Book Review: The Deadly Deal
The Deadly Deal. Justin Lee, Moonshine Cove Publishing, 21 June 2023, Paperback, 250 pages.
Reviewed by Renee James.
In Justin Lee’s The Deadly Deal, David Centrelli is a young, fast-rising director of business development for a Big Pharma company that’s on the verge of FDA approval for a wonder drug that will benefit a huge part of humanity and reap billions of dollars in profits for the company. Previséo is a pill that counters all the symptoms of diabetes and will allow diabetics to live normal lives. Centrelli is the epitome of the All-American Boy—athletic, brilliant, and driven to succeed—and his career can only soar higher as he rides the Previséo rocket to its world-changing destiny. Then a friend of David’s who works for a company underwriting the development of the drug dies, and as David learns more about the circumstances of his friend’s death, it gradually becomes apparent that not all is right with Previséo or its parent company, Medzic.
Thus begins a fast-moving, indie-press thriller pitting young David and a middle-aged woman (his deceased friend’s secretary) against a powerful, avaricious corporation and its even more powerful and ruthless allies.
The Deadly Deal is a fast-moving, page-turning thriller propelled by rapid scene changes, frequent plot twists, and an enemy that grows more powerful and menacing as the full extent of the conspiracy to bring Previséo to market is revealed. The book’s power derives from the plot, which speeds along, hitting all the right beats in a thriller—the vulnerable hero, the unbeatable villain, the false ally, the surprising plot twists, and all the rest. The hero and heroine aren’t loveable, but they’re likable, and that’s enough to keep the reader turning pages to see how it all ends.
Dialogue is both a strength and a weakness of this novel. Author Lee has a good ear for speech patterns, and the dialogue he writes is realistic and moves the plot along nicely. The weakness is there’s too much of it in places, so some readers will find themselves skimming past a half-page here, a few paragraphs there, to stay in the story. Similarly, Mr. Lee sometimes over-explains points that the reader understands implicitly, though elsewhere in the book, one of his best virtues is the ability to clearly and quickly parse the machinations of corporate finance, drug research and testing, and risk underwriting in the pharmaceutical industry.
Fans of plot-driven thrillers will find plenty to like in The Deadly Deal. In addition to likable good guys who struggle to find answers and stay alive, Mr. Lee slowly reveals a cast of villains, with each reveal giving us a more formidable and amoral adversary. While we never despair for David Centrelli and his comely sidekick, Anne Halavity, neither do we stop wondering how they will survive their current circumstances, and what terrible new misfortune will follow.