Placebo Junkies by J.C. Carleson

Whoa.  Just whoa.

I did NOT see THAT coming.

Audie is a mentally ill teenager about to age out of the foster care system.  She lies about her age, moves in with a male and female friend, and becomes a professional paid medical study volunteer.

Now, I bet you've seen those billboards on 95 or maybe in the Register looking for medical study volunteers.  I have some VERY mixed feelings.  When traditional treatment did not help my mother, she volunteered to be part of a drug study.  This miracle drug was seriously going to kill cancer.  It could wipe out leukemia.  Unfortunately, it killed my mother in the process, along with another study participant.  I'm happy to say that drug will never see the light of day.  In addition to those patients who are terminal and looking for a miracle, are healthy every day people volunteering to take part in studies and be compensated for their time.  Some are pretty mundane.  I did one in college where I had to answer questions on body image (please see my review of Dumplin').  Others not so much.  Without human trials, we would not have some of the drugs that save lives today.  However, there are most definitely cases where "healthy" volunteers are recruited from homeless shelters and outpatient mental health clinics.  Desperate for money, many of these people will do whatever study is asked of them, even if they do not understand what they are consenting to.

As for Audie, we learn she was a foster child, her biological mother was a drunk/drug addict who died.  Now, at 17, she is close to no longer being a ward of the court.  One of her child psychologists suggests she try a new medication as part of a study.  And thus, her career as a guinea pig begins.

I could not stop turning the pages on this one.  And I was shocked, floored, speechless as we near the end.

Be advised, there is a LOT, and I mean A LOT, of profanity and some sexual content.

On the wish list now!

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Happy Thanksgiving!  I'll be with friends and family over the next few days, so look for book reviews to start up again in early December!