This was a very different read to my normal one. It covers the story of a female scientist who is asked to visit Switzerland.
The plot evolves from there. The husband has hidden motives for being there.
But all will be revealed...eventually.
A good read

" [...] TEN MILLION FOLLOWERS –
WE COULDN’T HAVE DONE IT WITHOUT YOU
WOW! [...]"

The prologue is shocking. A woman running away, snow and someone shooting. This doesn't bode well for this woman. After such a strong prologue, I want more.

Sarah Collier is our first character. She has a husband, Daniel. She suffers from dementia. She was a scientist. She worked on a prototype gene therapy to fight Ebola in Africa. She has changes in her brain that show she has Alzheimer's. She is a Nobel Prize winner.

Daniel is Sarah's "loving" husband. He goes with her to Geneva so that she can sign a certain project. I didn't like Daniel. He was getting on my nerves.

Is Neurocell a threat to humanity?

"Geneva" is a successful debut for Richard Armitage. I like the winter setting of this story. The heroes are diverse. I liked some and hated others. When reading "Geneva" I didn't really know who I could trust. Here, not everyone shot at the same goal.

If you like good thrillers, this book is for you. Here, good fights evil. What we see is not always true. When reading this book, be careful who you trust. If you trust the wrong person, you may die.

This book was so good! It was intriguing and really drawed me in. I'll be reading more of this authors work.

Geneva hits the ground running and keeps up a good level of dramatic tension throughout. This will appeal to readers looking for an intelligently written, pacy thriller however be prepared to suspend disbelief (though that's most thrillers to be honest).
There are plenty of twists and turns against the backdrop of a stunning winter landscape. It's impressive for a debut and would make a great movie or TV series.
Thanks to Faber and NetgGalley for an advance copy to review.

Really impressive debut novel from actor Richard Armitage. When a renowned scientist starts to exhibit the symptoms of Alzheimers just as her father did, a trip to Switzerland to be guest of honour for a drugs company is not something she thinks is sensible. But she attends with her persuasive husband and meets the owners of the drugs company. But as the symptoms worsen she will struggle to work out what is going on and can she trust her own view of the situation that is unfolding around her. Well paced and great characters this marks a grand entrance to the world of thrillers and makes Armitage a writer to look out for.

I enjoyed this which was a change from the usual reads of this genre. Fast paced and well written, it makes a great atmospheric thriller for this time of year. Really recommend

Nobel prize winning scientist Sarah Collier has just been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's. Her husband is keen that she endorses a new medical discovery with lots of potential so she comes to Geneva for the launch. However not is all that it seems and Sarah is caught up in events that she cannot foresee and cannot control.
There is a lot to like about this book. The premise is solid with a futuristic science aspect and the key elements for a decent thriller are there, betrayal, trust, money, foreign powers etc. I just found it a little too predictable and clunky at times.

A chance to read a book by a TV and film star whom I have followed for years: yes, please. I did go into this book not expecting much, but boy was I wrong. It is a fantastic thriller that has you on the edge of your seat and stirs emotions that spur you on to the end.

The story follows Sarah, a Nobel Prize-winning scientist and genius, who finds out that she has Alzheimer’s disease, the same as her Father who is almost lost to his own world. Daniel, her husband and also a scientist, begins to push her to go to Geneva and endorse a new scientific breakthrough. After they arrive, her symptoms start to get worse, and she finds herself in a dark, twisted, unrecognisable world where she can not trust her own mind. Or can she?

If you enjoy a good thriller, something to get the blood pumping and invoke strong emotions as you continue to its fantastic conclusion.

Sarah Collier is a Nobel Prize winning scientist. She has made amazing contributions to science, had a huge impact on the world, and her star in the field of science is continuing to rise. Her husband Daniel, a neuroscientist, is by her side during it all. But then Sarah starts to show signs similar to those that her father had. Memory loss, blackouts, fainting. Her father is in a home with Alzheimer's disease. Daniel brings an invitation to Sarah’s attention. A biotech conference, held in Switzerland, with a new technology being unveiled at the event, which could revolutionise medicine forever. The conference organisers, the prestigious company Neurocell, want Sarah to be their guest of honour and endorse the new technology.

Sarah is not convinced about attending. She is trying to hide her symptoms, and her decline. But Daniel convinces her that an all expenses paid trip to Geneva, five star treatment, and possibly a technology that could help her, is just what they need. So they leave their kids with her parents, and make the journey. At first Sarah thinks it is perfect. The hotel is a dream, the scenery is amazing. But then the press interviews cause her to fall apart, her condition is exposed and Sarah quickly finds herself in the middle of events she never could have dreamed of. Who can she trust to help save her life and get her back to her kids?

This book should have been good. It was written very visually. We have a lot of description, we can almost feel the crunch of snow under our feet at times. There are a lot of characters, and a lot of jumping from points of view, but once you get settled into who is who, this works well to keep your interest, and build your engagement, and build a further mental image of what each person is like.

However, I struggled with a lot in this book. The host of the conference, Neurocell, has created an amazing invention capable of overriding neurological conditions - fine, medical science could go that way in the future - we hope. But that a scientist of Sara’s repute would come, and after a brief look at the data, agree to stand on stage and endorse it? Preposterous! I would imagine weeks at least looking at their trial data, research etc., before agreeing to launch the product. Just one little example!

The book is full of corporate espionage, technology breakthroughs, innovations, drama, crime, human romance, murder, attempted murder and more. From set down in Geneva I felt like I was reading something written to be a tv show or movie. Armitage being an actor I started to wonder was this the end goal of this book! When the action really kicked off I almost felt like I was reading a Tom Cruise movie. While watching a big blockbuster or tv show, you are expecting fast paced, and have little time to pick through plot holes, or think too hard about things which are just that little too unbelievable to put aside. This does not translate so well in book form. There is too much time to sit and think, really? That is pushing it that bit too far!

I believe this book was released first in audio format, and perhaps if you listen to it, you may get the same, or similar effect as a movie. But for me, it just had my eyebrows raised that few too many times. They got a workout. Well written, good pace, interesting concept, but stretched too far for me.

*I received this book for review from NetGalley, but all opinions are my own.

Some fantastic scenery, bond-esque reclusive geniuses in mountain retreats, tech on the borders of plausibility and devious characters all over the place!
Sarah is a strong lead character, well described and easy to root for as she stumbles through her own personal hell.
A fantastic read!

I used to be a huge Richard Armitage fan though less so recently, and I'm unsure if my tastes have changed or he's less rugged than he used to be. Either way, I do still love his voice so probably should have listened to this rather than read it.

Although I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this twisty thriller. I'm not usually a fan of corporate espionage or white collar crime, but this combines the complex world of 'big pharma' with technology, neuroscience and some outright nastiness so it's well paced and I'm sure it'd translate well onto the screen. In fact the setting felt quite vivid - almost specific - and I can imagine Armitage is familiar with the places and scenes mentioned.

There are several narrators - most in first or second person - though there's some omniscient type voice as well, setting the scene on a few occasions. I liked Sarah - our protagonist - a lot but her husband Daniel is far less likeable and very obviously jealous of her success in quite a spiteful way.

Very occasionally some of the prose were a little clunky (overly obvious phrasing or similar) or wordy, but I also found Armitage's writing melodic. I can imagine him knowing how to balance the cadence in a sentence.

There were probably a few loose threads and I felt like I was missing the 'why' (or some backstory) at times, but Armitage certainly knows how to spin a tale and a complex one at that.

3.5 stars

Armitage’s debut novel ’Geneva’ has a great premise and read for me like a great pitch for a tv series (maybe he was thinking of that when he was writing it?), I found it an enjoyable read, and Armitage definitely knows how to write. I would say where it fell a wee bit short for me was, I felt the characterisation could have been better. I felt the plot really dipped in the final quarter maybe, and felt quite unbelievable. Definitely would market this as a holiday read for fans of thrillers.

This is a really good debut from Richard Armitage. Love the setting which he describes really well [I lived in Geneva for a number of years.] There's a lot in this novel. Complex characters, lots of twists and turns, atmospheric. I loved it.

Nobel Prize winning scientist Sarah Collier has always turned away from the limelight. Now she is beginning to suffer worrying symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. Her husband Daniel always feels in her shadow. He is a neuroscientist and tells her of a breakthrough by the Schiller Institute in Geneva. He wants her to come to the conference & add her endorsement. She is not keen but after a brain-scan seems to reinforce her fears.
The story is mainly told from Sarah & Daniel's point of view as well as some input from blogger Terri Landau & Professor Schiller. I'm not sure what I expected from this book but it ended up being much more enthralling than I first thought with many unexpected twists. Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this book.

A smart, slick thriller with high stakes and clever writing. Worth sharpening your teeth against, Geneva is a thriller to open as the cold months draw in

Geneva by Richard Armitage began as a potential industrial espionage / medical ethics novel but became a cheating husband and his mistress thwarted by the clever protagonist with the unlikely help of an FSB agent – quite the plot twister.
Sarah Collier is a retired Nobel scientist and the wife of Alzheimer’s researcher, Daniel, and daughter of an Alzheimer’s patient, is invited to endorse a potentially life-changing piece of medical technology, the Neurocell, developed by Switzerland-based laboratory owned by Mauritz Schiller. In the weeks before the visit to Geneva, Collier suffers from the early stage symptoms of Alzheimer’s and a scan confirms her and Daniel’s worst fears. They travel to Geneva where Sarah is to confirm her highly-coveted endorsement for the Neurocell technology and so make the technology attractive to Schiller’s potential investors. The presentation is managed by the ultra-efficient Helen Alder, supported by the exiled Russian head of security, Pavel Osinov.
The story is interspersed with occasional posts from the medical ethics blogger Terri Landau, who foretells possibilities, good and bad, of the new medical technology that the Schiller Institute is on the verge of creating.
The story is told occasionally from Sarah’s and Daniel’s perspectives. Sarah tells of her anxieties associated with Alzheimer’s and with endorsing new and potentially dangerous medical technology. Daniel tells of the difficulties of being a husband of an Alzheimer’s patient and the profound changes to his and his family’s life. Other chapters and written in the third-person, recounting the plot of Helen Alder, Maurice Schiller and Pavel Osinov in their preparations for the presentation that is vital to the Schiller Institute’s financial survival. In these chapters we learn that Helen may not be as reliable and honest as Maurice thinks she is, and Pavel may in fact be working for another master. And to avoid blowing the suspense of the plot, I’ll stop there.
The characters are well-constructed and the relationship between Daniela and Sarah especially is crafted carefully. The suspicions relating to Helen and Pavel are very carefully and slowly revealed so that the reader is kept guessing for some time.
The plot’s pace is consistent and kept my attention throughout. As with all good suspense/thrillers the last few chapters are fast read of tense action and insightful dialogue.

Nobel Prize-winning scientist Sarah Collier has started to show the same tell-tale signs of Alzheimer’s disease as her father, so when she is invited to be the guest of honour at a prestigious biotech conference, she is wants to decline, However her husband Daniel, a neuroscientist, persuades her that the publicity storm will be worth it, pointing out that the technology being unveiled at this conference could revolutionise medicine forever, and could save Sarah’s life.

In Geneva, the couple are feted as stars – at least, Sarah is. But behind the five-star luxury, investors are circling, controversial blogger Terri Landau is all over the story, and Sarah’s symptoms are getting worse. As events begin to spiral out of control, Sarah can’t be sure who to trust – including herself.

This is a propulsive thriller. With its fast pace, and chapters offering alternating perspectives, it quickly hooks you in, as you follow the twists and turns to find out what is happening. Full disclosure, I did figure some of it out quite early on, but this did not in any way detract from my enjoyment of the novel.

It is very cinematic, in its evocation of place, the characterisation, the action scenes and the shifting between scenes. It would transfer to the big or small screen really easily. There are generous helpings of drama, action, peril and suspense, and as always with this genre there are occasions when you might have to suspend disbelief a little, but that’s par for the course.

Character-wise, the reader feels for Sarah all the way through the novel, even when some of her decisions are questionable and actually place her in more danger, but she is a MC we love, just as the baddies are ones we can really enjoy disliking. Having characters in a thriller with Alzheimer’s is quite a brave thing to do, as the subject of Alzheimer’s is not an easy one, (like many families, mine has been affected), but, the author handles the issue with sensitivity.

All in all, Mr Armitage has written an engaging debut thriller.

Thank you to Netgalley and Faber & Faber for the the eArc in exchange for an honest review.

Was this going to be any good I asked myself. I always doubt celebrity novels as have they written them themselves? Well, he has and its really good. Dan Brownesque (and I mean that in a good way) and full of drama and suspense. You can tell he has an eye for scenery and 'scenes' as this does read like a movie but that is good as it's going to be on Telly I believe. Really enjoyed this.

With the rise of audiobooks has come the rise of books written for audio. These are not audio dramas as such (although some like this one have multiple narrators) but they are books written specifically for audio. New Zealand author JP Pomare has done a few of these including Tell Me Lies. The interesting thing then is what happens when those narratives jump to print. This is the journey of actor Richard Armitage’s first novel, a thriller called Geneva. The original audiobook was narrated by Armitage and fellow thespians Nicola Walker and Jane Perry. And it is possible the original narration may well have kept listeners on edge, the print version unfortunately does not.
Geneva centres around power couple Sarah and Daniel. Sarah is a Nobel Prize winning scientist, winning the prestigious award for her work on Ebola but since then has stepped back to focus on her family, including her ageing father who is suffering from Alzheimer’s. Her husband Daniel is a successful neurologist, and when the book opens is helping run tests on Sarah who has been not feeling herself. Despite her wobbliness, Daniel convinces Sarah to accept an invitation to be the keynote speaker at a conference in Geneva. The conference is to launch a revolutionary but controversial new treatment that involves putting technology directly into patients’ brains for which they are seeking Sarah’s endorsement. Sarah eventually agrees, but when the pair arrive at the renowned Schiller institute the situation is not quite as Sarah expected and soon is out of control.
One of the keys to a good technothriller is the capacity to suspend disbelief. The idea needs to be plausible enough to be true so that pressure around that idea can be built. Geneva starts with a fundamental problem – explaining how a scientist of Sarah’s character could be asked to endorse a medical product that is outside of her field of research without seeing any of the test results or data about how the thing actually works. And then, why she would agree to do so. This is the just the start of the issues with Geneva which is riddled with plot holes, unbelievable (but mostly predictable) twists and muddled character motivations. Right up to the too-contrived-to-be-true finale which seems to involve the authorities just backing off and letting a form of vigilante justice take its course.
A story like this may still work despite these flaws if it is narrated by actors of the calibre of Armitage and Walker in a way that grabs a listener’s attention. Great thriller movies are full of such contrivances, but are propulsive enough for those elements not to matter. But on the page, the whole enterprise falls flat. Readers have too much time to think about what is not working and there is plenty here that does not work. Geneva has plenty of the elements of a good thriller and Armitage clearly has talent in this regard but a much earlier edit which ran even the most rudimentary logic ruler over the plot would have helped immensely.

Nobel Prize-winning scientist Sarah Collier has started to show the same tell-tale signs of the Alzheimer's disease as her father: memory loss, even blackouts. So she is reluctant to accept the invitation to be the guest of honour at a prestigious biotech conference - until her husband Daniel, also a neuroscientist, persuades her that the publicity storm will be worth it. The technology being unveiled at this conference could revolutionise medicine forever. More than that, it could save Sarah's life. In Geneva, the couple are feted as stars - at least, Sarah is. But behind the five-star luxury, investors are circling, controversial blogger Terri Landau is all over the story, and Sarah's symptoms are getting worse. As events begin to spiral out of control, Sarah can't be sure who to trust - including herself.
I must admit I chose to read this book as it was written by Richard Armitage & I was pleasantly surprised. A well written book which I enjoyed, I didn’t find it a page turner as it seemed to lose itself in the middle & the ending was over the top. The characters were well portrayed. I did have to suspend belief at times but it’s fiction! There were twists & turns & I'm glad I read it
My review is for a special copy I voluntarily read