Trauma

by Ken McClure

When John McKirrop, a down-and-out tramp, takes shelter in a deserted graveyard one night, he witnesses the disinterment of the body of a young boy. Yet no one takes much notice of his stories. After all, who would believe the ramblings of a homeless drunk? Father Ryan Lafferty, the local parish priest, is trying to help the boy's distrught father find his son's body. Alarmed by implications of black magic, he becomes even more inquisitive when McKirrop dies under suspicious circumstances. At the same time, a young female doctor, Sarah Lasseter, begins to query procedures at the Trauma Unit where she treated both the missing boy and McKirrop. The unit is famous for its pioneering research in brain damage and its state-of-the-art technology. So why are the head consultants behaving strangely? And why are the trauma labs shrouded in secrecy? KEN McCLURE is an award-winning medical scientist as well as a global selling author. He was born and brought up in Edinburgh, Scotland, where he studied medical sciences and cultivated a career that has seen him become a prize-winning researcher in his field. Using this strong background to base his thrillers in the world of science and medicine, he is currently the author of twenty-three novels and his work is available across the globe in over twenty languages. He has visited and stayed in many countries in the course of his research but now lives in the county of East Lothian, just outside Edinburgh. This book was first published by Simon & Schuster Ltd. (UK) in 1995

Genres: Thriller, Fiction, Ebooks, Crime, Medical, Mystery

384 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Ken McClure is the internationally bestselling author of over twenty medical thrillers such as The Lazarus Strain, The Gulf Conspiracy, White Death and Dust to Dust. His books have been translated into twenty-five languages and he has earned a reputation for the accuracy of his predicitions. McClure's work is informed by his background as an award-winning research scientist with the UK's Medical Research Council. He lives in a small village in the Lammermuir Hills of Scotland.

Reviews

[Andrei Stoian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Romanian review: Am primit cartea aceasta ca un cadou de Secret Santa de la o persoană care nu mă cunoaşte chiar foarte bine, dar care ştia că-mi plac cărțile. Arăta ca o lectură rapidă, așa că, în ciuda faptului că am peste 100 de cărți necitite în casă, mi-am zis: ,,Ok, de ce nu?" și am început-o.
Am avut de la început așteptări scăzute deoarece nu auzisem nici măcar de autor până acum, iar, de obicei thrilerele, sunt cât de cât populare pe acest site. Ei bine, când un thriller are doar în jur de 200 de ratinguri, te aștepți că va fi o mizerie.
Am fost surprins să constat că romanul este destul de bine scris, personajele sunt interesante, povestea este ca un puzzle în care totul se potrivește, și am luat în considerare să-i dau a patra stea.
Premiza cărții este că John McKirrop, un om al străzii care s-a refugiat pentru o noapte într-un cimitir, este martor la un eveniment ciudat: patru oameni exhumează corpul unui băiat care murise recent într-un accident de mașină. Pentru a obține niște bani de la ziariști, acesta inventează o poveste de senzație cum că acei bărbați erau sataniști, purtau măști în formă de animale și au efectuat un ritual satanic. Ei bine, povestea se complică, McKirrop este ucis, iar Sarah Lasseter, un doctor stagiar la spitalul din oraș, Ryan Lafferty, un preot, și John Main, tatăl copilului exhumat, descoperă o conspirație.
Intriga este destul de bine realizată, avem, bineînțeles, de-a face cu clișeele genului- martori uciși, documente revelatorii care dispar, personaje care pătrund ilegal în diverse clădiri prefăcându-se că practică diverse meserii- știți cu toții cum sunt cărțile cu conspirații.
,,Trauma" de Ken McClure a fost o lectură plăcută, dar nu este cine știe ce diamant ascuns. Finalul nu este prea impresionant, există câteva plot holuri (voi da doar un exemplu: dacă cei care se aflau în spatele conspirației ucideau fără remușcări pe oricine i-ar fi putut da de gol, de ce l-au lăsat pe McKirrop să vorbească cu poliția? De ce nu l-au ucis de la bun început? Ce se întâmpla dacă spunea adevărul poliției, în loc să mintă?). În plus, faptul că mi-am dat seama de dinainte de jumătatea cărții cine se află în spatele întregii conspirații nu ajută, așa că rămâne doar atât, o lectură plăcută.



English review: I received this book as a Secret Santa gift from someone who doesn’t know me that well but knew I liked books. It looked like a quick read, so despite having over 100 unread books at home, I thought, "Why not?" and started it.
From the start, my expectations were low since I hadn’t heard of the author before, and usually, thrillers are at least somewhat popular on this site. So, when a thriller has only about 200 ratings, you tend to expect it might be pretty bad.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that the novel is fairly well-written, the characters are interesting, the plot pieces fit together like a puzzle, and I even considered giving it a fourth star.
The premise of the book is that John McKirrop, a homeless man seeking shelter for the night in a cemetery, witnesses a strange event: four people exhume the body of a boy who recently died in a car accident. Hoping to earn some cash from journalists, he concocts a sensational story that these men were satanists, wore animal masks, and performed a ritual. Things quickly escalate, McKirrop is killed, and Sarah Lasseter, an intern at the local hospital, Ryan Lafferty, a priest, and John Main, the exhumed boy’s father, uncover a conspiracy.
The plot is fairly well-crafted. Of course, it has the usual genre clichés—witnesses getting killed, crucial documents disappearing, characters sneaking into buildings under false pretenses—you know how it is with conspiracy thrillers.
"Trauma" by Ken McClure was an enjoyable read, but it’s not exactly a hidden gem. The ending wasn’t too impressive, and there are a few plot holes (just one example: if those behind the conspiracy were so quick to kill anyone who might expose them, why let McKirrop talk to the police? Why not kill him from the start? What if he’d told the truth instead of fabricating a story?). Plus, figuring out who was behind the conspiracy before the halfway point didn’t help much, so it’s safe to call this just a pleasant read.

[Arnis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lai jaunas zāles vai vakcīna, ja nav iestājusies globāla pandēmija, ceļš no izpētes sākuma līdz galamērķim, kad cilvēkiem kā pacientiem jaunievedums būtu pieejams ir garum garš un attiecīgās vides nezinātājām neizprotami komplicēts. Process pats par sevi nebūt nav bez saviem iemesliem, lai tikai bojāti citiem dzīvi. Gana garš, lai visu ceļu posmu garumā tik tiešām izfiltrētu un ļautu par kvalitatīvu preci kļūt tiem produktiem, kuriem ir vislielākais labums patoloģijas ārstēšanā un blakņu mazināšanā. Ken McClure romāns Trauma piedāvā ieskatu vienā no scenārijiem, kur pēc būtības pat ļoti gudri speciālisti un dakteri pieņem izvēles lielāka labuma vārdā, kuru argumenti saprotamam sašutumam ir pierādījums, ka tādejādi var būtiski saīsināt patērēto laiku augstāku mērķu sasniegšanai, šķietami upurējot jau tā par mirušiem (smadzeņu nāve) pasludinātus pacientus…

https://poseidons99.com/2024/12/10/ke...

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

An entertaining read, and as reviewers have pointed out, similar to stories by Robin Cook and Michael Crichton and worthy of the comparison. It reminded me a little of ‘Coma’, maybe because of the sympathetic character of Dr Lasseter. I felt both she and Ryan were well drawn. His crisis of faith gave added depth and believability.
I did feel the story shifted focus a touch as it developed. From centring on Main and McKirrop it switched to Lafferty and Sarah. Not that this detracted from the tale but it did cause a moment’s loss of direction for the reader.
Main’s fate wasn’t fully tied up as might suggested by, “he could see his son, Simon but something was dreadfully wrong…this wasn’t heaven…it was hell.” This does suggest we will learn the nature of this hell from his p.o.v. but we don’t. Everything was explained but this felt untidy.
I also felt a shade uncomfortable at Sarah using her feminine wiles with Tyndall so willingly. It did seem out of character.
The only other bump in my reading road was at the finish. The final action felt a shade like reportage, and of course it is necessary to wrap up fast once all is revealed, but the ending paragraphs did feel a touch curt.
All minor complaints in a good read that carries you along nicely. Recommended.
Typos were few, but there. And of course Jameson is Irish and therefore whiskey and not whisky, Ken. Sláinte.

[Brian Deegan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full marks :) .. A really good read and will be trying other books By Mr McClure.. Three good character's and a well paced story line.

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed this fast-paced well written thriller, had me hooked from page the first page!

[Barrie Penman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Several creditable characters wonderfully described, their stories gradually coming together. (Just read about mexican drug cartels and political thrillers but this is more believable and has me more involved and concerned about the outcome.)Every other page brings a new wee twist.
To be honest I had severe doubts about this being my kind of book but was not long in getting swept up in it.
((Slightly irked by someone winning a 50p bet but deciding she had actually lost it (Official objection) but only giving the other person 50p.
Darling, you still owe her 50p.))
No boring or padded out chapters. Escalates nicely and violently towards the end.
Will read this author again.

[Lorraine · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book, gripping storyline that ended not how I predicted it would.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book it was very good quite creepy and scary what some people who you think can trust will do.

[Sandi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great book by Ken McClure

[Rachel Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good read

I enjoyed the story line. Sometimes it was a bit far fetched, but all in all I enjoyed it. There are quite a number of typing errors in this book which surprised me. An easy read.

[Melissa Herman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent read!!

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kolejny medyczny thriller McClure'a z przeplatającą się tu i uwdzie transplantologią.

[Maria-Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

eh jak wspomnieli o szczepionkach to już wiedziałam o co chodzi

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

O poveste întortocheată. Crime, furturi de trupuri moarte pentru a putea fi folosite in scopuri medicale, oameni de știința, guvern... Și mă întreb cât o fi fictiune si cat realitate? Totul mi s-a parut posibil in zilele pe care le trăim. Tratează un subiect delicat- vaccinurile- si cat de multi bani se invart in sfera asta a celor care le produc... Interesanta carte, detaliat scrisa, dar nu intr-un mod care sa devina plictisitor. Finalul mi-a lăsat impresia ca ar putea fi o continuare a poveștii, dar încă nu am verificat sa vad daca exista. 4 stele pentru subiect si pt cum este scrisa.

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very clever tale that makes you think, there are lots of interesting twist but I was very disappointed with the ending I am not sure if another book is planned but it just feels incomplete hence I reduced my rating to a 4 star

[Robert Campbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first book by this author. CRACKING GOOD READ

A well constructed novel uncluttered by too many characters. The plot moved along at good pace and picked up dramatically in the final few chapters. Thank you Ken McClure - what's your next offering?

[Tonimo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story but weak ending.

[Gregor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Och it was alright. Not sure if I'd read anymore of his stuff.

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Medical thriller in which a junior doctor, a bereaved father and a catholic priest team up to uncover a crime.