CANNIBAL CLUB

A sequel focuses on a complicated physician from Texas.

In Albedo’s follow-up to his novel Nutshell (2021), Dr. Chase Callaway is facing difficulties again. Chase is a surgeon in California. Anyone who thinks a bright and sure-footed physician like Chase would do well on the West Coast would be wrong. From frivolous malpractice suits to struggles with colleagues (at one point, he feels he is being “bushwhacked by a bunch of no-talent scum”), Chase has a tough road. He develops a drug addiction to boot. Although Chase becomes a “a student, then a disciple, of psychopharmacology,” his need for stimulation eventually has him heading back to Texas. There, he enters rehab. In the irony of all ironies, he has to dry out at the same mental health facility where he used to work as a psychiatric aide. What’s more, two weeks after his discharge from rehab, he becomes the chief of surgery at the local Veterans Affairs hospital. Despite such challenges, Chase winds up devoting himself to breast cancer research. As things seem to finally come together, he feels he can “sit back and let the excellence unfold.” Unfortunately, his struggles are only beginning. This installment of Chase’s saga overflows with biting, humorous prose. When Chase is in the mental institution, patients are advised to drink water in the morning. The schizophrenics in the audience “were enthralled by the prospect of such easy eradication of their demons.” Later, Chase advises Dr. Porter Piscotel to “know thyself, Porter, know thyself, even if thyself is a freakin’ asshole.” In contrast, some aspects of the storyline can prove needlessly lengthy. Chase’s dogged fight against breast cancer (and his dream of creating a “Breast Pavilion”) includes budget and equipment discussions that do not quite leap from the page. But when it becomes clear that he has a “lethal rage” growing inside him, twists are afoot. After all, who could have predicted Chase would end up in a drug rehab program? There are more surprises where that came from.

A finely written character study of a multifaceted doctor.