When I saw Stephanie Meyer was writing another adult novel I was immediately interested. While I have mixed feelings about TWILIGHT, I actually really enjoyed THE HOST and this book seemed up a similar alley. However, my feelings for THE CHEMIST were closer to how I felt about TWILIGHT. 
 Suspension of Disbelief 
 While you could tell that Meyer put a lot of research into some of the more scientific aspects of what goes on in THE CHEMIST, some of the more obvious things just seemed really farfetched and out of the realm of normal possibility, which is hard to explain without spoilers. For example: easily drugging and kidnapping a grown man in broad daylight on a train. And (view spoiler)[ the main character is looking for a criminal but when she finds him she can't understand why he is so innocent and insists that isn't him. It's the *drum roll* ... EVIL TWIN. (hide spoiler)] 
 Couldn't Get Along With the Characters 
 The heroine, Juliana of Many Names, is immediately described to be somewhat of a badass who worked at a top secret agency SO SECRET IT DIDN'T EVEN HAVE A NAME *le gasp!* But we never really got to see Juliana in action that much, and it was more tell rather than show. She has to remember not to giggle or smile when she is torturing someone. The love interest was worse; he's basically the all around perfect Good Guy(tm) and (view spoiler)[ he easily forgives the main character for torturing him for hours. (hide spoiler)] 
 A Thriller that Wasn't Thrilling 
 For a suspense/espionage novel, THE CHEMIST doesn't exactly keep you on the edge of your seat. It describes a lot of menial tasks and goes into detail about things that might not have been totally relevant to the story or developing the characters. Action was sort of intermingled with the rest of the book, but nothing at the level I was expecting. I would definitely recommend THE HOST over THE CHEMIST.