Looking for a sci/fi book
October 8, 2010 12:46 PM   Subscribe

Looking for a sci/fi book about a pill that helps people be hyper-organized and smart, but which is addictive and leads to brain shutdown and other problems.

Asking for a friend. He's looking for a book that he read halfway through, gave away... and then later wished he could come back to.

The book came out in the last ten years, but not in 2010 or even 2009. The frame is that it's a retelling of the main character's story in flashback format as he waits in a hotel room for the bad guys to come get him.

The main character is a writer for some sort of publishing company, takes a mental performance-enhancing pill and proceeds to do months' worth of writing in just a week. His publisher is very surprised and gives him additional pieces to work on. The main character’s friend who invented the drug dies under odd circumstances.

The main character then borrows money from Gennady, a Russian mobster, and invests it doing short sales in the stock market using his new-found mental capacity.  He makes lots of money and tries to pay the gangster back early, including the extra fee, but the Gennady does not take the money.

While under the influence of the drug he forgets to eat, loses lots of weight, and reorganizes all the books in his apartment to be hyper-organized. He discovers that the bad news is that the drug is addictive and will eventually lead to brain shutdown – apparently this is what killed his friend.

The book cover may have had a black background. Does anyone have any ideas about the title/author?
posted by ldthomps to Writing & Language (6 answers total) 7 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: I haven't read it, but could it be The Dark Fields?
posted by puritycontrol at 1:20 PM on October 8, 2010 [3 favorites]


End Game is a short story with some similar concepts. Your friend might look through the comment thread and see if it's any of the books mentioned there?
posted by NoraReed at 2:07 PM on October 8, 2010


Is it The Dark Fields?

The description mentions a Gennady, as well as a smart drug.
posted by routergirl at 2:18 PM on October 8, 2010 [1 favorite]


Best answer: And clearly I failed to read the previous answers...eek!
posted by routergirl at 2:19 PM on October 8, 2010


Response by poster: NoraReed and routergirl, The Dark Fields sure looks like a good match! I'll hold off on marking that best answer until my friend can confirm, but thank you! I think you've helped me return his favor of some serious Excel wizardry with a book id!
posted by ldthomps at 2:37 PM on October 8, 2010


Since you've found it, I'll also suggest Understand, a similar short story by Ted Chiang. Coincidentally, this week's episode of Fringe (available on Hulu) is also mildly related to the concept of a drug causing someone to become super smart.
posted by niles at 3:39 PM on October 8, 2010


« Older Boston film locations for National Film Project?   |   Winter driving between, Grand Rapids, MI and... Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.