In State of Wonder, a researcher for a Minnesota pharmaceutical company heads off to the Amazonian jungle to look into the death of another researcher. The book has mystery—why is the director of the research facility hiding the facts about the death, about what research is being done, and even the location of the jungle laboratory?–but also gives a good depiction of the sense of displacement you can get when you leave your home for an entirely foreign environment, where even the sky looks wrong. And then there are ethical questions about what pharmaceutical (or other) research should be for, and how it should be run. The book manages to be both entertaining and thoughtful.