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First time author Josh Bazell has cooked up a wild ride for this thrilling tale of Mafia- contract-killer-turned-doctor. From the explanation behind his Mob nickname (Bear Claw) to the footnoted explanations of medical trivia sprinkled throughout the story, each and every detail of this crazy journey is designed to entertain. That Bazell managed to write this novel while he was himself interning at the University of California-San Francisco hospital is nearly as impressive as the story itself. When readers meet the addled Dr Peter Brown, he's a cowboy in the Wild West of medicine, at the worst possible hospital imaginable in Manhattan. When he's not shoveling pills into himself to keep going, he's skyrocketing through rounds or perhaps making out with the only desirable patient on his ward that day. That the other hospital employees are barely functioning is little surprise either. Life is normal there, that is until Brown stumbles upon a recently admitted patient who just might have a clue about his real identity, as Pietro Brnwa, a contract killer for the Mob. Said patient is afraid that he might die at the hands of Bear Claw if his upcoming surgery doesn't do him in, and he just might be right. The patient uses the threat of retaliation by Mob associates who have been looking for Bear Claw ever since he went into hiding under WITSEC (the federal witness protection program) to keep himself alive long enough to have surgery. However, it seems like Dr Brown is in even more danger. If he can only manage to keep all his patients and himself alive through his shift, he just might have a fighting chance to go on healing another day. Of course, things don't go smoothly at all, from trouble in the operating room to the antics of the hench men come to gun Brown down. It's all done with an incredible amount of black humor that keeps the bloodletting and medical nightmares palatable. BEAT THE REAPER is an immensely interesting and funny novel that just about everyone will enjoy. From interesting medical tidbits to a fascinating back-story, this novel is a stand-out in every way. Bazell doesn't waste a word or idea along the way. Readers will have to check their own racing hearts as the action speeds up during this thrill ride of a story. Bazell is an amazing new talent, and, as much as readers will be longing for the next novel when they finish BEAT THE REAPER, this book will be hard to beat.
Reviewed by Christine Zibas, April 2010
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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