From busy hospitals in San Diego to the barren deserts of Arizona, this tension-filled thriller, the second installment of The Medical Students series, follows the life and death challenges, the surprising twists and turns, and the ethical dilemmas of two young doctors in their quest to rid the profession of bad doctors. Torrey, with her genius IQ, gained acceptance to Stanford Medical School to pursue her dream of becoming a pediatric neurosurgeon in honor of her little sister, Leia, who died of brain cancer. At Stanford, she met her future husband, Matthew, who pursued medical school for the sole purpose of becoming a prison doctor in order to gain access to--and kill--his father's murderer who was incarcerated in San Quentin. As their relationship deepened, Torrey was forced to confront the potential value and moral ambiguity of vigilantism. In this page-turning, stand-alone suspense sequel, Bad Medicine, newlyweds Torrey and Matthew have graduated from medical school and are now new doctors at Kaiser hospital in San Diego. While there, they learn of a friend's young niece who has fallen victim to a doctor who is running a phony cancer treatment center. Putting their careers and marriage in jeopardy, Dr. Jamison and Dr. Preston agree to help their friend's family seek the ultimate revenge.
James Cohoon was the president of a Los Angeles based law firm until his early retirement in 2014. As a civil litigation lawyer for over 30 years, he frequently lectured and published legal articles. His daily work included writing legal briefs for judges and other lawyers which were, in essence, 'stories' to fit the facts of his hundreds of legal cases. He resides in California with his high-school sweetheart, Rozanne, with whom he has two children--Kristin, a lawyer who is presently a stay-at-home mother, and Travis, a doctor who is just starting a cardiology fellowship.
Besides playing with his grandsons--Everett and Beckett--James enjoys sighting Orca whales from the San Juan Islands shoreline, playing bridge, and mowing the lawn.
Do No Harm (The Medical Students, Book 1) is his debut novel. Book 2 in the series is in the works.
Two main characters are Stanford trained doctors and also newlyweds working at Kaiser Hospital in San Diego. Torrey is a neurosurgeon that has the honor to work on pediatric brains in surgery. Matthew is a workaholic and almost the opposite of Torrey (He is careful). Torrey is full of spice and though they as a pair have seem quite dysfunctional---they work well together. One of the treatments that is tested on guinea pigs or patients as they call them these days is the nocebo effect. They two act as an investigative team to expose “veritas” in a fellow physician they discover is reaping benefits from the exploitation of tumor laden children.
"As Torrey approached, she observed that, in addition to her iridescent bright pink hair, the orderly had a gold nose ring and a bicep tattoo of a smiley face on a yellow sun poking out from her short-sleeved scrubs."
Most doctors love people and truly desire to help---evident in their commitment to medical school and training. To declare residency is laborious and serves to remove all traces of ego in a physician is an understatement. Both residents have darkness and regret in their past. They together decide to use the cover of medicine as a license to becoming murderers. The gift of healing and also killing (with impunity) serves them both for enacting a form of mutual interest vigilante justice that may be an affront to Hippocratic oath they both took. Vengeance is a IPhone this couple clutches possessively. In this "dunkel" mission they put their marriage, medical license and freedom in limbo. Read.
This may well be the worst and most ludicrous book I have ever read in my entire life. The plot, if you can call it that, is ridiculous. The writing is abysmal. Unless I’ve missed the point and this book is intended to be a farcical fantasy, I stand by my comments.
I received this book as an ARC from the publisher and NetGalley. Thank goodness I didn’t pay good money for it.
Torrey Jamison and Matthew Preston are newlyweds who have taken positions at Kaiser Hospital in San Diego. Matthew measures his responses while Torrey is the brilliant knee-jerk fireball and they both have issues, specifically Matthew who goes totally against his persona to work at San Quentin for the sole purpose of revenge.
However, having fulfilled that act of personal justice, now the wheels have flipped for Torrey and she is head and shoulders into stopping (forever) a doctor who is pulling in major bucks on a phony cancer treatment for children with terminal cancer.
I just wasn’t able to swallow that these two medical residents would risk everything to devote any “extra” time they had to investigating the doctor and his phony practice. The narrative went a bit unrealistic. I couldn’t understand the flip in their moral codes or the choices made as persons of the profession to “do no harm” and found the writing style a bit awkward.
I didn’t read Book 1, but found this standalone a little too improbable and the pacing was a bit slow for me. There will be those who follow medical thrillers with twists and they will enjoy but perhaps it just wasn’t the book for me. 3.5 rounded down
I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley and these are my honest thoughts.
I read a lot. I rarely give books low marks & I really struggle to not be critical of others. I owe it to my fellow readers to caution that until I finished this story, I really thought I would leave my very first one star review. The story reads like the result of a young person who grew up receiving participation trophies and being told that passing with a “D” was still passing and they should be proud of themselves. The novel has the feel of a seventh grade English creative writing class by a teacher who was “amazed” by the students who finished the assignment regardless of the quality. Having said these awful & horrible things, I will say that by the end the author successfully completed the story and my frustration at the time taken to read it lessened considerably. The book is full of standard medical misinformation, cliches and social justice comments-I’m sure today’s “antifa” crowd and a few newscaster’s raved about it. There was no real substance or meat to any of the issue’s, just a “current affairs” viewpoint that changes daily based on “the polls”. The author successfully checked the box on their bucket list that said “write and publish a book”. I hope that either it ends here, or the author decides they have something really important to say and cares enough to apply themselves to doing it professionally and with far greater effort.
James Cohoon is owning the medical thriller. He has a natural storytelling talent and Bad Medicine is the master of a compulsively readable story. Bad Medicine, once started, was mighty difficult to put down. Cohoon has crafted a clear-eyed tale of intrigue and suspense that had my heart skipping a beat and kept me up well into the night, as I had to know what Matthew and Torrey were going to do next. I thoroughly enjoyed the many new characters brought in (Koa !), while having a warm and familiar bond with Matthew, Torrey and Uncle T.J. Money, corruption, greed, and the worst of the worst, a doctor who preys upon the most vulnerable of vulnerable, parents of terminally ill children. You will be cheering Torrey and Matthew on until the very last sentence. And you will be left wanting more! If you enjoy medical thrillers, or ANY thriller, this is a must read!! 5++
Yet again, the book is audible an Audible Audoook, not a Kindle book; I still can't add that, and I don't even know who or how to ask… :-(. I really liked the book, but I'm afraid that plot got a little too involved and intricate – not that I have any ideas as to what should be different. The characters were still amusing and likable. I got a feeling that the stereotypes of bad government and uncaring government officials was too exaggerated and painted a consistently negative picture! Don't get me wrong; I do believe that there are many uncaring individuals in government, but it's irresponsible to not recognize that there ARE a lot of responsible people, too, and to paint them all with the black brush is incorrect and ignores the fact that many people do their best to make things, for the population at large, both fair and reasonable! Off my high horse.
This is the second book in The Medical Students series, and it can be read as a stand-alone. However, I had a little time, so I read the first book in the series before reading this one. Torrey and Matthew feature prominently in both books. They are a couple that you can’t help but to fall in love with. Both are high-functioning individuals, but they have a heart and a little different way of looking at things. As newlyweds and new doctors in a new city, they put their lives and their marriage on the line to help a friend and right some wrongs that they come across in the process. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and am looking forward to the new book in the series. This was a nice suspenseful read. Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for the opportunity to review this book.
Matthew and Torrey seek to right wrongs, see that a kind of frontier “justice” is meted out, and that no part of their band goes to jail. While, I do not condone revenge, I do enjoy a great mystery. For those of you who are aficionados of the murder mystery genre this is a new twist on the traditional murder victim in the early chapters with the denouement of finding the person who did the murder in the final chapter. Here we know who is going to plan, act and cover their tracks right from the beginning. The thrill of the story is how will they ever do it. The glimpse through the participant’s eyes is a refreshing twist that will leave you wanting more. Mr. Cohoon write more, I’ll read more!
While I enjoy a good mystery with all the twists and turns, I have a really difficult time as a retired RN, condoning the actual intentional taking of a life no matter how evil, goes against everything the medical profession stands for. To come up with a situation in which the criminal is the cause of his own demise would be a little more acceptable, but I am not a writer only a consumer. I can’t in good conscience recommend this book. Also spatter is usually used when describing blood patterns.
Two medical interns, that are married to each other tackle an fraudulent doctor taking advantage of parents of kids with cancer promising full relief of cancer and charging their parents with obscene amounts of money. They have a friend whose brother was one of the victims of the doctor's scam. They end up solving the problem so to speak and good beats out evil. Great book.!
But good . After obtaining residencies in San Diego , the now married couple were planning on what to do about the counselor who raped Torrey in high school . While doing that plan Mr Ed, now Mrs Ed, came to them with an issue they couldn't ignore . I found this story hilarious . What could go wrong did go wrong . Well written and edited .
This is the second installment of the medical students series. I LOVE Matthew and Torrey, the two med students who fall in love, get married, and help rid the world of bad people, all while still being residents! If you are a fan of revenge you will love this series! Torrey is so smart I just smile watching her brain work! Great reading!
Torrey and Matthew are first year resident doctors. So they are busy people when the prison guard from the first book contacts them for help. A scammy doctor is ripping off parents of children with cancer. No way can they let him get away with it. This is a revenge thriller that kept me interested and turning pages. I liked it!
Interesting story.line, will not let you stop reading
Medical residents and friends end a quacks devious plot to treat cancer children, falsely giving ineffective drugs at.inflated prices. A plan is made to return the parents for the bogus treatment. They did get the money and for the parents of children who died, they too were given money.
Fast moving thriller of two resident doctor's friend and new friends, who discover a doctor who is ripping off parents of children dying of brain cancer. They plot, the crooked doctor's demise- the plot turns and thickens to an amazing ending. A great read.
I would recommend this series of James Cohoon book 1 & 2 for everyone to read. I thought about the situations that both Matthew & Torrey encountered and wondered how I would have handled the situation. I so admired Torrey for her dedication to the sick & the veterans she encountered on her journey.
"Bad Medicine" is a book that I have been waiting for. James Cohoon with a few surprises along the way , very neatly ties up the loose ends from "Do No Harm". There are plenty of twists a d turns and surprises to keep you turning the pages.
Part of an excellent series, this quick-read is an enjoyable story with interesting characters and a well-designed plot. I received an advanced digital copy of this book and voluntarily provided an honest review.
I started this afternoon. I had to finish. I truly believe what went on at the VA but I think that has somewhat changed. And I really hope there are no doctors out there to take advantage of dying children …. Ever!
Kept you up all night reading. Anyone in the medical field will realize that things of this nature can and do happen more than you think. Can't wait to read more from this author .
This was an exceptional story that included all the things I enjoy in a book. It had a great plot, fantastic characters, mystery, romance and even humor. Great job James!
First time reading this author's work and I am very happy I picked up this book. Lots of suspense that keeps you wondering until the very end. Bad Medicine is one book I highly recommend.
Bad Medicine is a tightly woven thriller that’s a fast easy read. Kept me engaged and was well done for the second book in a series. I found myself quite enjoying it very well developed storytelling.