The Cure – Eve Smith | Book Review | #SpeculativeFiction | @evecsmith @OrendaBooks

LIVING FOREVER CAN BE LETHAL…

Ruth is a law-abiding elder, working out her national service, but she has secrets. Her tireless research into the disease that killed her young daughter had an unexpected outcome: the discovery of a vaccine against old age. Just one jab a year reverses your biological clock, guaranteeing a long, healthy life.

But Ruth’s cure was hijacked by her colleague, Erik Grundleger, who hungers for immortality, and the SuperJuve – a premium upgrade – was created, driving human lifespan to a new high. The wealthy elite who take it are dubbed Supers, and the population begins to skyrocket.

Then, a perilous side-effect of the SuperJuve emerges, with catastrophic consequences, and as the planet is threatened, the population rebels, and laws are passed to restore order: life ends at 120. Supers are tracked down by Omnicide investigators like Mara … and executed…

Mara has her own reasons for hunting Supers, and she forms an unlikely alliance with Ruth to find Grundleger. But Grundleger has been working on something even more radical and is one step ahead, with a deadly surprise in store for them both…

MY THOUGHTS

My thanks to Anne of Random Things Tours for the invite and to the publisher for the digital copy to review. Having thoroughly enjoyed The One, saying yes please to reviewing the latest was a no brainer. The Cure was published on 10 April 2025 by Orenda Books in ebook, audiobook and paperback formats.

What I love about Eve’s writing is the way she makes the fantastical sound so realistic and terrifyingly believable. This story centres around ‘ReJuve’, an anti-ageing vaccine discovered by accident when scientist Ruth is searching for treatments for future sufferers following the death of her young daughter from a premature ageing disease. Unfortunately her findings have been hijacked by an unscrupulous colleague, Erik Grundleger, who has turned it into a ‘SuperJuve’ – where instead of an annual top up jab, leading to a definitive end of life date, known as Transcendence Day, SuperJuve has no life end date. One jab gives everlasting life.

The effects of this on the world are horrendous. Without death, the population explodes and life changes drastically for everyone. There is insufficient housing, any green space is turned into a concrete jungle, not enough food and additional laws and controls have to be applied. There is also an unexpected dangerous side effect of the Super jab which is why those affected are being hunted down.

The story is told through two POV – one being Ruth, both in the present and past and the other from Omnicide Investigator Mara. Mara and her colleagues are on a mission to hunt down Supers, as they are known and to lawfully execute them. However these people will do anything to hide their tracks and trying to trace them is a dangerous task.

Ruth and Mara have completely different personalities. As both backstories are revealed, I had so much sympathy for Ruth. Her withdrawal from her life’s work was understandable however her hatred and contempt for Grundleger is her fire and although Mara is not at all keen on the idea of working with her, their opposite personalties work together. Ruth has a softer, compassionate side whilst Mara is all logic and hard edges, determined to succeed in her hunt for those trying to evade the end of life.

The Cure encompasses science fiction together with a speculative thriller plot. It’s a thought provoking story with themes including greed and the moral aspect of only the very wealthy having access to eternal life, genetics, together with the devastating effect of over population on the planet. Whilst this all sounds totally unbelievable, The Cure is nevertheless a chilling and quite disturbing concept. Because with future progress…who knows. As ever with this author, a recommended read.

Eve Smith writes speculative thrillers, mainly about the things that scare her. Longlisted for the Not the Booker Prize and described by Waterstones as ‘an exciting new voice in crime fiction’, Eve’s debut novel, The Waiting Rooms, set in the aftermath of an antibiotic resistance crisis, was shortlisted for the Bridport Prize First Novel Award and was a Book of the Month in the Guardian, who compared her writing to Michael Crichton’s. It was followed by Off-Target, about a world where genetic engineering of children is routine, and ONE, about survival in a world ravaged by climate change. Eve’s previous job at an environmental charity took her to research projects across Asia, Africa and the Americas, and she has an ongoing passion for wild creatures, wild science and far-flung places. She lives in Oxfordshire with her family.

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