A Cure to Die For by Stephen G. Mitchell

A Cure to Die For. Stephen G. Mitchell. Creative Artists Publishing. July 2011. 360 pp. pb. ISBN #: 9780983206002.

The premise of this novel is quite simple, but don't underestimate it at all! Alex Farmer, Maury Bernstein and Joe Angolia grew up and cherished a deep friendship that only sharing childhood in New Jersey could bond and deepen. Maury was the scientific nerd, Alex a wanderer until he turned to medicine, and Joe was the less intelligent one who found shady ways of making a fortune in a hedge fund career. Parting ways to a certain degree as they grew older, Alex receives a mysterious message warning him to stay away but implying he should come to help Maury in every possible way. Alex responds but too late, as Maury has just been shot in the back at the top of a wintry Montana mountain!

After talking to Cyd, Betty, and Otis, friends of Maury, Alex learns that Maury had found two plants, marijuana and a plant called Death Star, that when combined held the key to a cure for cancer, pain, leukemia, and numerous other death-dealing diseases! The problem is that Sam Seeley, the owner of a major drug company, Rxon, knows about the discovery and is determined to destroy every vestige of the drug and its parts. He won't stop at anything, including murder!

The story seems pat, but now the author shows his creativity in how, after facing numerous threats and attacks that keep the reader reeling with tension, they manage to share the drug and eventually indirectly bypass their enemies. The story seems unreal but is all too plausible about how such a discovery would threaten the business of drugs and medicine. There have been comments over the years that such a discovery has actually been made but has been squelched.

A Cure to Die For is an amazing, adventurous, conflict-driven, and miraculous tale that will appeal to anyone with a compassionate heart and trouble those who thrive on a monopoly of care that accepts disease and death for the sake of great wealth! Stephen G. Mitchell's novel leaves the reader thinking and watching the news regarding the state of health care with a wider perspective than one had before the reading! Wonderful - may its outcome become reality! Well-done, Stephen G. Mitchell!