CAMPANILISMO

A drug company scientist heads to Malaysia to investigate deaths in a clinical trial for a new cholesterol drug in this debut novel.

Frank Serono, a senior scientist at New Jersey-based pharmaceutical giant Annexin, is excited about the prospects for the company’s new wonder drug. The innovative formula has been shown to raise HDL, or good cholesterol, levels and could prevent and reverse atherosclerosis. Unfortunately, an unusually large number of people have died during the clinical trial in Malaysia, and Frank is sent to Kuala Lumpur to talk to the doctors and seek patient records. Accompanied by Annexin’s clinical investigator, Dr. Ethan Sapirstein, Frank finds that a few boxes of patient records have disappeared from the Malaysian facility, and the staff cannot explain how or why they could’ve vanished. As two shady businessmen, also from New Jersey, meet with drug providers in Kuala Lumpur in the hopes of becoming internet pharmaceutical distributors, there is a series of shocking murders. Ethan and three others are found dead, causing Annexin’s leadership to demand more answers from the perplexed Malaysians. From his home base in New Jersey, Frank watches in distress as his hopes for the new drug slowly disintegrate while he seeks those who killed his colleagues. And he conducts even more research, looking for a new yet elusive drug. Curatolo, himself a veteran of the pharmaceutical industry, has concocted a terrific premise for a science thriller and murder mystery, full of illuminating but sometimes alarming insights into the drug development and medical fields, along with the addition of some unsavory characters in the pharmaceutical distribution world. The scientific discussions and the plotlines surrounding DNA sequencing and drug research are informed yet not overly technical. But the structure of the novel is a bit more problematic, as the story shifts gears halfway through and one of the villains becomes more of a protagonist. Though a good deal of effort is expended to make the new scenario convincing, the move casts doubt on the tale’s direction and perspective. The author explains that campanilismo is an Italian philosophy: “That everything important in life occurs within the area from which you can see the bell tower (It. campanile) of your town.” Frank’s research goes deeper and deeper yet the book’s central metaphor, taken from the title, never really resonates.

A remarkable premise for a scientific mystery, hampered by some confusion about the characters’ allegiances.