Intuition

The small Mendelssohn-Glass Research Lab is dedicated to cancer research. When Cliff Bannaker's experiment begins to look promising, Sandy Glass rushes publication and a grant proposal. The other post-docs are expected to put their own work aside to support the new project, a situation that engenders resentment. But Robin Decker has suspicions about the merit of Cliff's methodology and results, and opens the lab to public scrutiny. Kathe Mazur's narration is interesting. Her unemotional performance befits the objectivity one expects the scientific process to embody. The unique voices she creates communicate each character's humanity as human foibles and emotions invade the sterile lab. N.E.M. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine

Starred review from December 5, 2005
In another quiet but powerful novel from Goodman (Kaaterskill Falls
), a struggling cancer lab at Boston's Philpott Institute becomes the stage for its researchers' personalities and passions, and for the slippery definitions of freedom and responsibility in grant-driven American science. When the once-discredited R-7 virus, the project of playboy postdoc Cliff, seems to reduce cancerous tumors in mice, lab director Sandy Glass insists on publishing the preliminary results immediately, against the advice of his more cautious codirector, Marion Mendelssohn. The research team sees a glorious future ahead, but Robin, Cliff's resentful ex-girlfriend and co-researcher, suspects that the findings are too good to be true and attempts to prove Cliff's results are in error. The resulting inquiry spins out of control. With subtle but uncanny effectiveness, Goodman illuminates the inner lives of each character, depicting events from one point of view until another section suddenly throws that perspective into doubt. The result is an episodically paced but extremely engaging novel that reflects the stops and starts of the scientific process, as well as its dependence on the complicated individuals who do the work. In the meantime, she draws tender but unflinching portraits of the characters' personal lives for a truly humanist novel from the supposedly antiseptic halls of science.

Goodman's newest novel revolves around scandal in a science lab, where Cliff's virus, designed to defeat cancer, is suddenly successful after two years with no results. When Robin, another researcher in the lab, finds a second set of notes that contradict the published results, questions are raised, and answers are sought. Jenna Stern reads this story of scientific investigation and inquiry with an even tone that is void of emotional involvement. The lack of voicings makes the characters difficult to differentiate. The slow pace of scientific research is mimicked by the pace of the action, testing the stamina of the listener. M.B.K. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine