Alex is a brainy inventive expert in biochemistry who has a range of creations that can cause extraordinary pain. Her skills made her extraordinarily good at interrogating people. She always got the information she looking for. For years she worked for an ultra-secret government agency that was deeply riven by fighting between different factions. But then they turned against her. The Chemist starts with her in hiding, in fear for her life, after she has successfully thwarted many attempts to kill her. She is discovered again by them, but this time they say they need her back. She doesn’t believe them, but she wants to find out more, so she prepares for a meeting. We see in great detail how carefully she lives her life, and how she engages in elaborate plans to keep herself safe for this meeting. She arms herself with a wide range of chemicals kept in jewelry and even in a false tooth. She has many disguises to make herself unrecognizable. She deceives people and creates scenarios that make her untraceable. This massively detailed plan and ability to think 10 steps ahead is a feature of Alex’s behavior throughout this action-packed thriller. The one thing she isn’t prepared for is romance.

The Chemist is a long novel by the author of the Twilight series. The unabridged audiobook, performed with steady competence by Ellen Archer, is 17 hours long. The hardcopy is 528 pages. The plot gets very theatrical, with a number of remarkable characters and bizarre scenarios that seem created with a possible movie in mind. Alex is a charismatic lead figure, although the plot is very convoluted and often both brutal and silly. The writing is better than you might imagine — straightforward, evocative, and with good flow. Although Alex herself reads spy novels to find out some tricks of the trade, it’s unlikely that Meyer’s book would be of any use to anyone trying to find out about espionage, interrogation, or living in hiding. It’s not a book that is going to provide great insight. But it’s a good summer read.

© 2017 Christian Perring

Christian Perring is an avid reader.