Medical Thrillers – Joan Hall

Blurb

When her elderly patients start dying at home days after minor surgery, anesthesiologist Dr. Kate Downey wants to know why. The surgeon, not so much. “Old people die, that’s what they do,” is his response. When Kate presses, surgeon Charles Ricken places the blame squarely on her shoulders. Kate is currently on probation, and the chief of staff sides with the surgeon, leaving Kate to prove her innocence and save her own career. With her husband in a prolonged coma, it’s all she has left.

Aided by her eccentric Great Aunt Irm, a precocious medical student, and the lawyer son of a victim, Kate launches her own unorthodox investigation of these unexpected deaths. As she comes closer to exposing the culprit’s identity, she faces professional intimidation, threats to her life, a home invasion, and, tragically, the suspicious death of someone close to her. The stakes escalate to the breaking point when Kate, under violent duress, is forced to choose which of her loved ones to save—and which must be sacrificed.

My Review

Despite working in healthcare, I haven’t read a lot of medical thrillers. I learned of Fatal Intent through a BookBub recommendation, so I decided to give it a try. I’m glad I did.

The author is an anesthesiologist, and her knowledge of the medical scenario shows. Being familiar with the procedures when unanticipated deaths occur, I can attest.

The book is well-written and suspenseful enough to have kept me turning the pages. The only reason I give this book four stars rather than five is a few areas where I questioned the lead character violating HIPAA laws. Otherwise, it’s a great story and I would read this author again.

Hey, readers. Many of you know there’s nothing I like better than a good suspense or thriller story. Having said that, I usually stay away from those that are extremely graphic or delve deeply into the psychological aspects of the killer’s mind.

But when I saw Mae Clair’s review a couple of weeks ago, I knew this was a book I had to read. I even moved it to the top of my TBR list.

Blurb:

One moment will change their lives forever…

Competitive skier Mindy Wright is a superstar in the making until a spectacular downhill crash threatens not just her racing career but her life. During surgery, doctors discover she’s suffering from a severe form of leukemia, and a stem cell transplant is her only hope. But when her parents are tested, a frightening truth emerges. Mindy is not their daughter.

Who knows the answers?

The race to save Mindy’s life means unraveling years of lies. Was she accidentally switched at birth or is there something more sinister at play? The search for the truth will tear a family apart…and someone is going to deadly extremes to protect the family’s deepest secrets.

With vivid movement through time, Tear Me Apart examines the impact layer after layer of lies and betrayal has on two families, the secrets they guard, and the desperate fight to hide the darkness within.

My Review:

From the first page, I found it hard to put this book down. The prologue intrigued me, the first chapter began with action, and the subsequent story was gripping.

Lauren and Jasper Wright seem to have it all—a good marriage, money, a beautiful home in Vail, Colorado, and a daughter who is a champion downhill skier who is on track to become part of the US Olympic team. But an accident threatens to change everything.

After learning her daughter has an aggressive form of leukemia, Lauren will do anything to save her daughter’s life. Learning Mindy is not their biological daughter. Upon learning Mindy is not their biological daughter, the search begins for her birth parents in hopes one of them will be a close enough match to donate stem cells for a transplant—Mindy’s only hope of survival.

What follows is a trail of mysterious deaths, murder, and the discovery a doctor was selling babies—not going through the proper procedure for adoption. There are also some mysterious letters between two people, V and Liselle. How is the correspondence between the two women related?

While I figured out early on things were not all as they seemed with the Wright family, the author threw in a few twists that had me second-guessing.

A solid five stars for this one!