Beat the Reaper

Categories: Mystery & Suspense , Staff Picks , Fiction

I should probably preface this by saying that on a zero to ten scale of inappropriate humor, Josh Bazell’s Beat the Reaper clocks about a twelve.  But if the image of yourself snickering madly over some truly appalling things doesn’t worry you, this is the book for you.

Peter Brown is an intern at a really bad New York City hospital, and he’s having a really, really bad day.  The mugger he beats half to death on the way in to work sets the tone (he does carry the would-be criminal in to the emergency room), and the delicate mix of drugs needed to balance the day from there is very hard to maintain.

That’s the least of Peter’s problems, though.  One of his new patients is a mobster, and the man recognizes Peter as Pietro “Bearclaw” Brwna, a mafia hitman who’s in witness protection after testifying in a notorious trial and throwing his best friend (son of a mob lawyer) out a sixth floor window.  For some very good reasons, but it’s kind of hard to explain while fending off disasters, medical and personal, and anticipating being whacked.

Peter does explain, in what seems like a loopy, digressive back story for the reader, with some interesting medical factoids thrown in as he conducts his business day at the hospital.  

But there’s not a single word wasted in this tightly constructed, tautly paced suspense novel.  Even those medical factoids come in handy before the novel winds up. 

Humor at its blackest, and a nicely twisty suspense plot.  Just put down the coffee before you start reading.