Women are dying in Kerr Memorial hospital, victims of a deadly infection which seems to be resistant to any known cure. And as "pseudomonas" claims its fifth victim, fuelling fears of an epidemic, a new horror is revealed on the city's streets.
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.
Another excellent Ken McClure novel with great pace and characterisation. Scott Jamieson is recovering from a car crash when he is head hunted by the Sci-Med Inspectorate to go and investigate a mysterious infection killing patients at a north-east hospital. Thwarted at every turn of his investigation of a seemingly immaculate and sterile hospital, Jamieson becomes more embroiled in the conspiracies and murders taking place in the hospital and local community, until his wife is kidnapped and threatened by not one but two separate psychopaths in a climatic conclusion. The ending of this novel felt a little rushed to me, as it ended quite abruptly, but this did little to detract from another fabulously written novel.
Ken McClure is a believable medical writer. I know nothing about the ER or the OR surgeries so it would be no trick to fool me. But he certainly writes with authority on his subject. Women are dying in the hospital and no one can figure out why. No drugs help, all tests come back clear, and it all is happening in one section of the hospital.
The plot thickens, of course, and the author handles the complications so well that the reader is drawn right into the chaos and the rising fear.
I like McClure and plan to read more of his medical thrillers.
Absolutely brilliant! Quite possibly my favourite Ken McClure so far. I was on the edge of my seat a few times. One of those books you just can't put down. Superb.
c1994. FWFTB: surgeon, bacteria, infection, murders, slasher. A well crafted story with good pacing and action pieces. Sadly, in a way, I guessed the murderer rather early on merely by the way the character was introduced. The medical details were interesting and not OTT. Recommended. Copyright held by a Ken Begg. "It's over my darling,' Jamieson whispered. 'You're safe now. No one is ever going to hurt you again.' There was an agonising pause before Sue said, 'I seem to have heard that somewhere before.'
Scott Jamieson is carrying out his first investigation for the Sci-Med Inspectorate, into a mysterious outbreak of hospital acquired infection, in a city where a serial killer is attacking young women.