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A Halloween party for doctors is interrupted when someone realized that all of the fake body parts scattered around had been swapped for real ones. (Being doctors, they might not have minded much, except for the hand in the punchbowl.) The police discover that the bits came from the local anatomy college and close the file as a dubious student prank. Then the wife of the anatomy professor comes home to find her husband carved up the same way. It's another chance for Kurtz and Barent, previously teamed in SURGICAL RISK to band back together. Barent is a cop, Kurtz is a surgeon, and the novel switches between the events of their daily life, giving general background to both surgical and police procedures as the plot advances. Barent is very happy with their partnership, although Kurtz is queasy about the violence (he draws a line between what he sees in the hospital and what Barent brings him in to consult on). Soon many people are showing up at Kurtz's hospital, "raving out of their minds on a combination of heroin and scopolamine." Everyone poisoned by the bad drugs either works at or lives near the hospital. Kurtz suspects that one of their mysterious patients, rumored to have drug world connections, might have information. In the meantime, Barent is beginning to realize that the drug case, the murder, and the supposed prank might be tied together in unexpected ways. This is the point where I usually make a recommendation, but I'm having trouble coming up with one. There's nothing to complain about in plot, writing, or characterization, but still, I couldn't get excited about this book. Part of this may have been false expectations on my part; I had been hoping for an unusual case surrounding the party prank and the murder, and found that those parts were eventually downplayed in the larger plot. Still, this is a competently written book with a twisting plot that should appeal to those who like gritty urban police work. THE ANATOMY LESSON is written as a standalone and can be read as an introduction to Kurtz and Barent's partnership.
Reviewed by Linnea Dodson, December 2004
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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