Receptor

Readers who enjoyed Edgar finalist Glynn’s Limitless (originally published as The Dark Fields) will welcome this intriguing sequel. One night in 1953, in a Manhattan apartment, advertising executive Ned Sweeney drinks a martini laced with MDT-48, a mind control drug, and becomes an unwitting participant in the CIA’s MK-Ultra program. The drug makes Ned smarter and gives him the confidence to sway opinions of clients and some of the period’s most iconic figures, but he dies within months. More than 60 years later, Ray Sweeney, Ned’s grandson, believes his grandfather committed suicide, until he meets Clay Proctor, a retired government official who worked for the CIA in the mid-1950s, who tells him he’s got it wrong. Guided by Clay, Ray embarks on a search for the truth. He even manages to get a sample of MDT-48 and experiments with the drug on his own. As the story alternates between past and present, the truth behind Ned’s sudden death gradually emerges. Despite a predictable ending, most readers will be satisfied. Agent: Antony Harwood, Antony Harwood Ltd. (Jan.)