Digital Reads Reviews

Medical thriller was the place where I started my love story with thrillers, which, till today, is going strong. Having read books by Henry Denker and Arthur Hailey, I want my medical thrillers to thrill me and take me on a different high.

I really wanted to love this book since it was written by an anaesthesiologist. The blurb and cover pulled me in. The beginning brought out the excitement in me as it was absolutely rocking.

The characters were well defined in their roles. Roxanne Roth was a brilliant anaesthesiologist, absolutely caring with a gentle bedside manner. On the other end of the spectrum was the larger than his boots, the new neurosurgeon D. K. Webb. The contrast in their thoughts was dynamic.

The author portrayed it with authenticity. What happened in the OR was well shown, including the ego of a surgeon more than the well-being of a patient. Personal lives of the characters highlighted their thought process too. I felt a gush of emotions for Roxanne, I loved how my empathy rushed to soothe her.

Then began my niggles. Post halfway, the story became more of a showcase of the ego wherein Webb started his nefarious practices. There were no twists, and the plot line went linear. Certain subplots were never used. too much of medical jargon was used in the prose, so a layperson would lose the vivid imagery of the words, some went even outside the OR. I needed Roxanne to be more proactive in the storyline, not how she assessed her airway or performed difficult intubation.

The story showed me fallacies of medical practice. I realized they were the same everywhere. Anaesthesiologist were considered to work for surgeons, not WITH surgeons.

Overall, I enjoyed parts of the book when Roxanne fought for her patients. I think the next book by this author would be better.

Trusted anesthesiologist, Dr. Roxanne Roth, is healing from the loss of her fiancé by consuming her time with work. It doesn’t hurt that her new love interest, Dr. Justin Kirkland, spends almost as much time at the hospital as she does.

Entranced in the throes and complications of new love, Roxanne looks forward to work every day. Her time at the hospital would almost be cathartic if not for Dr. D.K. Webb, a neurosurgeon, who is quickly amassing a pile of complaints – and bodies.

Despite trying to avoid Webb, Roxanne finds herself working alongside the doctor during a routine, low-risk surgery. Fueled by cocaine and ego, Webb intentionally sabotages the case, leading to the patient dying on the operating table.

Roxanne’s tenuous grip on recovery is shattered with her patient’s death, quickly replaced by anger and a drive for justice. Now Roxanne will do anything to protect her patients from the killer on the other side of the sterile surgical field—before he can silence her as well.