Placebo Junkies by J.C. Carleson

You have to feel for Audie. She seems cool with everything, but her life is far from ideal. Audie makes money through medical trials. She fills out forms and answers questions; takes pills and injections; gets poked and prodded. All for the advancement of medicine! If only it was as noble as it sounds. If only the trials and medical personnel were as ethical as they should be.

Audie is just one of a group of people who sell their flesh to the medical profession. It is a seedy underworld of existence where the 'guinea pigs' cheat the rules by participating in more trials than permissible (nobody checks). It's a risk, but money is in short supply so Audie does what she needs to do. And the higher the risk, the bigger the payoff.

Audie wants to take her terminally ill boyfriend Dylan on a special vacation. If Audie can make enough money, she and Dylan can get away. Maybe she can even quite doing the trials. Maybe...maybe...Audie has no idea where her life is going. Her story is often cringe worthy and sometimes heartbreaking, but worth exploring.

For more info, check out the Indianapolis Public Library catalog and the author's site.