After the Fall by Patricia Gussin

A tragic accident ends Laura Nelson s career as a surgeon. After accepting a position as Vice President for Research in a large pharmaceutical company, Laura works to finalize the imminent approval of the company s groundbreaking new drug. But Jake Harter, a malicious Food and Drug Administration employee, cannot let that happen. He is obsessed with Adawia Abdul, the beautiful Iraqi scientist who discovered the drug. As soon as the drug is approved, Adawia will collect a substantial bonus and reluctantly return to replace her dying father, the lead scientist in Saddam Hussein s bioweapon program. As Hussein s henchmen apply brutal pressure to assure Dr. Abdul s speedy return to Iraq, Harter uses his influence to stall the drug s approval. If Laura gets in his way, he will eliminate her as he has her predecessor and his own wife."

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I had a hard time deciding what category I should put this book, since there are many murders, but the only mystery is, will the police ever catch up with the killers. And there was suspense, but not with the murders, since the reader is constantly aware who did and what. And there's marriage proposals, relationships, but not really 'romance' as in romance novels.
Yes, I feel a bit overwhelmed at the moment, there were so many plot lines in the book, I don't know where should I start.
It was interesting to see Jake's deteriorating mental capacity. It was never brought up, if the war in Vietnam had any influence to his mental capacity, even though he did have a desk job there. The delusional behavior towards the end just made me wonder, how far would he have taken it, if possibility for that would have risen.
Adawia was stuck between two cultures. As smart as she was, after 12 years in the States, one would think she had a better grasp of US government, and the laws, that surprised me. She seems immature emotionally, something I put on her upbringing. The destiny of those two left lots of questions in my mind, 'what if'  - going on long after I finished the story.
Tim, what an upright, solid, good guy he is! No one would doubt his love and devotion to Laura, his emotions and intentions came very sincere and clear.
Laura had lived with so many lies, with so many secrets, for most of her adult life, did she self know anymore what was true?
Very interesting, intriguing storyline, so many of them in this one book, and in the end, somehow all come to twine together, if loosely, but together anyway. The build up is great, and you can feel the stage is set up for a big crescendo, but after all the built up, it seemed a little anticlimactic. There was a bit repetition in the story, but with 70 chapters, and multiple story lines, some of it was warranted.
Interesting to end five book series into a sort of a cliffhanger.
Mixed feelings with this one,
~ Three spoons