Monday, March 1, 2010

Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell

Beat the Reaper
by Josh Bazell
ebook
978-0-316-04030-3
Little, Brown and Company / Hachette Book Group

Rating (on a scale of 1-5, with 5 being best)
Plot: 4.5
Characters: 4.5
Writing: 4
Final: 4.33
       
Comments: Super fast-paced, foul-mouthed, with graphic descriptions of violence and medical procedures. Fun!


Publisher's description
Dr. Peter Brown is an intern at Manhattan’s worst hospital. He has a talent for medicine, a shift from hell, and a past he’d prefer to keep hidden. Whether it’s a blocked circumflex artery or a plan to land a massive malpractice suit, he knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men.

Pietro “Bearclaw” Brnwna is a hit man for the mob, with a genius for violence, a well-earned fear of sharks, and an overly close relationship with the Federal Witness Protection Program. More likely to leave a trail of dead gangsters than a molecule of evidence, he’s the last person you want to see in your hospital room.

Nicholas LoBrutto, aka Eddy Squillante, is Dr. Brown’s new patient, with three months to live and a very strange idea: that Peter Brown and Pietro Brnwa might--just might --be the same person . . .

Now with the mob, the government, and death itself descending on the hospital, Peter has to buy time and do whatever it takes to keep his patients, himself, and his last shot at redemption alive. To get through the next eight hours--and somehow beat the Reaper.

10 Questions with Josh Bazell (on Goodreads--I'm not sure if you need to be a member to see this)

4 comments:

  1. I liked the book...hated the portrayal and comments about nurses. Sort of ignorant

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  2. Book was okay -- but I agree with Mrs Trouble not just about nurses, but with regards to the author's inability to imagine a female character as other than a cardboard sexual plaything. For me, it was fun at first but left a sour aftertaste.

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  3. I think you guys are right on. I sometimes wonder how much I get used to reading (or watching) one-dimensional or sexist portrayals of women. And whether I'm getting *too* used to it -- where it doesn't register any more.

    When I'm reading I want to like the book. I want to have a good experience. I think that also makes me susceptible to brushing these unpleasantries under the rug (in my mind. If that makes any sense).

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  4. Leigh Huffine8/16/2010 1:19 PM

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