ReviewsOfBooks.com

Your one stop for finding multiple professional reviews of recently released books.

Intuition by Allegra Goodman

In Intuition, Sandy Glass, an ambitious and charismatic oncologist, and Marion Mendelssohn, a pure scientist dreaming of success, lead cancer research at the Philpott Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It's been a while since the institute has made a noteworthy discovery and grant money becomes increasingly scarce. Sandy and Marion drive their postdoctoral associates hard, and when Cliff Bannaker, whose work seemed mired in failure, suddenly starts showing promise of a breakthrough, the entire lab is excited and ready to celebrate success. Except for Robin Decker, Cliff's ex-girlfriend, who can't reproduce his results and has an intuition that Cliff's results are fraudulent. When she makes her concerns known, they're brushed aside, perhaps to everyone's peril. Allegra Goodman's novel explores the high-stakes and competitive world of high science, and it's received positive reviews. BookPage says, "Goodman masterfully structures her story, accomplishing the rare achievement of presenting characters possessing disparate views with even-handed power. She allows the suspense to build until the unexpected resolution and, in doing so, explores both the power and cost of truth and, ultimately, its betrayal."