Whatever you expect when picking up The Chemist, you won't be prepared for everything that Stephenie Meyer infuses this novel with, and you certainly won't be able to put it down.
The Chemist is a book you'll be glad it took awhile to get round to reading. In 2016 the much anticipated novel received many the negative review from readers, however in 2023 The Chemist is a very different experience that will hit home with it's main threat.
From the blurb;
'She used to work for the US government. An expert in her field, she was one of the darkest secrets of an agency so clandestine it doesn't even have a name. Then, one day, they came for her without warning. She's been running ever since.
'Now her former handler has offered her a way out: one last job in exchange for her freedom. But as she prepares for the toughest case of her life, she finds herself falling for the man she was sent to trap. Now she has a choice - return to the shadows, hunted and alone. Or stand and fight.'
Our main character, paranoid genius on the run, changes names frequently though-out the beginning of the novel before settling down into the recognisable, though false, name of Alex. Alex is the kind of brilliant heroine more action thrillers need. She suspicious enough to convey a cunning intelligence to the reader that we can have faith in. She's brilliant in her field and knows how to wield her expert knowledge to her advantage against the muscle men sent after her. She isn't slick, or physically striking, in fact her social skills remain somewhat lacking throughout the novel, making her both likable from the readers perspective but also more believable as a person. Her awkward interactions with normal society add a comic relief to the otherwise hard hitting notes of the novel.
Adding to Alex's brilliance Meyer's introduces two fantastic additional main characters to the plot. One provides Alex with the human interactions she otherwise lacks, while the other creates the opportunity for a new perspective, and for a new path in the story, that heightens the action and intensifies the risks.
Meyer pulls one plot twist after another in this brilliant read, keeping us on our toes through the entire plot, as she puts her characters through one life threatening situation after another, only to conclude with the perfect ending. A gift to the readers that rounds off the fast paced novel with a brilliant nod towards a brighter, though still strained, future for characters we've quickly fallen in love with.
For this novel Meyers researched with experts from Arizona State University, Phoenix Police Department, USAF JAG Corps and many other fields. The time and effort put in results in a well thought out novel with a brilliant running plot, a diverse range of characters, and fantastic edge of your seat action. While, like all action stories, we are asked on occasion to put aside our disbelief so that our characters may continue to live on into the next chapter, these leaps from reality are not so jarring as to force us out of the novel, but provide the slightly unrealistic thrill that we seek from action novels and films.
We could not put The Chemist down once it started running, and hope that Meyer's will return to the genre some time in the future.
We give The Chemist Five Stars
ISBN - 978-0-7515-7004-5 Cover Price - £8.99 eBook Available
First Published in Great Britain in 2016 by Sphere