Dollycas’s Thoughts

This is one of those stories that sucks you right in and holds on tight.

Maggie O’Malley has landed a dream job as a pharmaceutical researcher. She wants to save lives and work on a team that could cure cancer or any of the other diseases the world faces. Her first day starts off well until she receives an alert on her cell phone about a meeting she didn’t set up with a person she doesn’t know. She later learns the person was killed at the time she was supposed to meet them. The alerts keep coming and people keep dying. The friend who gave her the phone tries to help her find out why she is receiving the messages but what they find puts them both in danger.

As if Big Pharma isn’t scary enough this book turns it inside out. Full of twists and turns our protagonist, Maggie O’Malley, has no idea who she can trust. Excited about her job and the fine salary she is thrilled to be able to subsidize her father’s business keeping him from filing bankruptcy. When the messages keep coming and her job starts to fall apart her close friend, Constantine tries to help. Neither one knew the enormity of the situation. We also see that Gus (Constantine) has feelings for Maggie that are more than just friendship. If they live to the end of this maybe he will share those feelings.

The plot is full of drama and suspense. As the book continues we see the PROTOCOL appears to be murder but how is it connected to Maggie and her job at Rxcellance. The pages keep flying at an extreme pace to an ending that totally caught me by off-guard, surprised, and chilled to the bone.

I read this book all in one sitting. It was absolutely impossible to put down. It will be a long time before I will look at a cell phone alert and not think of this about this story.

Kathleen Valenti has written an excellent suspense novel combining greed and medicine and the lengths people will go to for that almighty dollar. I am shocked this is her debut effort in the mystery realm. She hit it out of the park!

Just one question Ms. Valenti, where in the Midwest is Rxcellance? Hopefully not in my home state of Wisconsin……

4.5 stars

Buckle in for this thrilling ride! Kathleen Valenti’s debut novel is an edge-of-your-seat adventure from start to finish. Well-written, excellently plotted, sprinkled with humor and romance.

Maggie O’Malley just wants to save the world. Or at least fight the cancer that took her mother. But when she starts her new job – a job that is supposed to let her do just that – she quickly finds herself in a different kind of battle. A battle for her life. Twists and turns, wry humor, friendships and family all come along for the chilling chase and help set the stage for future books in the series.

In the middle of the suspense-filled uncertainty, a couple of things become clear: you may never again get another flu shot or a repurposed smart phone without pausing just a minute to remember this book.

Bottom Line: Protocol by Kathleen Valenti will keep your pulse racing and keep you on the edge of your seat. Carve out enough time to read this from beginning to end because you won’t want to stop once you start. This could easily be developed into a movie, the suspense notched high from start to finish. I love the romantic development too and look forward to reading more books to come in this series!

(I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book)

Princess Fuzzypants here:
This is a book that failed to grab me at first. I took some time to warm up to the protagonist but once I did and the subterfuge and conspiracies started to pile up with the bodies, I was hooked.. Maggie has just graduated and she has landed her dream job or so she thinks. She is determined to leave an unhappy past behind but seems incapable of getting beyond it.
Then her dream job turns into more of a nightmare and she is forced to dig deeper into herself and find the stamina and courage to uncover the misdeeds perpetrated by her bosses. She is going to need every ounce because it seems the further she gets, the more she becomes ensnared in the lies they are telling about her. She does not know who to trust. And those she trusts the most are the ones she should trust the least.
It is an exciting ride with some tense moments. By the last part of the book, the pages were turning at a rapid pace.
I give this four purrs and two paws up.

PROTOCOL

A Maggie O'Malley Mystery
by Kathleen Valenti

Henery Press
General Fiction (Adult) , Mystery & Thrillers

Pub Date 05 Sep 2017

I am reviewing a copy of Protocol through Henery Press and Netgalley:

Maggie O'Malley has just graduated from college. Maggie is fueled by a professional ambition and the need to escape the past. Now as a pharmeucitical researcher she is going to save lives from the shelter of her lab. On her first day she is pulled into a dark world, reminders appear on her phone for meetings she didn't schedule with people she has never met, all of whom end up dying.

With help from her best friend Maggie discovers that all the victims are connected with her new employer. Will Maggie be able to stop these horrific abuses in power before she is the next victim? Find out in Protocol.

Five out of five stars.

Happy Reading!

If you enjoy having your heart in your throat, white knuckles, holding your breath, this is a book for you.
What an imagination this author has, a phone wiped clean and resold, and then, oh my, unbelievable, but yes this is just one of the horrors that wait, and thus you are going to be page turning.
You become Maggie a young, talented, recent graduate, and walk with her as she begins her job, that seems to be a lifeline for her Dad. We never expect all that is about to happen, and why and who, and then when the answers start to come, you cringe even more.
There is a bit of romance here, but lots of grief, and we want it to end, but is there a light at the end of the tunnel? Fast paced and get ready to plunge right in, you won’t be disappointed and it doesn’t take very many page for your heat to start pounding.
I received this book through Net Galley and the Publisher Henery Press, and was not required to give a positive review.

Thanks to NetGalley for this book.
A wonderful new author with Henery Press! I really liked Protocol for a number of reasons. It is mainly about the horrible things that people do for money, not only on their own but certainly when they are involved with large companies. And when you realize how much money there is at stake in pharmaceutical companies, you realize the plot of this book is not so very far from reality.
I liked Maggie as main character, although I found it a little tiresome that she keeps bumping into people, losing things, breaking things and generally make the wrong decisions for the right reasons. I would love to read more in this series but I hope Maggie will grow up a little in the next books. Maybe she could even learn how to eat something more than just pot noodles?
Although Henery specializes in cozy mysteries, this book is more than just ‘cozy’. It is a fast-paced story and despite the little flaws I found, a very, very good debut.

I received this from NetGalley to read and review. This is a well written, thriller. Maggie O’Malley is a recent college grad who managed to snag a fantastic job at RXcellance, a pharmaceutical research company. Since this is her chosen career, Maggie is ecstatic at this opportunity and plans to give it her all while helping her father keep his restaurant in the middle of some financial difficulties. However, when she begins work, Maggie also begins receiving notification messages about meetings scheduled with people she does not even know or recognize—who later are found dead. Maggie is confused, worried and scared, turning to her best friend Constantine (Gus), a computer whiz, who also happened to have gotten and given her the phone. He decides the phone, which is refurbished, was not completely wiped clean after being sold by its former owner. However, that still leaves the question of who is sending the messages and why are they being sent. Together, Maggie and Gus delve into this mystery, while, at the same time, Maggie suspects something strange is going on at RXcellance. Little does she know that the two are related. Together, Maggie and Gus ferret out the clues needed to solve this unique mystery, while interrupting major criminal activity going on in the upper echelons of the business. Only through sheer persistence and will, the experience and knowledge of IT that Gus has, as well as Maggie’s sharp wits will the pair manage to reach a conclusion that takes many twists and turns to get to, while bringing them and many others to the brink of death.

I enjoyed reading the book. As it said, it is well written, with good character development, with a hint of romance, setting the stage for what looks to become a great Maggie O’Malley series. While the book moved along well enough, there were times when it did drag a bit, though not many. I enjoyed watching a strong female lead develop and mature as she and Gus worked through this mystery. It was obvious to me the author knows and understands the pharmaceutical research industry well, as I think she depicted a very realistic and plausible scenario for pharmaceutical research studies. I think anyone who enjoys a good mystery will enjoy this one, especially if they enjoy medical related mysteries.

Maggies best friend and problem solver, Constantine with his little Miss Vanilla in his pocket at all times, was the character I liked the most. He was witty, smart and so adorable and in love with Maggie, and  she has no clue!

The pacing of the book was pretty consistent. Once it started the action never let up. I only wish the characters were a bit more fleshed out and in some spots it seemed to hurry a bit much and left me feeling like was a bit clueless.

All in all a pretty good story.

Netgalley/Henery Press

Protocol by Kathleen Valenti is a mystery with a lot of information concerning the pharmaceutical industry.

Maggi O'Malley is a young woman who has landed her first job in her chosen field with a top pharmaceutical company. She's excited to begin her job and trying to be more open to new people in her life. She was a strong young woman who is very close to her Dad and Aunt. Her best friend since grade school, Constantine, is very likable and was there for her very step of the way. Together they dig for information that will clear Maggi from suspicion as she seems to be drug into murder and dubious pharmaceutical ethics. Maggi and Constantine make a strong team as they work together and I was pleased to see that they might have more.

A steadily paced plot with characters that are developing nicely so that readers get to know them and enough red herrings and twists to keep a reader turning the pages.

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book from Henery Press via NetGalley. All of the above opinions are my own.

I have mixed feelings about this book. It was a gripping thriller, but the plot was somewhat improbable. All in all, I enjoyed it regardless of its flaws.

Maggie O'Malley has landed her dream job at an up and coming pharmaceutical company. She can't afford a new cell phone, so she gets a used one that has been wiped clean. She starts receiving appointment reminders for people she doesn't know, and the next day those same people turn up dead.

At the same time, her co-workers start acting strangely. Maggie is becoming a star at her job, but she can feel something going on behind the scenes that she can't understand.

The plot was very fast paced and the writing was good. It took some time, but I started to care about Maggie's fate by the middle of the book.

I recommend this book, and hope future books in the series will be more plausible.

Thanks to Henery Press and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars

A fast-paced debut featuring Maggie O'Malley, who has just landed a job at a pharmaceutical powerhouse. Immediately odd things begin to happen. She receives cryptic cell phone messages about appointments with people she has never met - and they begin turning up dead. The boss's creepy son menaces her. And someone is downloading stolen confidential files onto her computer in an attempt to frame her.

The action doesn't always hang together smoothly and Maggie is sometimes annoyingly clueless, but for fans of suspense the thrills will make up for any plot gaps.

I received an ARC via Net Galley in return for my honest review

Big pharma is a mystery. Entertaining repartee between BFFs. Exciting, page turner.

'Protocol' by Kathleen Valenti has brilliantly crafted words. They are almost poetic in her descriptions of Maggie's feelings about her mother's cancer. This is coupled with unrelenting tension, from the very first page of the book. I just couldn't see how this could turn out in any way other than despairingly. I was instructed, and led through a labyrinth of clues and concerns, all ending in a surprising and satisfying matter. What a sparkling first book in what I hope is a long-lived series!

Maggie O'Malley's dream job might just be the death of her! Nail biting fast paced mystery set in the pharmaceutical industry.

25 yr. old Maggie O'Malley has landed a highly coveted first job at Rxcellance Pharmaceuticals. Leaving her family and BFF Constantine behind she is making new friends at work. When Maggie finds her world spinning out of control, it is Constantine to the rescue.
.
The page turning mystery is not a cozy. I stayed up late to finish it!