-sufficient woman who has managed to keep herself alive under extremely stressful circumstances. In fact, she’s initially the strong one in the romantic relationship that develops. She’s willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done, and at times, she’s practically dispassionate about it. When the romance begins, she almost doesn’t know what to do. It’s like a foreign concept to her. At first, I thought she was perhaps a touch autistic, but it also might have been her lack of relationship experience coupled with living alone for so long. In any case, she eventually warms up to the idea, but in general, Alex is definitely a more cerebral female character than what we’ve seen from Ms. Meyer in the past.
The first hero of the story is Daniel. He’s just an ordinary guy, a school teacher, volleyball coach and divorcée. He feels an instant connection to Alex when they meet on the train, a meeting which, unfortunately, was engineered by Alex for the purpose of kidnapping him. Once she has him in her grasp, she begins using her chemicals to torture him for information about the impending attack. I can’t say too much about Daniel without giving some things away, but I will say that I liked him from the very start. He’s an affable and easy-going guy, most definitely a beta hero, which I loved. He has a sweetness to him that almost immediately made me question his culpability. But he can have a bit of an edge when he needs to, bravely stepping up, when the situation calls for it.
The second hero of the story is Kevin. I won’t say who is he is, but I will say that I almost immediately figured out his identity when he arrived on the scene. An ex-CIA agent who’s also on the run, he’s definitely the alpha to Daniel’s beta. At first, he and Alex are like oil and water, and he can also annoy the crap out of Daniel sometimes, too. Kevin is certainly the abrasive loud-mouth type, but at the same time, he kind of adds some fun to the story. It would have been easy to dislike someone like Kevin, but in Stephenie Meyer’s capable hands, I actually didn’t. He’s a brave patriot who has served his country well, only to have the powers-that-be reward him with a death sentence. Now he’s fighting for his life every bit as much as Alex is. Kevin has been living in hiding, training dogs, and his love for his canines softened the hard edges of his character a bit. I’d also be remiss if I didn’t say how much I loved Einstein, Kevin’s main canine companion, a genius of a dog, who definitely deserved his name.
Overall, I enjoyed The Chemist, but not quite as much as Twilight or The Host. I gave it four stars, mainly because I often found my mind wandering. I felt like the story was a little slow moving in places for a suspense/thriller and maybe some of the details could have been shaved off to speed things up a bit. Also I was having a little trouble following the background mystery on why the government wanted Alex and Kevin dead. A large part of the story is spent with the characters on the run, and I think maybe too much time passed in between the tidbits of the mystery unfolding for it to solidly coalesce in my mind. I more or less understood it in the end, but I think perhaps it could have been a little more cohesive. I also had somewhat mixed feelings about the torture aspects of the story. Although I realize that Alex didn’t necessarily enjoy that part of her job, I’m not a fan of torture in any capacity, but it wasn’t necessarily a deal-breaker for me either. The romance is a little more subdued than what I’m used to in a romantic suspense, but there’s admittedly some decent sexual tension. I don’t really have any complaints about the characters, though. I liked both them and the story, so The Chemist was still a good read, even though it didn’t quite live up to Ms. Meyer’s previous offerings for me.
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it a romantic suspense. In this story, we have a woman who used to work for the government but has been living on the run for the past three years. The people she used to work for are now trying to kill her because of something she knows, but she isn’t sure what that something is. Enter her old handler who says that they’ll leave her alone if she does just one more job for them. It entails kidnapping and interrogating a man who seems like an ordinary all-American guy, but who her government contact claims to be involved in an impending biological weapons attack on several major US cities. When she takes on the job, she learns some very unexpected things, not the least of which is that she’s been duped. Of course, with that being the case, the governmental forces are still after her, so she, her suspect, and a third man end up on the run yet again, while trying to figure out a way to get the upper hand and stay alive.After running for so long, the heroine and main narrator of the story has a number of different aliases. Her real name in her old life was Juliana, but since there’s a death certificate for that name, she feels like she’s not that person anymore. The name by which she goes for most of this book is Alex. Alex is a smart, independent woman who was recruited to work for a secret government agency. Initially her job entailed the creation of special chemical compounds and drugs that were used to interrogate suspected terrorists or persons of interest. Eventually, because they needed someone with knowledge of how these compounds affected the human body and how much to administer, she ended up becoming the interrogator herself. Alex was one of the most well-respected experts in her field, second only to her former mentor, until one day her mentor started becoming paranoid and schooling her in what to do if the worst happened. Then her mentor died in a “lab accident,” and Alex only narrowly escaped being in the room, too. That’s when she realized her employer was out to get her and went on the run. She’s been living in isolation ever since. When her old handler comes with his offer and she kidnaps the man they want interrogated, her whole life begins to change.
Readers who didn’t care for Bella from the Twilight series and felt that she was too much of a doormat, should like Alex. She’s an intelligent, capable, self-sufficient woman who has managed to keep herself alive under extremely stressful circumstances. In fact, she’s initially the strong one in the romantic relationship that develops. She’s willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done, and at times, she’s practically dispassionate about it. When the romance begins, she almost doesn’t know what to do. It’s like a foreign concept to her. At first, I thought she was perhaps a touch autistic, but it also might have been her lack of relationship experience coupled with living alone for so long. In any case, she eventually warms up to the idea, but in general, Alex is definitely a more cerebral female character than what we’ve seen from Ms. Meyer in the past.
The first hero of the story is Daniel. He’s just an ordinary guy, a school teacher, volleyball coach and divorcée. He feels an instant connection to Alex when they meet on the train, a meeting which, unfortunately, was engineered by Alex for the purpose of kidnapping him. Once she has him in her grasp, she begins using her chemicals to torture him for information about the impending attack. I can’t say too much about Daniel without giving some things away, but I will say that I liked him from the very start. He’s an affable and easy-going guy, most definitely a beta hero, which I loved. He has a sweetness to him that almost immediately made me question his culpability. But he can have a bit of an edge when he needs to, bravely stepping up, when the situation calls for it.
The second hero of the story is Kevin. I won’t say who is he is, but I will say that I almost immediately figured out his identity when he arrived on the scene. An ex-CIA agent who’s also on the run, he’s definitely the alpha to Daniel’s beta. At first, he and Alex are like oil and water, and he can also annoy the crap out of Daniel sometimes, too. Kevin is certainly the abrasive loud-mouth type, but at the same time, he kind of adds some fun to the story. It would have been easy to dislike someone like Kevin, but in Stephenie Meyer’s capable hands, I actually didn’t. He’s a brave patriot who has served his country well, only to have the powers-that-be reward him with a death sentence. Now he’s fighting for his life every bit as much as Alex is. Kevin has been living in hiding, training dogs, and his love for his canines softened the hard edges of his character a bit. I’d also be remiss if I didn’t say how much I loved Einstein, Kevin’s main canine companion, a genius of a dog, who definitely deserved his name.
Overall, I enjoyed The Chemist, but not quite as much as Twilight or The Host. I gave it four stars, mainly because I often found my mind wandering. I felt like the story was a little slow moving in places for a suspense/thriller and maybe some of the details could have been shaved off to speed things up a bit. Also I was having a little trouble following the background mystery on why the government wanted Alex and Kevin dead. A large part of the story is spent with the characters on the run, and I think maybe too much time passed in between the tidbits of the mystery unfolding for it to solidly coalesce in my mind. I more or less understood it in the end, but I think perhaps it could have been a little more cohesive. I also had somewhat mixed feelings about the torture aspects of the story. Although I realize that Alex didn’t necessarily enjoy that part of her job, I’m not a fan of torture in any capacity, but it wasn’t necessarily a deal-breaker for me either. The romance is a little more subdued than what I’m used to in a romantic suspense, but there’s admittedly some decent sexual tension. I don’t really have any complaints about the characters, though. I liked both them and the story, so The Chemist was still a good read, even though it didn’t quite live up to Ms. Meyer’s previous offerings for me.
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LibraryThing member t1bnotown
I read this because I've read (and enjoyed) all of Stephanie Meyer's books so far. The Twilight Saga and "The Host" were fantasy and sci-fi, and this one was a thriller. It really wasn't my genre- I'm not into the detective stuff, the life or death stuff, the suspense, the intrigue, just anything
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central to this book (other than the love story). I finished it partly because I thought I should and partly because I guess it read fast despite not being my thing. So obviously I wouldn't re-read it, but would I recommend it to others? I guess I would (that's why the rating on this was tricky- I didn't like it but I didn't think it was bad). If this is your thing, I could see someone really enjoying the things I didn't like, such as the details of how Alex/Juliana stays alive or worrying how she's going to catch the bad guys. Show Less
LibraryThing member ChrisWay
I was surprised by this book. I enjoyed the strong female lead character in the role of an action hero. One of my favorite books this year.
LibraryThing member shannon.dolgos
The book starts out slow with a lot of description, but not a lot of depth. Thankfully, the plot picks up and the characters flesh out.
"Alex" has been in hiding from her former employer. Changing her name and location quickly and often to stay alive. But, she is caught between staying alive and
With her chemical weapons and her over-the-top paranoia leading her, Alex kidnaps Daniel and begins her job, as the chemist, to torture him until he breaks. In mid-interrogation, however, her hidden lab is invaded by none other than Daniel's twin brother, Kevin and his dog, Einstein. Once again, acting on instinct to live, Alex quickly surmises that Daniel was an innocent, and she has been set up...
For Daniel, Kevin and Alex reluctantly become allies to hunt down the hunters...and free themselves of being the prey.
"Alex" has been in hiding from her former employer. Changing her name and location quickly and often to stay alive. But, she is caught between staying alive and
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doing what is right when her former employer emails her and guilts her into saving millions of lives. Does she really have a choice?With her chemical weapons and her over-the-top paranoia leading her, Alex kidnaps Daniel and begins her job, as the chemist, to torture him until he breaks. In mid-interrogation, however, her hidden lab is invaded by none other than Daniel's twin brother, Kevin and his dog, Einstein. Once again, acting on instinct to live, Alex quickly surmises that Daniel was an innocent, and she has been set up...
For Daniel, Kevin and Alex reluctantly become allies to hunt down the hunters...and free themselves of being the prey.
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LibraryThing member Guide2
Could not finish this one either: Audio books take so long... In any case the main character is really not very credible with all those insane safety precautions, that I just could not keep going.
LibraryThing member terran
I liked this more than I thought I would, considering that it is the only Stephenie Meyer book I have listened to. It was a new genre for her and I thought she did a good job with the espionage thriller story of an ex-agent who is on the run from her former bosses. There is a lot of action and some
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romance, interesting characters who interact realistically with each other. Show Less
LibraryThing member KatKealy
I really enjoyed this book and hope they make it into a movie. All her other books have been movies, so I think there's a good chance. If you like suspenseful books, this is a very well written choice. There were even a couple twists I didn't see coming, which was refreshing.
LibraryThing member PatrickJIV
Started off very slow and I almost deleted it. But struggled on and am glad I did as it became very interesting after the first few chapters. Wound up being a very good thriller book!
LibraryThing member EvaW
Implausible ... but fun.
LibraryThing member John_Warner
The protagonist, a young woman with many names, was hired from medical school by a clandestine governmental agency to continue her research with various psychoactive and other drugs which could be used to interrogate potential threats to America. Although this spy is not as skilled in physical and
Author Stephanie Meyers has demonstrated her writing abilities in the fantasy and science fiction genres and I have enjoyed these works. Now she has effectively executed an excursion into the thriller genre. Romance is a common theme in all her previous works and is true with this one. However, it is not overdone and is balanced well with the thriller-suspense. Although I found the description of the interrogation techniques in the earlier pages of this book difficult to stomach, the reader should not give up; the remainder of the book is well worth the initial squeamishness.
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armed combat, she is "a master of the beaker" which is why she is known as "the Chemist." However, for the last several years, she no longer works for the agency. When her mentor and supervisor is exterminated, she realizes that she is next to be killed and escapes. For the last several years she has been "living off the grid" changing names after successive attempts on her life result in the predator dying in one of her elaborate chemical booby traps. When she receives word from the former head of the agency seeking a truce in return for her assistance in interrogating a potential citizen planning a biological terroristic attack on several major US cities, she is hesitant. Is this a valid request or another attempt to take her out.Author Stephanie Meyers has demonstrated her writing abilities in the fantasy and science fiction genres and I have enjoyed these works. Now she has effectively executed an excursion into the thriller genre. Romance is a common theme in all her previous works and is true with this one. However, it is not overdone and is balanced well with the thriller-suspense. Although I found the description of the interrogation techniques in the earlier pages of this book difficult to stomach, the reader should not give up; the remainder of the book is well worth the initial squeamishness.
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LibraryThing member JRlibrary
A woman who has talents with chemicals who is working for an organization that no one knows much about has realized that she has become expendable. So now she's on the run, and is determined to survive by whatever means possible. Can't tell you much more, but can tell you I LOVED the dogs in the
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book. I'm a Shepherd owner so of course I loved Einstein. Loved the resourcefulness and gritty character of the girl and the sweet innocence of Daniel; a highly unlikely couple but very believable. Show Less
LibraryThing member dh-writer
WOW! What a great book. It starts with Chris Taylor (her current name) in deep trouble and never stops. Chris is a chemist for a department of the government that doesn't exist. Only they don't want her anymore. In fact they want her dead. THEN, there's a complication.
It's a great read. Never
It's a great read. Never
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stops. Kept me up long after my bedtime. Show Less
LibraryThing member booklovers2
Pretty fantastical - the dark characters of the government - killing machines at the end of their usefulness being eliminated... Wow... crazy wild adventure
LibraryThing member btfoss
I really liked this book. I have listened to it twice and can’t wait for a sequel.
LibraryThing member amandanan
I really enjoyed this book. Meyer CAN write something other than sparkly vampires. This book would be great made into a TV show on Netflix.
LibraryThing member Nora_Reads
Stephanie Meyer does not disappoint. A female with brains and ingenuity with a McGyver-style. I just couldn't put it down. Big thumbs up from me.
Awards
Audie Award (Finalist — Thriller/Suspense — 2018)
Language
Original publication date
2016
Physical description
8 cm
ISBN
9780751570045