Beat the Reaper

Beat the Reaper
Author: Josh Bazell
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company (2008)
ISBN: 0316032220
pages: 320

genre: adventure

2 (out of 5) STARS

Annotation: The carefully orchestrated life of Manhattan emergency room doctor and witness-protection program participant Peter Brown unravels in the course of a day that begins with a mugging and a new patient who knows him from his previous existence.

Summary: Dr. Peter Brown is an intern at Manhattan's worst hospital, with 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 Relocation 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.

Spattered in adrenaline-fueled action and bone-saw-sharp dialogue, BEAT THE REAPER is a debut thriller so utterly original you won't be able to guess what happens next, and so shockingly entertaining you won't be able to put it down. (www.goodreads.com)

Evaluation: I did not like this book. I thought it was going to be quite different than what it was. So my expectation colored my opinion of the book. I also did not like any of the characters and there was too much swearing and violence. It made me disinclined to try another adventure book but I am hoping this was just a random bad one and that there are other great reads available in this genre.

Read-a-likes:
61 Hours by Lee Child
Crisis by Robin Cook
The Broker by John Grisham
The Wrong Hostage by Elizabeth Lowell