Beat the Reaper: A Novel
by Josh Bazell
Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company (January 7, 2009)
Rated 4 stars of 5 possible
Dr. Peter Brown is an intern at the worst hospital in town. He has a talent for medicine, a shift from hell, and a past he would prefer to keep hidden. Nicholas LoBrutto, Dr. Brown's new patient, has three months to live, and a very strange idea; that the good doctor is a hitman for the mob!
The story is non-stop action from the start, and a page turner that I found hard to put aside. One thing I found that detered some of my enjoyment of this novel was the foul language used by Dr. Brown and some of the other characters in the book, but I dismissed that as part of the characterization because the rest of the book is so interesting. There is a brief scene featuring nudity and consensual sex, and, throughout the book, also a certain amount of violence, which I figure goes with the territory in any story about a mob hitman.
The author's narrative style, alternating chapters point of view between doctor and mob hitman, is captivating; the story is very fast paced. Even after accounting for the language, sexual content, and violence, I can still rate this book a 4 star novel and recommend it to adults over 18 who aren't sensitive to things which some may find objectionable.
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