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Bad Medicine: A Novel
Dr. Push Foster takes a 2-year job at the Lukachukai Health Station with no thought that he will soon be plunged into a medical mystery and the outbreak of a pneumonia-like illness whose terrible swiftness makes it almost impossible to treat. And most mysteriously all the victims have been Navajo, and young. With contacts at the CDC in atlanta, push calls in all the expert help he can. But the scientific answers to what is eventually identified as the rodent-borne hanta virus are unsatisfying, even irrelevant, to the Navajo, who believe something far more frightening is at work--an imbalance with far-reaching effects. And ultimately push himself comes to see the limits of what doctors can accomplish, and the liberating power of accepting other forces at work in the world. Full of wonderful imagery and scenes both moving and frightening--a hand-trembler trying to save a young life, a skinwalker changing form on a lonely road at twilight--this is a colorful and finally gripping novel of modern plagues and timeless evil.
- GenresMystery
336 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1998
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 15, 2020
This book would have been more suspenseful for me if I had not read the back cover, which tells the reader exactly what is causing the mysterious illnesses in the Navajo Nation. The blurb hints that Something Else is going on as well, but at least nothing more specific is said about that.
But you can find out all those hinted at details and some emotional issues that arise as well, just by reading the GR blurb. Dang, why would anyone bother to read the book after all that? SIGH.
Well, to each their own, I suppose. But give me a blind dive into a book rather than such a detailed plot synopsis any day. I like being surprised. Books are much more interesting to me that way.
Okay, rant over.
This was my third Querry title. One other novel and a memoir by the man are on my shelves. I have enjoyed all of them, because he can set a scene and he presents so much about Navajo life and traditions, making his fiction absorbing reading. I am curious, though about why he did not ever seem to write any other fiction titles. One comment on the cover of this book put him in the same class as Tony Hillerman, and another said he was "The best novelist we have of Native American tales".
This book came out in 1998, just a few years after a 1993 outbreak of pulmonary disease in Arizona. My other two Querry books were published in 1993 and 1994. I've just looked at Querry's author pages here on GR. (He is listed as both Ron Querry and Ronald B. Querry, but the two are the same person.) It seems that he has not written anything since this title. I wonder why not?
He writes smoothly, the story was exciting, and the glimpse he gives of Native American thought is fascinating. I felt many times that I was right there in the Four Corners area, telling our hero doctor what he was supposed to be seeing. Funny how reading a spoiler blurb tends to make you think you are smarter than the characters in the book. If I had been there with them I would have been just as blind. lol
As for the supernatural events taking place, they were explained in an epilogue which answered the questions I had about that topic. My only problem with the book was that there was no suspense for me except around the supernatural events. Even though he blends together the medical drama and the supernatural spookiness, I guess I kind of wish Querry had made those ghosts and the reasons for them the main topic of his book. That is why I can say that I liked the book, but not that I really liked it.
I am certainly curious to know more about what happened at Massacre Cave, known to the Navajo as The Place Where Two Fell Off.
But you can find out all those hinted at details and some emotional issues that arise as well, just by reading the GR blurb. Dang, why would anyone bother to read the book after all that? SIGH.
Well, to each their own, I suppose. But give me a blind dive into a book rather than such a detailed plot synopsis any day. I like being surprised. Books are much more interesting to me that way.
Okay, rant over.
This was my third Querry title. One other novel and a memoir by the man are on my shelves. I have enjoyed all of them, because he can set a scene and he presents so much about Navajo life and traditions, making his fiction absorbing reading. I am curious, though about why he did not ever seem to write any other fiction titles. One comment on the cover of this book put him in the same class as Tony Hillerman, and another said he was "The best novelist we have of Native American tales".
This book came out in 1998, just a few years after a 1993 outbreak of pulmonary disease in Arizona. My other two Querry books were published in 1993 and 1994. I've just looked at Querry's author pages here on GR. (He is listed as both Ron Querry and Ronald B. Querry, but the two are the same person.) It seems that he has not written anything since this title. I wonder why not?
He writes smoothly, the story was exciting, and the glimpse he gives of Native American thought is fascinating. I felt many times that I was right there in the Four Corners area, telling our hero doctor what he was supposed to be seeing. Funny how reading a spoiler blurb tends to make you think you are smarter than the characters in the book. If I had been there with them I would have been just as blind. lol
As for the supernatural events taking place, they were explained in an epilogue which answered the questions I had about that topic. My only problem with the book was that there was no suspense for me except around the supernatural events. Even though he blends together the medical drama and the supernatural spookiness, I guess I kind of wish Querry had made those ghosts and the reasons for them the main topic of his book. That is why I can say that I liked the book, but not that I really liked it.
I am certainly curious to know more about what happened at Massacre Cave, known to the Navajo as The Place Where Two Fell Off.
April 5, 2019
Excellent. Although a fiction book, Querry has a special way of weaving a real past incident into a historical novel.
March 22, 2014
I enjoyed this historical fiction about an event that hit close to home. The characters are interesting and the interactions are believable. I also liked the single tip of the hat to Hillerman.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews