Friday's Forgotten Books: Dead Head by Dr. Allen Wyler

Long before my health stuff started getting serious and Sandi’s cancer stuff hit, I would read a medical thriller now and then. I was looking for something else on my blog, found this, and thought I would share again. From the archive…

 

Following up on his novel, Deadly Errors, the author has crafted yet another superb and at times very disturbing medical thriller. For neurosurgeon Russell Lawton, the conference where he has presented his paper on connecting a robotic hand to the neurons in a monkey’s brain by way of on interface between the two has been routine though the material isn’t. If it works, someday paralyzed humans might be able to move their limbs by way of thinking it to happen. What has been a concept deep in the realm of science fiction is gradually becoming modern reality.

 

Stopped after his speech by a beautiful woman masquerading as a reporter, he agrees to be interviewed and follows her willingly outside of the Moscone Convention Center. That will be the last willing thing he does as he is soon grabbed and removed from the street by Islamic terrorists. Before long, he is in the air in a private jet on his way back to his laboratory at the National Institutes of Health.

 

With his young daughter a hostage and faced with death, Dr. Russell Lawton has no choice but to cooperate. The terrorists are demanding his help and they are proposing something so unthinkable at every level that Dr. Russell Lawton is revolted to the very core of his being. Beyond the incredible medical challenges, the very idea they insist will be done raises huge moral and ethical challenges. And yet, Dr. Lawton has no choice if he wishes to save his life, his daughter’s, as well as other potential victims.

 

What follows is an incredible read that propels the reader on an emotional roller coaster. Dr. Allen Wyler again uses his extensive medical background to bring forth insight into a complex medical problem. Those very detailed bits of medical information are skillfully woven into the story and do nothing to slow it down.

 

At the same time, unlike most thrillers, the main characters in this book soon to be released are rich and detailed. Dr. Lawton’s emotional agony both in terms of his daughter as well as what he has been asked to do come alive for the reader. This is also true of other characters unwittingly drawn in such as FBI Special Agent Sandra Phillips who is part of the secondary and independent storyline of the kidnapping of Lawton’s daughter.

 

The result is an excellent fast paced read full of medical information and surgical procedures, action, and deep moral questions. This thriller with a currently scheduled release date of February 6, 2007, written by Dr. Allen Wyler is not easy to put down once finished and sure to leaven the reader with a lot of imagery and questions about the possible medical breakthrough and its meaning.

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4jeGaOL

 

 

Kevin R. Tipple © 2007, 2010, 2025

Saturdays With Kaye: Mercy by Michael Palmer

Mercy by Michael Palmer

The wide-ranging plot of this medical-ethical thriller unfolds gradually, revealing the maddening complexities of the right to die issue.

Dr. Julie Devereux is have problems with her twelve-year-old son since her split from his artist father and her new relationship with Sam, a high school history teacher. Julie has long been an outspoken advocate for death with dignity. However, this works against her when terminal and badly injured patients start dying prematurely in the hospital where she works.

Roman “Romey” Janowki, an unscrupulous manipulator, has brought White Memorial from a second-rate hospital to a well-run model facility since he took over as administrator. His methods don’t always align with ethical behavior, though. He’s gotten his hospital there by concentrating on the bottom line, not by prolonging the lives of expensive patients.

Julie is thrown into a dilemma when her fiance, Sam, is brought in following a car wreck with injuries that will leave him a quadriplegic. When he begs her to end his life, she hesitates while he calls her a hypocrite. More questionable deaths are piling up around her as a representative from Very Much Alive, an organization opposed to assisted death, gets involved. Just as they’ve convinced Julie betray her deepest beliefs and try to save Sam, he dies from an unexpected condition. He has been scared to death. Have the other deaths occurred this way? Julie doesn’t know she’s being closely tracked by an ex-cop with anger management issues.

Excellent suspense, plus explorations of right to die, hospital ethics, and other issues.

Reviewed by Kaye George, Author of Requiem in Red, for Suspense Magazine

Bitter Tea and Mystery: Cold, Cold Heart: Christine Poulson

Bitter Tea and Mystery: Cold, Cold Heart: Christine Poulson: Cold, Cold Heart by Christine Poulson is a medical thriller in an Antarctic setting. Katie Flanagan is a research scientist with medical tr...

Monday With Kaye: Panacea by F. Paul Wilson (Reviewed by Kaye George)

Like zombie novels anything billed as a medical thriller is a no go for me right off the bat. For this final Friday in August,  Kaye George reviews the July release of Panacea by F. Paul Wilson. 

Unfortunately, this also marks the final Monday With Kaye blog post for awhile. Kaye has a lot going on and desperately needs to take a break. With huge thanks and anticipation of her glorious return to this time slot sometime in the future....

 

Panacea by F. Paul Wilson

Here’s a medical, slightly supernatural thriller from this multi-dimensional writer, and it’s a good one. I believe this is a stand alone, but there could be more planned.

The storyline touches down in the Yucatan, Israel, and other places—usually with disastrous results. However, Laura Fanning, medical examiner for Suffolk County, and her silent, dangerous-looking bodyguard, feel they’re drawing closer to discovering what the panacea is about with each foray.

Laura has a daughter who is recovering from cancer and is in precarious condition. Laura is reluctant to leave her with her father (Laura’s ex), but she receives a stupendous offer from an ailing billionaire to journey to a Mayan village and learn about a miracle cure. She’s the perfect person for the job because of her medical knowledge and because she’s half Mayan and speaks the local language.

It all starts amid an arson investigation with a murdered victim. It appears that the dead man has been growing something in his house, marijuana is what law enforcement assumes. When another case pops up that is almost identical, people take notice. Both victims have similar back tattoos and both were connected with a startling series of seemingly miraculous recoveries from unrelated illnesses. On her journeys, Laura finds herself entangled with two opposing groups, one called 536 and the other called the panaceans. The latter has possibly been secretly curing people for centuries and the former has been attempting to prevent them for almost as long.

Laura not only has to deal with the warring clandestine factions with some incredible abilities, and searching for a cure she doesn’t believe exists, but also is having problems trusting her bodyguard—while being drawn to him against her will.

Complete with twists and turns and high adventure, this thriller will grip you to the end.

Reviewed by Kaye George, author of Eine Kleine Murder, for Suspense Magazine