The Chemist
Stephanie Meyer, 2016
Little, Brown and Co.
528 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780316387835
Summary
In this gripping page-turner, an ex-agent on the run from her former employers must take one more case to clear her name and save her life.
She used to work for the U.S. government, but very few people ever knew that. An expert in her field, she was one of the darkest secrets of an agency so clandestine it doesn't even have a name. And when they decided she was a liability, they came for her without warning.
Now she rarely stays in the same place or uses the same name for long. They've killed the only other person she trusted, but something she knows still poses a threat. They want her dead, and soon.
When her former handler offers her a way out, she realizes it's her only chance to erase the giant target on her back. But it means taking one last job for her ex-employers. To her horror, the information she acquires only makes her situation more dangerous.
Resolving to meet the threat head-on, she prepares for the toughest fight of her life but finds herself falling for a man who can only complicate her likelihood of survival. As she sees her choices being rapidly whittled down, she must apply her unique talents in ways she never dreamed of.
In this tautly plotted novel, Meyer creates a fierce and fascinating new heroine with a very specialized skill set. And she shows once again why she's one of the world's bestselling authors. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—December 24, 1973
• Where—Hartford, Connecticut, USA
• Education—B.A., Brigham Young University
• Awards—
• Currently—lives in Cave Creek, Arizona
Stephanie Meyer is an American fiction writer and film producer, best known for her vampire romance series Twilight. The Twilight novels have gained worldwide recognition and sold over 100 million copies, with translations into 37 different languages Meyer was the bestselling author of 2008 and 2009 in America.
Meyer was ranked No. 49 on Time magazine's list of the "100 Most Influential People in 2008," and was included in the Forbes Celebrity 100 list of the world's most powerful celebrities in 2009 (listed as No. 26). Her annual earnings exceeded $50 million. In 2010, Forbes ranked her as the No. 59 most powerful celebrity with annual earnings of $40 million.
Early life
Meyer was born in Hartford, Connecticut as the second of six children to Stephen and Candy Morgan. She was raised in Phoenix, Arizona, attending Chaparral High School in Scottsdale, Arizona, where her former English teacher remembered her as "bright but not overly so."
She attended Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, where she received a BA in English. In 1994, at the age of 21, Meyer married her Christian Meyer, whom she had known since she was four. Meyer worked briefly as a receptionist in a property company and had even considered law school, but when her first child was born she decided to be a stay-at-home-mother. The couple now has three sons.
Twilight novels
According to Myer, the idea for Twilight came to her in a dream in 2003. Although she had no writing experience, she sat down to capture the dream on paper. Starting with a short draft—of what would become Chapter 13—she wrote the complete novel within three months. Although she says its writing was strictly for her own enjoyment and that she had no intentions of seeking a publisher, her sister persuaded her to send the manuscript to literary agencies.
Of the 15 letters she wrote, five went unanswered, nine brought rejections, and the last was a positive response from Jodi Reamer of Writers House. Eight publishers then competed for the rights to publish in a 2003 auction, and by the end of the year Meyer signed a $750,000 three-book deal with Little, Brown and Company.
Twilight was published in 2005 with a print run of 75,000 copies. Within a month, it reached No. 5 on the New York Times Best Seller list for Children's Chapter Books, later reaching #1. Foreign rights to the novel were sold to over 26 countries, and Publishers Weekly named it the Best Book of the Year. It was also a New York Times Editor's Choice.
With the success of Twilight, Meyer came out with three more books in the series: New Moon (2006), Eclipse (2007), and Breaking Dawn (2008). All books were top sellers, and in 2008 the four books of the series claimed the top four spots on USA Today's year-end bestseller list, making Meyer the first author to ever achieve this feat.
The novels held the top four spots again on USA Today's 2009 year-end list. In August of that year, the paper revealed that Meyer broke J. K. Rowling's record on their bestseller list—the four Twilight books had spent 52 straight weeks in the top 10. The books have spent more than 143 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller List.
Adult novels
In 2008 Myer published her first adult sci-fi novel, The Host. The author has said she has plans, and some initial writing, for another two books: "The Soul" and "The Seeker." The Host, about an alien and the human woman in inhabits, debuted at No. 1 on the New York Times Best Seller list, remaining on the list for 26 weeks.
In 2016 Meyer broke out of speculative fiction with The Chemist. A spy novel, it has received comparisons to the Jason Bourne series. (Adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 11/20/2016.)
Book Reviews
This espionage action story will no doubt tighten Meyer's grip on her devoted readers. Its main character is much like Jason Bourne, to whom the novel is dedicated affectionately.... Meyer knows how to control dramatic tension as skillfully as any of the Bourne movies. The pages turn themselves.
Keith Donohue - Washington Post
Engrossing.... A terrific ride.... The Chemist is consistently fast-paced fun, especially the way that Alex's scientific genius gives her an array of potions-she's small, but you don't want to get within swiping distance of the rings on her fingers-that verge on the magical.
Charles Finch - USA Today"
Fans will likely tear through The Chemist, just as they did with the Twilight novels and with The Host.... Our heroine is very good at staying alive.... The book hit on an appealing theme. Chris is an expert in her field, one that happens to be male dominated. Her peers are out to get her. She has to watch her back constantly.... With so many popular novels out there featuring unreliable female narrators stuck in various suburbs, it was nice to read about a woman who gets out and has a lot to do.
Meredith Goldstein - Boston Globe"
[Meyer has] an unusual ability to turn genres inside out. The characters in the novel are motivated by love of family rather than by duty to country or abstractions like saving the world. Love gives the adventure meaning, rather than just being a subplot off to the side. Spy fans can be assured that in most respects, The Chemist functions in much the same way as a Bourne or Bond story, complete with mounting body count, cool explosions, stakeouts and betrayals. But changing the proportion of gender in the genre gives the concoction a renewed, and welcome, rush.
Noah Berlatsky - Los Angeles Times
[U]neven...a former operative for a secret U.S. government agency...must take extraordinary steps to stay alive.... [T]he plot plays out along predictable lines that don’t do justice to the intriguing setup. Underdrawn characterizations don’t help.
Publishers Weekly
[S]py versus spy and throbbing romance novel with good results.... A tale of skulduggery... complete with help from a luscious mistress of disguise who could have stepped right out of a James Bond novel. Rated B for badass.
Kirkus Reviews
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