Book Review: Elixir

Title: Elixir

Author: Ted Galdi

Genre: YA Thriller

Book Blurb: 

Meet 14-year-old Sean Malone. He has an IQ above 200, a full-ride scholarship to one of the country’s top universities, and more than one million dollars from his winning streak on Jeopardy. However, Sean wishes he could just be normal.

But his life is anything but normal. The US government manipulates him, using him as a codebreaker in pursuit of a drug lord and killing innocent people along the way. 

For reasons related to his personal security, Sean finds himself in Rome, building a new life under a new name, abandoning academics, and hiding his genius from everyone. When he’s 18 he falls in love. The thrills begin again when he learns that his girlfriend is critically ill and it’s up to him to use his intellect to find a cure, a battle pitting him against a multi-billion-dollar pharmaceutical company and the demons of his past.

Review:

Wahoo! This book starts out with a bang and doesn't slow down! 

Meet Sean: he's an 11 year old jeopardy champ when you first meet him. Fast forwards three years (in other words, one chapter later), he's now a 14 year old attending one of the best colleges in Southern California. When his math professor gives him an "impossible" math assignment: solve the Traveling Salesman equation, Sean makes the impossible possible, turning the world of math and computer security on its head. Before long, Sean is caught up in a tangled web and decides to fake his own death. Now fast forward a few more years and now you get to meet 18 year old Sean who is living a normal life--nobody knows who he really is.

I loved Sean's character and his character growth was very well depicted. Eleven and 14 year old Sean are quite similar, however, 14 year old Sean gets thrown into a world of threats and blackmail when he solves the Traveling Salesman equation and his whole view regarding life/the world changes to that of a much grimmer perspective. Sean's battle with what he has done by "unleashing" the Traveling Salesman equation was interesting and quite a burden to bear for such a young person, no matter how smart he is.

Watching Sean shed his old identity in Rome was very interesting because it gives readers a glimpse of what Sean might have ended up like had he not have a 200+ IQ. Also, Sean's maturity also evolved as well. Overall, I have to give character development 5 stars.

Alright, next is the plot. This plot is intense. Not only is there the whole protagonist vs. evil government/corp, Sean also has to struggle with his own mind. After indirectly killing innocent lives by giving the government the Traveling Salesman solution, Sean decided to quit college at age 14 and basically pretend he doesn't have a crazy high IQ. However, Sean learns that he has the chance to redeem himself through his gift by creating a cure for his girlfriend.

And thus the crazy chase ensures. Sean returns to the US, breaking a whole slew of laws (since, you know, he's supposed to be dead) where he goes on a desperate race against the clock for creating a cure. Only a few obstacles stand in the way: actually obtaining the material and the fact that a pharmaceutical monopoly has sent someone to kidnap Sean to get the formula for the elixir (turns out this cure will get rid of any viral diseases.)

I loved the short chapters and the intense pacing of the plot. There were very few "slow" parts (and I use the word "slow" loosely as even such "slow" scenes helped progress the novel and move the plot forward; it was simply written with a more leisure/relaxed style.)  I highly recommend this book!

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