The Dark Fields

Beginning quote was from The Great Gatsby, which was a bit freaky b/c I'm currently reading that as well.

Well written & great plot- discovery of a "smart drug" changes Eddie Spinola's life. He goes from toiling as a copywriter with writer's block to being an integral part of the largest corporate merger/acquisition in history. The drug (MDT-48) enables him to read & understand at an increased rate. He learns Italian in a night, teaches himself complex financial formulas, becomes a successful day-trader who makes $250k in 2 days after borrowing $100k from a Russian mobster named Gennady. Naturally, Eddie's upping his dosage to continue climbing the heights of the financial world. When Gennady comes by for his first payment on the loan, he steals 5 of the pills that are sittting in a ceramic bowl on a shelf in Eddie's apartment. Gennady becomes hooked and begins bullying Eddie to put him in contact with his dealer. Meanwhile, Eddie is working on the merger of an ISP and a media company (AOL Time Warner, anyone?). And he begins having extensive periods of blackout, not sure where he's been and what he's been doing, just clicking ahead and finding himself mid-sentence eating dinner with a group of strangers. After one of these nights he finds walking to Brooklyn, unsure why. This was the night he killed a woman in a hotel room, punched a guy in a bar, and had sex in a club bathroom. Thus his world begins to unravel. If he stops taking the MDT, extreme headaches ensue.

Why am I telling you all this? Go read it!