From Readers’ Favorite Book Reviews
5 STARS!
“Prophet$ Of Deception by Richard I. Levine is the fourth instalment in a series that involves the exploits of Dr Ray Silver, owner of the Hawaii-based Kailua Center for Natural Healing Arts. Ray is a controversial figure and a vocal critic of the official health policies in the US. His practice has just recovered from a raid three years earlier by the FDA, which was orchestrated by a powerful congresswoman, but he is as outspoken as ever. In a log cabin in the faraway Colorado Mountains, Dr Paige Motz is making exposes on New Age websites and alternative health care discussions about the bribery, corruption and release of falsified research data by the powerful pharmaceutical industry where she used to work. And when Casey, Ray’s daughter, a surgical nurse in The Veterans Medical Center in Seattle, who served in the US military in Iraq, suffers from unexplained episodes of shooting pain and pins and needles sensations in her lower extremities, her father sets out to get to the bottom of things.
Richard I. Levine’s Prophet$ Of Deception is a dense and hefty story, full of twists, turns and tensions. The fourth part of the Dr. Ray Silver adventure series that debuted with Eye of the Redeemer in 2012, this installment can certainly stand on its own. As we follow the action from Oahu to Seattle, to the Colorado Rockies, and culminating in the wealthy suburbs of Westchester County in New York, however, all the sub plots come together to reveal a simple story of a family man driven to do everything he can to right what he believes is wrong. Levine knows the natural healing arts as well as he knows the intricacies of relationships because Prophet$ Of Deception is not just about an advocacy for the natural healing arts; it’s also about relationships — between Ray and his wife, his children, his community, and his world. Finally, it is also about a man's burning desire to make the world a better place for all of us.” ~Maria Beltran, Reviewer
https://readersfavorite.com/book-review/prophet-of-deception
“Praise to the author for a cold hard look at the pernicious, greed based relationship of politics and BIG PHARMA.” ~Michael Breneman
This novel marks the 4th installment of the Dr. Ray Silver Adventure series that began with Indie Reader Discovery Award Finalist: Eye of the Redeemer in 2012, and followed by Reader's Favorite 5-star reviewed: Beyond Redemption in 2013, and 5-Star reviewed The Last Angel in Hell in 2014.
In the timeline of Ray's life it's been three years since he last tempted fate--or as his wife, Leigh Anne puts it: "Your need to run off to save the world because of an insatiable desire to risk life and limb." For all intents and purposes he has tried to uphold the promise he made to her; to focus his energy on running his Kailua Center for the Natural Healing Arts and to live the laid-back Hawaiian family lifestyle they both desire. Especially since he broke that promise two times before.
But deep down, Ray is an activist and over time he finds himself growing more vocal and critical about drug company influence over government officials, media bias toward the natural healing arts, and the negative impact he feels that both have over his community.
When a local news station attack-dog goes after Ray for his outspoken alternative views, and local families begin to shun Ray and Leigh Anne, tensions start to rise--within their circle of acquaintances as well as at home.
However, Leigh Anne feels his growing discontent is fueled by a serious health challenge faced by one of the Silver offspring along with the increasing suspicion Ray has that his child's illness is due to a secret experiment gone wrong.
It's not long before Ray finds himself looking for a missing pharmaceutical researcher-turned-whistleblower who might have the answers he's looking for--a task not so easy since she went into hiding after several of her colleagues had fatal "accidents".
The action takes us from Oahu to Seattle, from the Colorado Rockies to the wealthy suburbs of Westchester County, New York as our protagonist, as well as McTavish Labs CEO Patrick Moffett and NSA director Griffin Kelley are racing the clock to find Dr. Paige Motz. And with his marriage on the line and with time running out on his stricken child there's no telling what lengths Ray will go to in order to get to the truth and there's no telling to what lengths some others will go to keep him from finding those answers.
“Levine's latest installment in the Ray Silver enterprise will hit you like a throat punch…This story flows with kick-ass action, strong heroines, conspiracies and political and pharmaceutical villains. This story could also have been ripped from headlines.” ~Bookbelle
EXCERPT:
McTavish Labs
White Plains, New York
January 2008
Ray checked the clock on his cell phone for the third time in the past five minutes. Making sure he was safely in the shadows he looked over at the large metal door, lit by a single halogen flood, and spied the red power light on the security camera mounted just above it. A rustling of snow-laden branches from the other side of Haarlem Avenue grabbed his attention as quickly as it did his breath. He watched, frozen in place, exhaling long and hard when he was sure there was nothing there. He watched the condensed vapor rising up from his mouth and wondered if it had been visible to the camera. Off in the distance a lone siren broke the pre-dawn silence, at first becoming louder—bringing protest from a stray dog—then fading off until it and the canine could no longer be heard. He glanced back at his phone. “It’s three o’clock, where is this guy? She said he’d be here at three.” Another rustling followed by a series of short piercing cries of what sounded like a music student torturing the scales and the shadows of two cats stretched across the road before melting into the darkness. “Don’t chase after the pussy, you fool. The first rule of dating is you let her come to you.” Ray gave in to a laugh—his first in a while. At any other time the sounds of the night would have gone unnoticed or perhaps would have tricked a willing subconscious into adding a new dimension to an evolving dream. But with his senses amplified by adrenaline anything that broke the calm seemed louder than usual and made him uneasy. “If you’re not used to this stuff by now, Ray Silver, you need to give this shit up once and for all.” He narrowed his gaze on the service door as if it would pop open by the force of his will.
