Medicine and Mayhem

October 22, 2007
In Thriller Award–nominee Gussin’s unremarkable second novel (after 2006’s Shadow of Death), Tampa, Fla., thoracic surgeon Laura Nelson suffers a cascading series of disasters: she’s unable to save a young traffic accident victim and heads home only to find her husband, Steve, in flagrante with his young and attractive colleague, Kim Connor. Furious at the betrayal, Laura kicks Steve out and prepares for divorce. While visiting Steve’s temporary digs, Laura finds Kim’s corpse and is still near the body when the police arrive. Her efforts to clear her name and hold on to her children are complicated by Steve’s hostility, a medical crisis affecting their youngest son and the machinations of mobsters connected to Kim and the killing. There are few surprises, and the only interesting moments come when the doctor finds herself just another parent of an ill child, with the feel-good vibe done to death by the implausibly saccharine ending.