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Ellis Hospital
Pulse
AT ELLIS HOSPITAL, MURDER IS MAKING THE ROUNDS.
When sweet young Chloe, everybody's favorite nurse, dies in the recovery room after a routine appendectomy, nurse Adele Monsarrat's suspicions are aroused. It's the third sudden death among the hospital staff in a year, and Adele is certain one of her coworkers is behind the onslaught. But who in this pressure-cooker workplace--where drugs, sex, and odd spiritual practices serve to ease tension--bears the mark of true madness? As Adele starts probing, the fever of fear soars, and a brilliant maniac watches and waits. . . .
When sweet young Chloe, everybody's favorite nurse, dies in the recovery room after a routine appendectomy, nurse Adele Monsarrat's suspicions are aroused. It's the third sudden death among the hospital staff in a year, and Adele is certain one of her coworkers is behind the onslaught. But who in this pressure-cooker workplace--where drugs, sex, and odd spiritual practices serve to ease tension--bears the mark of true madness? As Adele starts probing, the fever of fear soars, and a brilliant maniac watches and waits. . . .
326 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published March 28, 1998
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 18, 2021
Alarmed to know this woman is a nurse. As if her disparaging comments about individuals who are overweight aren’t enough, the racism really brought it home. Shameful. The writing style was poor at best.
PS spoilers- racism.
PS spoilers- racism.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 3, 2020
Read for the 2020 Popsugar Reading Challenge: A book by an author with flora or fauna in their name. This had all the makings of the kind of book I really like, a killer targeting staff members of a busy hospital, written by an author whose nonfiction works I really enjoy, with a fast-paced plot that leaves me guessing. However, I found many of the characters in the book to be unlikeable, and the ones I did like were the ones who ended up dead. The fact that a lot of the book is built on the spiritual rantings of a nurse who is convinced there are evil vibes going around and the place is cursed also contributed to my less than perfect opinion of 'Pulse'.
Heron does build a good story, and by making so many of the people unlikeable, it also makes them great suspects, though I correctly guessed who the killer was long before Heron revealed the clues as to why. Given that the book is set on a busy hospital ward, I found it interesting that one particular patient ends up in a significant number of the patient-related scenes, and surely there must be a reason, although I couldn't figure out whether there was a symbolic reason for it. We get a graphic description of why the patient is there quite early in the book, which perhaps explains why he's there long enough to keep appearing in scenes, but I think there must be some other reason.
Overall, a decent medical thriller, and quickly read in one afternoon, but not one of my favorites. I recognize the lead character, Adele Monserrat, from other fictional works by Heron, so this must be part of a series that I didn't realize was one until reading 'Pulse'.
Heron does build a good story, and by making so many of the people unlikeable, it also makes them great suspects, though I correctly guessed who the killer was long before Heron revealed the clues as to why. Given that the book is set on a busy hospital ward, I found it interesting that one particular patient ends up in a significant number of the patient-related scenes, and surely there must be a reason, although I couldn't figure out whether there was a symbolic reason for it. We get a graphic description of why the patient is there quite early in the book, which perhaps explains why he's there long enough to keep appearing in scenes, but I think there must be some other reason.
Overall, a decent medical thriller, and quickly read in one afternoon, but not one of my favorites. I recognize the lead character, Adele Monserrat, from other fictional works by Heron, so this must be part of a series that I didn't realize was one until reading 'Pulse'.
September 7, 2019
Had to push myself to finish it. I had a hard time getting into it the first half.
March 9, 2022
I liked it so much that I’m reading the next book in the series. I love her sense of humor.
September 13, 2015
Nu labi, lai būtu 4 zvaigznes, jo es tik tiešām tikpat kā līdz beigām tā arī nespēju iedomāties, kurš ir vainīgais un kāpēc. Labs detektīvs.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews