DANTE’S POISON ( A Mark Angelotti Novel #2) by Lynne Raimondo-a review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date: May 6, 2014

Blind psychiatrist Mark Angelotti has just enrolled in a drug trial that holds out hope of restoring his eyesight when he again becomes entangled in a case that is rocking the Chicago legal community.

After defending the manufacturer of the powerful antipsychotic drug Lucitrol against product-liability claims, attorney Jane Barrett has become somewhat of an expert on the controversial medication. So when her lover, investigative journalist Rory Gallagher, collapses from a fatal dose of the same drug, it falls to Hallie Sanchez, Barrett’s oldest friend, to defend her on murder charges.

Amid growing doubts about her friend’s innocence, Hallie recruits Mark Angelotti to help her discredit the testimony of a crucial eyewitness. The pair succeeds in obtaining Barrett’s release, but at a dreadful price.

Mark sets out to investigate who else may have wanted the journalist out of the way. As he gets closer to the truth, he realizes the killer is still on the loose. But two questions remain for Mark: Will the drug trial succeed in restoring his eyesight? More important, will he live long enough to see this case to its end?

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REVIEW: DANTE’S POISON is the second instalment in Lynne Raimondo’s contemporary, mystery Mark Angelotti suspense series focusing on sight impaired Chicago psychiatrist and amateur investigator Mark Angelotti. Although this is the second book in the series, each book focuses on a different investigation and case with some of the characters over lapping between the stories.

The premise follows Mark as he investigates the murder of the Chicago Sun Times sleaze ball reporter Rory Gallagher and his connections to a controversial antipsychotic drug known as Lucitrol. When power attorney Jane Barrett (and Rory’s lover) is fingered and charged with the murder, Mark’s path of clues will find him the subject of an attack that will leave his friend Hallie in a coma and Mark setting his sights on a billion dollar drug company with too many secrets to hide. Add unethical and questionable sales reps and, Mark will soon discover that he is closer to the truth than he had ever surmised.

Our hero Mark Angelotti is a man who is mired in guilt-struggling with the demise of his marriage, a son he barely knows, the loss of his eye sight and a guilt so dark he will never be able to forgive or forget.

Lynne Raimondo pulls the reader into a storyline that is richly detailed in psychiatric and medical terminology-from bio medical ethics to prescription side effects; from diagnostics to treatment DANTE’S POISON is a storyline that focuses on corporate greed, big pharma, psychotic killers, jilted lovers, betrayal and revenge. The Windy City of Chicago is not one to play second fiddle and positions itself-front and center-in a storyline that will find our intrepid sleuth making his way through the sights and sounds of a city where he loves to live.

The secondary characters are an eclectic mix of friends from both the medical and legal fields. The world building finds Mark taking small steps towards a potential future all the while focusing on what he has lost and why.

DANTE’S POISON is a remarkable storyline that looks at the controversial side of prescription medications and medical ethics; an imaginative tale about a sociopathic mind and the lengths one will go to to avenge the past; and an intimate look at a man whose own past is darker than the world in which he now lives.

Copy supplied by the publisher.

Reviewed by Sandy