Toxic Minds by Anthony Lee
A dangerous cult spreading medical disinformation targets Dr. Mark Lin’s patients and hospital in Anthony Lee’s electric medical thriller, Toxic Minds.
In the sophomore entry of his sleuthing physician series, Lee ratchets up the stakes when Lin takes a call from his patient seeking additional services in the OB/GYN clinic next to Ivory Memorial Hospital. During the call, a gun-wielding woman breaks into the clinic and the last things Lin hears are his patient’s scream of terror and the assailant shouting “Purity is mine!” before detonating a bomb.
The Battle Against Disinformation
Reeling from this traumatic event, Lin is back at work when a new patient presents a puzzling conundrum: the woman has a swollen leg from injecting herself with an unknown liquid. After doggedly questioning her, Lin learns she is taking part in a new wellness group that calls itself the Path to Purity. Believing this group may have connections to the suicide bombing at the clinic next door, Lin is bent on infiltrating the organization to learn more and, most importantly, make sense of the needless death of his patient in the bombing.
Lin goes undercover at the Path to Purity, deftly picking up the buzzwords and chants that identify him as a promising recruit. As he climbs the hierarchical ladder from Seeker to Acolyte, he realizes the truth about this “wellness group” — they are a cult led by a shadowy and charismatic leader known as the Sun Priest who traffics in medical disinformation.
During the day, Lin sees an alarming increase in hospital admissions of patients doing bizarre things to themselves, like drinking gallons of water in a short period or ingesting unknown teas that cause health complications. Worse than this, each rebuffs Lin’s efforts to disabuse them of their ignorance regarding medical issues … he realizes each in their own way is brainwashed. As the body count increases, so does Lin’s determination to bring down the Path to Purity from within … no matter the cost.
An Antihero and Real-World Problems
Lin is the quintessential “antihero” with his foul mouth, cynicism and dim view of humanity, which makes for a fun read. But what truly makes Toxic Minds a gripping thriller is how it mirrors the current state of society, where a growing number of people look suspiciously upon vaccines, modern medicine and the experts themselves: doctors. Lee taps into this to significant effect, as Lin reflects on how the Sun Priest eagerly disseminates medical disinformation to turn people against the American healthcare system:
“When something untrue sounds like sweet truth, it has real addictive power. Give it to the weak masses and they’ll eat it up like hungry wolves.”
Lin is a quirky protagonist who is not always likable, but his motives are spotless: to avenge his patients’ deaths by exposing the fatal lie at the center of the cult, the path that takes recruits toward the “Grand Purity.” Lin vows to achieve this Grand Purity while taking down the Sun Priest in the process … even if that means putting his life on the line.
A Page-Turning Medical Thriller
Toxic Minds is a compelling story that blends medical and psychological insights. Lin is no stranger to cults, and he does not suffer fools within the cult gladly:
“Do I have any sympathy for them? Depends. The deeper their descent, the less I care. The greater their detachment from reality, the less hope I have … It takes intellect to build and grow a civilization. But no matter what good comes out of brilliant thinkers, it could still be completely destroyed by a single force: willfully ignorant people fucking things up.”
As the Sun Priest edges closer to unthinkable violence on a grand scale, it is up to the disillusioned Lin to stop him. With an unforgettable and propulsive climax, the story is a worthy follow-up to Lee’s first novel (Doctor Lucifer), and readers will want to see more of Dr. Lin in future installments.
Toxic Minds is a four-alarm page-turner with something important to say about the dangers of medical disinformation and ignorance.
Anthony Lee has a unique background in medicine. After graduating from medical school, he switched from clinical medicine to health technology assessment, analyzing new medical tests and treatments in a career spanning over 15 years.
As a writer, he found inspiration in a variety of literary works, both contemporary and classic. He has especially discovered the excitement of thriller novels, including medical thrillers by authors like Robin Cook and Tess Gerritsen, crime fiction by Michael Connelly, and Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels. After years of brainstorming his own story ideas, he finally wrote and self-published his first medical thriller novel, Doctor Lucifer, in 2024.
When he is not writing, he enjoys things like music, movies, video games, sports, and travel. He lives in Northern California.
