State of Wonder (Ann Patchett)

This story, appropriately enough, reads like something from a dark fever dream. Marina is a pharmacologist in Minnesota working for a drug company that is sponsoring a team in the Amazon river basin working on developing a revolutionary new drug. The team has been there for years, soaking up research funds  and providing nothing in return aside from assurances they are making progress. One of Marina's colleagues was sent down to press the team for more details, but word has come back that he died of a fever. Marina goes to Brazil to find out how he died and what he had learned, going deeper and deeper into an exotic world she is unprepared for. I was completely caught up in the story and the environment, though at times I felt like shouting at Marina about decisions she was making and I came away with too many unanswered questions. The writing is vivid and lyrical and it all feels real, oppressively real, even when it is at its most bizarre. Highly recommended.