In Roubenoff’s novel, reunited siblings investigate murder and conspiracy at a biotech company.

When a woman’s body, wrapped tightly in blue laboratory film, turns up in a park outside of Boston, Sgt. Maggie Thompson of the Massachusetts State Police and her detectives, Eddie and Jimmy, follow the trail to Quercus Therapeutics, a biotech company on the brink of going public. The victim, Lilly Zhao, was Quercus’ head of toxicology, a scientist whose work tested the safety of the company’s flagship ALS drug, QT-101. Maggie’s estranged half-brother, Benny Mason, whom she hasn’t seen since their father’s funeral three years earlier, also works at Quercus and knew Lilly. The siblings’ reunion is awkward (“She was startled to see that Benny had grayed at the temples”), then practical: Maggie goes undercover as Benny’s assistant, infiltrating the company’s culture of ambition, secrecy, and, increasingly, danger. Flashbacks sketch their fractured childhoods and the mysterious life of their father, an Army captain whose diaries reveal the existence of a third sibling. Together, Maggie and Benny uncover a conspiracy inside Quercus. The body of another Quercus employee is found before a dramatic confrontation leads to tragedy. In the end, Maggie is left with another mystery: Is her father’s other child still alive? Roubenoff, who himself comes from the biomedical world, has crafted an intriguing, sometimes romantic (thanks to Maggie’s new boyfriend, Brad), and pulse-pounding thriller that explores the intersection of medicine and corruption. The author masterfully integrates the jargon and acronyms that pervade the biotech culture, and his characters are well-drawn and largely sympathetic, if flawed. Roubenoff also does a good job of balancing the murder and ensuing investigation with the less pressing—but no less engaging—subplots involving Maggie’s family and her love life. It all adds up to a compelling suspense yarn that’s easy to follow and will have readers guessing until the final pages.

Medicine meets murder in a captivating thriller set inside Massachusetts’ research community.