A HEARTBEAT AWAY

Rogan's fourth novel (Saving Grace, 1991; Cafe Nevo, 1987, etc.)—a comforting story set in a hospital and surrounds in a Manhattan ghetto neighborhood—comes with plenty of ER action, a slow-fuse courtship between a head doctor and a cleaning lady, a young nurse who crosses a racial barrier (the brotherhood beat is worthy if unsubtle as a bass drum, Howard Fast-style), and even a ghost. No one at Mercy Hospital notices Crow the cleaning woman; no one even knows that she's the widow of the famous tenor sax Blue Durango. Seems that Crow can no longer face a world where she's noticed, and lives only for her tiny son Joey in the project with her adopted mother. Meanwhile, Dr. Thomas Graystone, head medico at Mercy, whose social-climbing mother had dumped their relatives from the projects, doesn't really ``see'' Crow. But then Crow begins to deliver medical bulletins—life-saving—from a mysterious doctor. He turns out to be a very dead Dr. Elias Glass, who is malingering this side of the Gates because he thought he killed a child. Then Dr. Graystone does notice Crow when she shows up at a jazz gig with Blue's old pals. While Dr. G. tries (in vain) to court Crow, nurse Alice rescues an abused black kid from an abuser and tries to adopt—and also finishes the career of a medical sadist. You can be sure it all turns up roses, even for Elias, who heads for....? A soggy but essentially cheerful novel, cinema-bound. (Film rights to MGM)