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sewolf0310
Posted November 13, 2012
Ryan Matthews was a brilliant man, trying to develop a cure for ovarian cancer, which his wife had. Jordan Carver also wanted to help others with their diseases, but was tired of the red tape and bureaucracy of the FDA and others.
When you have a loved one, how much are you willing to spend to lengthen their life? Would you be willing to spend millions of dollars, or go to clinics outside of the United States? For those that have the money, yes, yes, they would spend whatever it and do whatever it takes.
If you are a major drug company, how far are you willing to go to see others fail?
This story is chilling to see what lengths people will go to be rich and powerful, for whatever their reasons, or for “the greater good of mankind”. So many characters in such different levels of society, all interacting in some way or another. Murder, mystery, suspense, cover-ups and a great who-done-it (or actually who is in charge and making the decisions). Page after page of non-stop reading that you just can’t put down. Definitely a must read. Even if it is a fictional writing, you can’t help but wonder how much could be true.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted July 30, 2012
When I first got the book in the mail I wasn't sure if it was for me but since I said I would read it, I set out to do so and I'm glad that I did.
This is an awesome read for anyone who likes mystery, action or suspense. the book starts out introducing you to Ryan Matthews. Here comes your first twist, he is a former cancer researcher who has a wife battling cancer. Trying to do what any awesome husband would do, he begin working on a drug to save her only to discover the drug accelerates her cancer.
His wife and child end up dying in a plane crash which sends him into a deep depression. Shortly after, he meets Jordan Carver, an FDA researcher who is busy creating experimental drugs in Mexico, the kind the FDA hasn't approved and one of them is much like the drug he created for his wife, the drug that killed her.
Of course I am not going to tell you the entire book! I have to leave you something to read for yourself and you should. This book is the kind of movie I long to see. There are enough twists and turns as any country road out in the middle of nowhere. This is seriously an amazing book!
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted July 29, 2012
By Rosie Discovers:
I was pleasantly surprised with this book. It isn't generally the type of plot lines I usually read, but it kept me hooked until the end. The political intrigue is set from the start. We get actual news articles about drug trials gone bad in the prologue. The scene being set, I knew I was in for a journey filled with power struggles and cover ups.
The RX Factor is well written. Perhaps helped along by a similar series of events that happened with an ulcer cure, but in the end the United States government is viewed as a bit corrupt when it comes to corporations willing to pay for their desired outcomes. So, we learn with Ryan and Jordan about the ins and outs of drug trials and why a particular drug may be blacklisted by the FDA.
Like the bureaucracy of government, the plot of this book has layers of truth. Each time a new fact is revealed it paves the way for more information to be uncovered. In the end, these truths allow for some shocking twists as our characters try to survive while hoping to save the lives of others.
Ryan is a medical researcher down on his luck and taken to the bottle for comfort. He meets Jordan after her aunt and uncle are killed (within the first few pages so it's not a spoiler). They both want answers when it is deemed not to have been a mere accident. The race begins to find answers and prevent more deaths as Jordan wants to open a clinic that will help people receive a cure for various terminal illnesses. Only it seems that Jordan may be challenging the wrong group of people.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted July 18, 2012
I am going to be totally honest. When I started this book, I wasn't sure if I was going to enjoy it or not. It didn't seem to be at all the genre that I am usually interested in. Nevertheless, I decided that I would tough it out and give it a try! I am so glad I started it! By the second chapter, I was hooked!
I seriously felt like I was reading a movie! Wanna hear about the story? Ryan Matthews is a former cancer researcher whose wife is battling ovarian cancer. It just so happens that he had developed a drug that he believed would be the cure for her and others battling the disease. His dreams are crushed when he learns that the vaccine that he created and believed in so much was actually accelerating her cancer.
After a devastating loss when his wife and children die in a plane crash, he sinks into a depression in the Bahamas, until he meets Jordan Carver, a female FDA researcher who is developing a clinic in Mexico where patients can go to receive "affordable treatment" with experimental drugs that have not been FDA approved in the USA. Upon further investigation, one of the drugs being offered in the Mexican clinic sounds suspiciously like the drug that Ryan helped to create. Remember, the one that was killing his wife?
This is where the book turns into a well thought out action movie! The twists and turns were enough to keep me on the edge of my seat! I couldn't put the book down! Ryan and Jordan go undercover to discover the truth behind this secret drug and this clinic that is supposed to be offering hope to suffering patients. They end up getting WAY more than they bargained for, and the ending... JUST WOW! If you read this book, make sure you keep reading until the ending!
I am seriously starting to reevaluate the kinds of books I like to read, since I enjoyed this one so much. I am not sure if this story is true or not, but it sure seems like it could be, and that is scary! I was really impressed by this book, the writer, and his attention to details! I will be back for more of his books in the future!
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.When the main character, Ryan, realizes his wife has cancer, he personally gets her in a clinical trial for a cancer drug that he has created himself. As the family struggled with this diagnosis and waited to hear the results, the story started throwing it's blanket of deception over me. The results from the test say his wife, Cindy, is not cured at all and no progress was made in the clinical trial. As a family they wanted to spend as much time left that Cindy has and began the journey to the Bahamas. A main plot of the story begins when the plane crashes and his entire family is gone in a blink of an eye. Dr. Ryan literally began to swallow his grief and resentment in alcohol all day long in the Bahamas. At this time a shining star walked into his life, Jordan. They begin to talk and realize she is a researcher as well, which starts to pull him out of his grief stricken life. Although he does not really believe she will be successful in bypassing the FDA, he admires her courage. As these two travel though movie style action sequences, we are left with many questions. The author, Mr. Shaw, completely summed up one of the main questions people have into an action packed novel : "Why can't Cancer be cured?"
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.National_Board_Certified
Posted July 5, 2012
When I picked up The Rx Factor I wasn't sure if I would be interested in it at all. Wow, was I wrong. I couldn't put it down! The Rx Factor is better than watching a movie. Just do yourself a favor and clear your schedule for reading.........because you won't want to do anything else while this book is in your house. It was one of those books that kept me guessing the entire time. I really liked the characters and the surprise twists throughout the book. It can be difficult to keep up because the locations and character list changes at a dizzying pace. I had to stop a few times and thumb back through the pages to remember who someone was. Upon first glance, you might think it's just another conspiracy theory book. Don't judge it so quickly, though, because The Rx Factor is so much more than the typical espionage novel. This book hits frighteningly close to reality and made me wonder how much of it could possibly be true.
I received a copy of this book to review. These opinions are 100% mine. I loved this book!
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted June 29, 2012
Can you imagine what the world would be like if there were drugs that could cure any disease? Would it be a good thing or a bad thing, who profits? The patient or the drug companies?? That is truly an ethical question.
Ryan Mathews has lost all he has cared about, his wife and children in an airplane crash, his career, so it is no wonder he has turned to alcohol. An ex FBI and a research scientist. His wife Cindy, ends up with cancer and he gets her into the clinical trials of a drug that he has developed for the treatment and cure of cancer. Perfect solution right? No... after the trial, the results come back that Cindy's cancer is not cured and the drug is not curing anyone. He wants to spend what remaining time that Cindy has left with her and their children, so he makes reservations for them to fly to Exuma, in the Bahamas, but the plane crashes enroute. Ryan ends up staying in Exuma and quietly spends his days getting drunk.
While at his favorite watering hole he meets a woman, Jordan Carver, who is also a researcher and is going to open up a clinic in Mexico where people can have access to experimental drugs that have not been approved in the US by the FDA. After spending the evening together talking shop, Ryan offers to give Jordan a lift out to the yacht that she is staying on. On the way there the yacht explodes and takes the lives of Jordan's aunt and uncle. An investigation ensues where Ryan and Jordan try to figure out what happened and find that they share a mutual passion for curing the terminally ill and that they are attracted to each other. Their investigation takes them to New York and Washington D.C. where they come up against ruthless people and a drug company who are determined to stop the two from doing any further investigating. This is a story that could come from today's headlines, with lots of twists and turns and with a surprise ending that I never saw coming. A well written and researched this story will keep you reading until the end and wondering what will happen next.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted June 28, 2012
My review:
I want to be honest and say that I thought I was not going to like this book at all boy was I wrong. I loved it. Great job on this book Mr. Shaw. I butterflying love it. ((: All of you, my readers should read this book. I would say this book is not for the younger generation. I cannot picture anyone under 23 really wanting to reading it.
Stars I give this book:
***** (5)
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.thrillme1
Posted May 28, 2012
Fantastic plot. Shocking ending, Fast paced thriller with most chapters ending in cliff hangers. The RX Factor is commercial fiction at it's best.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted May 28, 2012
Great thriller! Would make a great movie. Minus the Hollywood style action, I am afraid this may be more fact than fiction. I loved the writing and story. The ending totally caught me by surprise.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted May 3, 2012
Your Book Rocks! I'm really happy with the content! It reads well. It knows how to talk to people. It looks good from the back and the front!
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.IamBooked
Posted April 4, 2012
I read the back cover of the book and it had a warning on it. "Do not start reading this book until you have the time to finish it." I thought that was kind of a hokey sales pitch until I started reading The RX Factor. I am glad it was a Saturday afternoon when I started as I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning finishing it.
The RX factor is a true bladder buster and the best thriller I have read in many years. As an avid reader, I am rarely surprised by the twists and turns in this genre, but The RX Factor had two shocking moments that I did not see coming - and they were absolutely stunning. Every chapter teased with bits and pieces of the puzzle and ending with cliffhangers that kept me wanting more. Not only is the story enthralling, the revelations about Big Pharma, the FDA and the federal government have me wondering just how much of this book is really true.
The RX Factor unfolds like a major potion picture and I found myself constantly picturing the story unfolding on the big screen. Hope to see the movie version someday and cannot wait to read J. Thomas Shaw's next book.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.If you like the types of books that grab you from the first page and keep your heart racing all the way until the end, then you will most definitely love this book! I do love those books, of course, and this rates up there with the best!
I also enjoy Government conspiracy and well, real true Government thrillers. Fortunately, I believe more people are really aware of what goes on behind the scenes and J. Thomas Shaw, does an exceptional job at this type of suspenseful, and pretty creepy, storytelling.
The characters are well thought out, and introduced quite well, and I do adore his writing style, action packed, thrilling, and just all in all, great story line.
Dr. Ryan Matthews, loses his family after his cancer cure that he co develops, backfires and ends up speeding the disease's progression and takes his wife's life. Of course this is devastating, and he takes a 5 year plunge as an escape.
He meets a new friend, Jordan Carver M.D, who has a plan to open a medical clinic that will help treat terminally ill cancer patients. Oh, wait, it gets much better!
There are other medical clinics that treat terminally ill cancer patients, but what is so odd and yet strangely familiar, is that these "clinics" are using a drug that is eerily close to the cancer treatment that Dr. Ryan Matthews helped create, that ended up killing his wife and causing all trials to halt completely.
The FDA has apparently allowed the drug to be used in Mexico, in these so called clinics that cancer patients come to with hopes for a last resort. Very creepy, and yet, so realistic.
Ryan, and his new friend and fellow researcher, end up jumping into probably the most wild and crazy ride of their lives, when they take it upon themselves to research and investigate what exactly is going on in these "clinics", what is the FDA doing? and most importantly, what is The United States Government doing? Why is this even being done? They are fully aware of the outcome, it really makes you think of all of the strangeness we hear throughout the years, medical trials, clinics, our military, what is being experimented with and who is it being experimented on??
The RX Factor, will keep you at the edge of your seat,(kind of like a Die Hard movie) and questioning everything, even in real life. If you didn't already wonder about what, how, where and why, our Government does what it does, you certainly will after you read this book!
The whole concept and reasoning behind what is happening is enough to send shivers through your body, and you will second guess most everything after this book, (again, if you haven't already!)
The ending is well laid out, horrifying, and pretty gruesome. As a whole, I would recommend this book to everybody. maybe it will wake some people up as well.
Why did I take away 1 star if I loved it so much?
I did like the ending, I believe it was the perfect ending to the terror. I did think it was an easy ending to figure out, although, I'm not sure how else it would have ended, since any other way would have possibly taken from the intent.
I also think this is a fairly original story, although, I have seen and read this "type" before, and I have to say, again, the author's intent was clearly to write a book about exactly what he wrote about and he didn't take from anything that I am aware of. Nonetheless, that is my reasoning behind a 4 star, rather then a 5 star rating.
** I received a copy of this book in return for
tiffanydavis2
Posted September 4, 2012
Rx Factor, by J. Thomas Shaw, is a fast paced adventure that is action packed. Jordan is visiting her aunt and uncle in the Bahamas, where she meets Ryan. Ryan is a scientist who is suffering from loss in his life, most recently his wife. Jordan is a doctor looking to open a clinic in Mexica that allows for people suffering from terminal illnesses to use experimental drugs. One of the drugs that Jordan is planning to use is one that Ryan think was used on his wife, and Ryan believes that this particular drug played a part in her death. Both go somewhat undercover to find out what this drug actually does and where it comes from.
I enjoyed this book. It was a really quick read due to it being so action packed. It's a thriller that will definitely keep you on the edge of your seat just waiting to turn the page. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a lot of action within the story. I look forward to reading more from this author.
I have mixed feelings about this book. I liked the general concept and it was well-written, but I thought that the story moved too slowly. In addition, I found an incorrect capitalization in the prologue and things like that just irk me to no end, which put me off of the book from the beginning.
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Posted August 26, 2012
An excellent, page turning thriller based around the controversial area of clinical drug tests which could help saves lives in the future.
The story centres around Dr Matthews and Jordan Carver who are two research scientists looking into the possible cure of cancer. Someone is trying to stop them, who and why?
Once you start reading the book you will not want to put it down, the author has a knack of keeping you on a knife edge. The emotion you feel while reading this book is immense, you will feel yourself getting angry and upset as we all know someone who could or would have benefited from a new trial of drug.
The storyline is one of controversy and you wonder how much of the truth is fiction. Have the big pharmaceutical companies really found drugs that can cure illnesses but if released would cost them billions in lost revenue due to not having to sell prescription drugs to alleviate the symptoms of the patients suffering.
The corruption which comes with this suppression and by paying big bucks to influential businessman and politicians to quash the trials makes this a must read.
The author will be on my must read list and maybe just could be the new James Patterson.
KenishaP
Posted August 19, 2012
Ryan Matthews was once a cancer medicine researcher whose life ended up
in shambles after his new drug failed FDA testing. The drug would have
helped his wife, who has ovarian cancer. He slips away to the Bahamas to
continue testing to save her, but she and their daughter die tragically.
Dr. Jordan Carver and Ryan meet and then go to meet some of Jordan's
relatives. The story truly begins when they arrive at Jordan's family's
yacht to find it in flames. Suspicious deaths related to various
experimental drugs begin to stack up. The duo now attempts to discover
hidden government plots involving deadly drugs. I enjoyed the two
protagonists, who are tragic figures, but they manage to be resourceful,
persistent, and noble. The characters were sympathetic and believable,
and I honestly cared whether they accomplished their goals. As you can
tell from the description, the book begins with a bang. It rarely lets
up and keeps you guessing and turning the page. Ryan and Jordan are
often unsure of who they can trust or where to turn to. I was pleasantly
surprised by this book, as I wasn't expecting much from it just going by
the summary. This book is an excellent political/medical thriller,
filled with suspense, action, and creative twists. The writing is clear
and descriptive and free from overly distracting typos. Sometimes the
book even gets me to wonder about how much of this is actually possible
in reality... I think the ending wraps everything up nicely.
Taralovesbooks
Posted August 16, 2012
It has been awhile since I have been able to read a book and so I had
high hopes that this one would be a good read. I instead found that not
only was it a good read, I very quickly got caught up in first two
chapters of the book and just had to keep reading. This story gives just
enough information and suspense that slowly builds to make you not want
to close the book. Such a great intro to the story. What I loved most
about this book though, were the real life news stories used to show
events that have occurred regarding the pharmaceutical industry. I
myself was unaware of the events mentioned and liked how they were woven
into the story. Whether or not you currently do question the state of
the medical system and if it is corrupt, this book will likely leave you
with some questions regarding your health and how it is managed by the
government. The authors website and blog have more detail about the book
and writings about the the medical system and is worth checking out.
The best part though, without giving away anything was the surprise at
the end of the story that I had no indication was going to happen.
s_gallegos
Posted August 15, 2012
Losing any family member to any type of disease is hard enough but
knowing that it was something out of your control is even harder. I
could not even imagine how this would eat at a person and how they would
find the strength to go on living. John did an AMAZING job at really
making you feel what Ryan was going through and how when given an
opportunity to find out the truth he had to do it for the sake of his
family. This is very important for an author to do because that is how
you get transported into the story and really feel like you are the one
living through it. This was only one part of the story, you also
encounter an action packed suspenseful drama that takes into the world
of drug companies, politics and those out to make money off of those
that seek help. My only drawback is how it ended, not sure I can be
convinced that in the real world the government would be the one doing
that harm. However, a really good read that once you get started it
would be really difficult to put down!
courtneylynne09
Posted August 13, 2012
When I first received The RX Factor by J. Thomas Shaw, I wasn’t completely sure if I would enjoy it. Boy, was I wrong! Shaw’s writing had me hooked by chapter two! The writing in this book is wonderful – very detailed and vivid! And the story could almost be a true one! It’s that believable!
The RX Factor takes you on a wild ride from the Bahamas, Chicago, North Carolina, Puerto Vallarta, and you end up in Washington DC. You learn about Ryan Matthews, who, 5 years earlier, lost his wife and children in a tragic plane accident after his wife had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Ryan was a cancer researched and he thought he had come up with a cure for his wife’s cancer, but it ended up only accelerating her cancer, unfortunately. Ryan stays in the Bahamas while he’s in a deep depression because of the loss of his family, and meets Jordan Carver, who you end up finding out is a FDA researcher as well, and is planning on opening up a clinic in Mexico that will give patients affordable treatment of experimental drugs that they cannot receive in the United States since they are not FDA approved.
I definitely do not want to give the rest of the book away because there’s so many twists and turns, but it is one of the best suspense novels I have read in awhile! It definitely keeps you on the edge of your seat and you will not want to put the book down! Every night I read it, I ended up staying up until 2am because I just couldn’t put it down! If you enjoy a good suspense novel, I definitely recommend The RX Factor! I would love to see this book possibly made into a movie – there’s so much action in it!
Disclosure: I received this book in return for my honest review, whether positive or negative. Opinions are 100% my own.
