While clearly knowledgable, or very well researched, in botany, particularly toxic plants, the overall premise of this title is unfathomable. Characters are under developed and their appearance, roles, and purpose are unclear.

Sorry to report this book was not something I enjoyed reading for several reasons. The writing style was choppy for my tastes, the thoughts and dialogues were curt, abrupt and revealed shallow personality to go with the stiletto heels. It was simply impossible for me to relate to, enjoy or admire the main character..
I did put it aside and tried several times to find something to like, but it didn't work for me.

The Power of Poison
Reviewed by: Librarian
Dr. Lily Robinson, an American Pathologist and poison expert is secretly employed by a U.S. government agency with the task of ridding the world of dangerous persons. Lily, a secret assassin, accomplishes these killings using obscure undetectable poisons. Her bizarre lifestyle is not without complications. Her daughter was lost in the Colombian jungle and presumed dead. Her lover, another agent, and she both have secrets from one another.
The story is heavy with complex medical terms especially for poisons. There are many characters which became tedious to keep apart. The book is well written with solid craft.
Thanks to Net galley and Encircle Publications LLC for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Bit of a mixed bag to my mind. Brilliant Dr Lily Robinson has a thing about poisons and has been recruited into some secret Government Agency or other to assassinate various bad guys in undetectable ways. This means she travels around the world with various natural, highly effective poisons in her handbag. She's after a Chinese about to sell technology to North Koreans, crossing swords with a Russian who is also trying to do a deal with said North Koreans. Various other Chinese and Americans living in Russia (I think) come into play - are they with her or agin her? she has a French lover who is also some sort of secret agent and it's pretty obvious that his history and hers are going to come together through various of the other characters - the number of times were are told about stunning green eyes might just be a hint! There are plenty of details about the chemistry and behaviours of her nasty little toxins - obviously well understood by the author, herself a doctor and toxicologist. I did get a bit fed up with acid reflex descriptions after a while. The immense detail about these poisons seems at odds with the generally rather stilted and simple conversation; the latter made me wonder if the book was aimed at teenagers/young adults at times, As for Lily's shoe, almost fetish, I just don't get that at all. I may have lost something by not having read the first story but I'm afraid that this one does not make me want to find out. Sorry. Thanks to NetGalley and Encircle Publications LLC for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

Hats of to B J Magnani – obviously a very clever lady. Apparantly Dr Magnani is internationally recognized for her expertise in clinical chemistry and toxicology, etc., etc. Plus she has written two books, The Power of Poison being the second in the series featuring Dr Lily Robinson. I have to admit no mean feat.

For me that is as good as it gets. I like spy novels, medical novels, crime novels – as much as the next man and this had it all; plus as much scientific jargon, explanations, pathology, toxicology as anyone could wish for (or in my case, not – far too much). I am afraid it was just boring – knowing arsenic smells like almonds is about my limit.

Now the plot was OK but I think I was so rattled by the jargon that I struggled with exactly who was who, where they were, what was the plan that it just went over my head. Characters? Really, the wonderful, clever, beautiful Lily, oh and the wonderful, clever, beautiful Rose – give me a break. As for the love interest, JP the Frenchman working as an agent – what a cliché. Surely the dialogue was great? Is it really necessary to intersperse sentences, with et, or mon Cherie just so we understand that JP is French. So all in all, I thought the writing really bad. It was facile, not believable and rendered the whole of the text as unsophisticated. On the one hand you have a text that is full of complicated, medical terms and procedures, practically a handbook for poisons but the writing style is more suited to a 13 year old who would perhaps get dreamy eyed over the descriptions of the wonderful venues, the fantastic food, the chateaux and of course JP and Lily’s love affair.

I offer huge apologies to Dr Magnani and do acknowledge that I have not written any books let alone her other achievements, and would also point out that she has many, many positive reviews for her first book – so my comments bear little weight and I really do not mean to offend. I am happy to be contradicted by her many fans – just not my cup of tea!

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing an ARC via my Kindle in return for an honest review.