
My Brilliant Demise
by D. A. Hinkley
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Pub Date 28 Jun 2025 | Archive Date 4 Jul 2025
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Description
Professor Anna Fairchild is always pushing her limits, driven by her ambition to change the world as a prominent leader in neurogenetics. After years of research on human attractions, she has a eureka moment and finally makes a breakthrough. She has discovered a method to close specific pathways in the brain and create new ones, potentially eliminating our impulse to judge each other based on their appearance. Excited by the prospect of a world free of superficial judgments, Anna tests her unproven drug on a human specimen.
However, this decision sets off a chain of events that Anna could never have foreseen. Her drug, instead of achieving its intended purpose, triggers a dormant virus in the subject’s body, leading to an uncontrollable spread through bodily fluids. The virus, far from being benign, mutates unpredictably, causing a complete reversal of the desired effect. The affected individuals no longer find young, fertile people attractive, a consequence that Anna could never have imagined. Anna must stop the spread before she causes an epidemic, which would end natural reproduction in the fertile population.
Will Anna be able to halt the drug's effects before they spiral out of control? Can she undo the damage already done? And most importantly, can she survive the consequences of her creation?
A Note From the Publisher
Available Editions
EDITION | Ebook |
ISBN | 9781836288725 |
PRICE | £4.99 (GBP) |
PAGES | 336 |
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews

This book was great I feel like it’s a good slow burn !!! But slow burns are great when the story is good and this was a page turner the characters were great

My Brilliant Demise is a light and entertaining read, despite myriad plot holes. It was unclear to me if it was intended to be a serious warding-off-an-apocalypse thriller or a comedy: the characters are all said to be brilliant, in one way or another, but they behave rather stupidly and the story veers into farce at times.
I give it a 3-star rating (rather than 1 or 2) because despite its flaws it was kind of fun and held my attention to the end. It's a decent beach-read.
I don't understand the title, My Brilliant Demise. Demise means death, and the main character doesn't die, and there are no 'brilliant' deaths. Weird.