A prime read that packs a hefty number of plot twists and characters without getting tangled.
In this debut medical thriller, the sudden death of a researcher for a biotech company in Colorado leaves everyone wondering: Was it an accident, negligence or murder?
A routine allergy shot for Frank Stevens, Ph.D., has less-than-routine results—he dies from anaphylaxis, a fatal allergic reaction. His colleague and allergist, Lenny, was unable to save him. Now, Lenny is worried about a potential malpractice suit, even though there appear to be a few people who’d want the man dead. Frank had just had a breakthrough with a vaccine to combat cocaine addiction, he was involved in an extramarital affair, and he may even have ties to an accident from 20 years ago. The convincing scene in which Lenny tries to revive Frank becomes the focal point for most of the story and its characters, as the medical thriller competently becomes a legal and procedural thriller, too. A PI and an agent of the Colorado Bureau of Investigation cover most of the investigatory components, which ultimately bring to light gloriously elaborate connections to the death, including Frank’s senator brother-in-law, a technician at the company and a health care provider. But Lenny steals the show. He faces a lawsuit steered by the widow’s politically ambitious brother as well as questioning from a young, ruthless attorney who meticulously examines every detail of Frank's death. In a scorching scene that illuminates both sides of the case, the lawyer attempts to find fault in Lenny’s story: Why didn’t Lenny have the proper medical equipment on hand? Could the easily accessible allergy shots have been contaminated by someone else? Other motives might have been at play—mobsters, for instance, would prefer that addicts continue to rely on cocaine. As the case builds and the suspense grows, Wanderer’s thriller commendably incorporates medical terminology without any dense, unwarranted complexity.
A prime read that packs a hefty number of plot twists and characters without getting tangled.Pub Date: Dec. 5, 2012
ISBN: 978-1478159438
Page Count: 342
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
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BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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