Clinical Trial

Set mostly on a Montana Blackfoot reservation, this well-constructed fourth thriller from Christofferson (The Protocol) features a fine cast of heroes and villains battling over medical ethics, drug-company tactics and the hard facts of reservation life. As the story begins, Dr. Isabel McLain has fled her failed Seattle marriage for the reservation's small medical clinic, where she has grown involved in the difficult life of the tribe. Then the rare, fast-acting hantavirus kills three of her patients. An Oregon biotech company, ImmuVac, wants to test its hantavirus vaccine on the reservation. Is ImmuVac simply trying to save Blackfoot lives or is it unscrupulously using Native Americans as guinea pigs? Despite her misgivingsDand objections from local teacher and activist Monty Four BearDIsabel okays the trials: her reputation, and the health of the tribe, will depend on their outcome. Meanwhile, national worries about biowarfare makes the vaccine for hantavirus particularly lucrative: What risks will ImmuVac take to reap the profits, and what else is on the company's agenda? And why has Isabel's vengeful ex-husband, a doctor himself, turned up on the rez? Christofferson's smooth plotting and prose show the dexterity of a novelist coming into her own. She's especially good with her large cast of Blackfoot characters, who reveal themselves and their histories gradually through the choices they make. The pharmaceutical-industry intrigues come across as merely workmanlike; yet the strands of Christofferson's plot twine together to combine strong characters with a satisfying conclusion, one that more than lives up to her previous work. Agent, Julie Castiglia. (Oct.)