Toxic Minds
Following a bombing at his clinic, a dedicated doctor infiltrates a cult that eschews modern medicine in search of the truth in the intriguing thriller Toxic Minds.
In Anthony Lee’s emotionally charged medical thriller Toxic Minds, a doctor goes undercover in a healing cult to root out a mysterious leader.
Mark works as a hospital internist. His small caseload gives him ample time to treat patients after their emergency room processing. He referred one of his patients to the connected clinic. There, an armed woman strapped with explosives charges in, proclaiming “Purity is mine!” as she explodes. Thus, Mark learns about an alternative group espousing claims about being without the need for modern medicine. He feigns interest and is recruited into this cult. Before long, he realizes that its mysterious Sun Priest isn’t focused on health and well-being; instead, the cult has horrific plans for the hospital.
Mark narrates, acting as the moral backbone of the novel. He’s best defined by his professional competence and his tendency toward unvarnished emotion, including around the death of his patient in the bombing. He is detached and analytical when examining patients, and wry and acerbic in unpacking the cult’s misguided beliefs. However, his decision to infiltrate the cult without backup or help is underexplained and at odds with his postbombing efforts to help official investigators. Further, his ability to juggle his infiltration of the cult with his continuing medical work makes him seem superhuman.
More convincing is the hospital setting: Medical verbiage abounds, and the coverage of Mark’s patient’s health evinces Mark’s expertise. The dangers of medical misinformation are also explored with clarity. Mark has constant feuds with patients over routine aspects of his job; while he stays professional, the mental turmoil these exchanges initiate is clear. Indeed, many of his patients suffer because they ignore his guidance.
Moving at an uneven pace, the book drags through the early stages of Mark’s planned infiltration of the cult. Some of the revelations he depends on strain credulity: A patient reveals that she was in the cult herself, despite the threat of execution for disclosing this, and points him toward her recruiter. Conveniently, he finds a recruiter on his first try and is chosen to join right away. He spends months proving his dedication in hopes of meeting the cult’s leader, but much of this work proves incidental to the overall plot; it’s primarily about showing the lengths Mark is willing to go to for the truth. The cult’s rituals, including the injection of colored liquids and recitations of oaths, end up delaying Mark’s successes. When he confronts the Sun Priest at last, it’s rewarding.
Toxic Minds is a gritty medical thriller about an idealistic doctor who fights misinformation and infiltrates a cult.
Reviewed by
John M. Murray
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