The Cambridge Correction.

[“Following is an official review of The Cambridge Correction by ML Smith.”]

A savage attack on a Cambridge Professor by a gang of street thugs in a pitch dark pub car park, leaves him fighting for his life. The Professor’s loyal friend Raj, a martial arts instructor is at the scene and retrieves a small vial of hydrochloric acid, arousing suspicion that this was no opportunistic crime. The Professor’s home is torched and the situation is becoming more Machiavellian by the minute. Could someone feel threatened by the Prof’s ongoing research? Raj takes on the role of personal protector, providing care and support while he recuperates.

A pandemic has taken the world by storm. The devastation, particularly in South Africa, is cause for concern as the virus mutates exponentially. But, unfortunately, life is cheap in this part of the world, with the country reeling from the effects of a harsh lockdown, bribes are changing hands at a feverish rate. The government is on a knife edge, with widespread civil insurrection a very likely feature.

Bob Casemont, the silver haired sociopath CEO of Browne and Spencer, a US pharma giant, is in the advanced stages of developing the ‘holy grail’ of vaccines – embedding a nanorobot in his vaccine to continuously reinfect recipients, ensuring a captive market for the corporation year after year, and locking in billions to the profit -and -loss account. The smooth path to production is now in sight, and a plan is in place to bypass strict FDA protocols by using samples produced in a lab in South Africa. The Professor’ s vaccine-alternative science, where pathogens are locked out of the human cell, is on the radar and threatens to derail their treacherous plan. With many of the world’s economies devastated, leaving untold human misery in their wake, the desperation for science to step up and provide a vaccine becomes frenetic.

Will the good Professor’s research begin to nudge vaccines from centre stage? An informant is now in place at the Professor’s lab and the focus has now shifted to ongoing research in South Africa, where specimens of human DNA are ready to be air-lifted to the UK, however, Bob Casemont has other ideas. Raj arrives to provide ongoing support and protection to his friend as the situation spirals out of control.
This exceptionally well written and professionally edited work of fiction by ML Smith had me emotionally investedtill the last page. The author’s clever use of descriptive language, provided imagery that took my breath away.

The well-developed characters of the joint protagonists were highly relatable and I particularly enjoyed the realistic actions and emotions of Raj in his romantic pursuit of Sophia. The depth of treachery within big pharma leaves nothing to the imagination as ML Smith delivers a spine-chilling account of untrammelled corruption across the globe amid a raging pandemic that threatens to wipe humanity off the face of the earth.

Lorna Philip Enslin.