Ashes, Ashes, We All Fall Down

Dead Ringer by Allen Wyler

Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for a review.

Summary: While speaking at a Hong Kong medical conference, neurosurgeon Dr. Lucas McCrae slips the cloth off a cadaver’s head during a routine medical demonstration, and is overwhelmed with the shock by what’s staring back at him: His best friend, Andy Baer.Stunned, McCrae races back to Seattle to discover that Andy is in fact missing and may have been murdered by a gang of body snatchers who operate a legit funeral business and make a fortune by selling recovered body parts to medical researchers.
McCrae teams up with an unlikely pair—a beautiful but hardnosed female cop and a gang member whose family was victimized by the body parts ring—to try and expose a macabre web of corruption that involves law enforcement, politicians, funeral home curators and murdered prostitutes.
Internationally renowned neurosurgeon Allen Wyler takes us deep into a nightmarish scenario, shockingly ripped from recent headlines, and delivers a horrifically plausible, page-turning thriller.

Review: A medical mystery with murder, mayhem, and body parts.

I really loved the premise of this mystery. I love just about anything medical: old diseases, current and rare diseases, interesting treatments (like skin grafts), bodies, skeletons, how all the parts of the body work together, and why it goes wrong. Ditto of Ditto’s Funeral Home is murdering people and selling their body parts to doctors and medical researchers. I enjoyed learning about what bodies and body parts are used for. Ditto’s scheme is certainly devious and reminds me of doctors who bought bodies to dissections on, primarily the story of Dr. Robert Knox and the Burke and Hare murders.

That previous paragraph contained no spoilers since Ditto’s scheme is revealed in the book’s summary. I do wish the big secret hadn’t been revealed on the book. A summary that related finding his dead friend’s head in Hong Kong and then figuring out how he got there and who put him there would have been enough. I also didn’t like that Wendy, the cop, was attractive. Why couldn’t it have been a less attractive woman or even a man? While she did play an integral part to the story, I felt like her character was just wish fulfillment. There was plenty of action in this book and a satisfying ending.

Rating:

Recommendation: I would recommend this book to those interested in medical thrillers and mysteries.

Catch Me if You Can

Dead End Deal by Allen Wyler

Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for a review. 

Summary: World renowned neurosurgeon Jon Ritter is on the verge of a medical breakthrough that will change the world. His groundbreaking surgical treatment, using transplanted non-human stem cells, is set to eradicate the scourge of Alzheimer’s disease and give hope to millions. But when the procedure is slated for testing, it all comes to an abrupt and terrifying halt. Ritter’s colleague is gunned down and Ritter himself is threatened by a radical anti-abortion group that not only claims responsibility, but promises more of the same.

Faced with a dangerous reality but determined to succeed, Ritter turns to his long-time colleague, corporate biotech CEO Richard Stillman, for help. Together, they conspire to conduct a clandestine clinical trial in Seoul, Korea. But the danger is more determined, and more lethal, than Ritter could have imagined.

After successful surgical trials, Ritter and his allies are thrown into a horrifying nightmare scenario: The trial patients have been murdered and Ritter is the number one suspect. Aided by his beautiful lab assistant, Yeonhee, Ritter flees the country, now the target of an international manhunt involving Interpol, the FBI, zealous fanatics and a coldly efficient assassin named Fiest.

Review: A dramatic medical thriller with plenty of murder, mayhem, and corporate espionage.

I will admit to reading very few mysteries or thrillers. I will read them if they have a specific topic or setting such as mysteries which take place in medieval times. I like anything medical so I figured I might enjoy Dead End Deal. The book has an interesting premise: a neurosurgeon who is on the verge of a breakthrough who will do almost anything to continue his trials on humans. Despite how that might make him sound, Dr. Ritter is actually a pretty decent guy although a bit too obsessed for his own good.

This book is never boring. From the get go there is plenty of action, murder, and intrigue. There is never a dull moment. Ritter winds up being better at eluding his captors than I expected. There were a few incidents that I found hard to believe. Personally, I felt the mutual longing between Ritter and Yeonhee was unnecessary and tacked on to the story (it felt too much like wish fulfillment). I also didn’t like how Feist kept harping on how people looked gay and how he called them fags. I understand that it was part of his character, but it got too much.

Rating:

Recommendation: I would recommend this book to those that enjoy medical thrillers.

The Smell of Decomposition in the Morning

Death's Acre: Inside the Legendary Forensic Lab - The Body Farm - Where the Dead Do Tell Tales by William M. Bass, Jon Jefferson

Summary: Forensic science and murder investigations are among the most fascinating topics of our time. Dominating television and print media every season, both as fiction and nonfiction, the subject could not be hotter. As one of the world's leading forensic anthropologists, Dr. Bill Bass is the premier guide to this unusual world.

Nowhere is there another lab like Dr. Bass's: on a hillside in Tennessee, human bodies decompose in the open air, aided by insects, bacteria, and birds, unhindered by coffins or mausoleums. At the "Body Farm," nature takes its course with corpses buried in shallow graves, submerged in water, locked in trunks of cars. As scientific stand-ins for murder victims, they serve the needs of science-and the cause of justice.

For thirty years, Dr. Bass's research has revolutionized the field of forensic science, particularly by pinpointing "time since death" in murder cases. In his riveting book, he investigates real cases and leads readers on an unprecedented journey behind the locked gates of the "Body Farm." A master scientist and engaging storyteller, Bass shares his most intriguing cases: his revisit of the Lindbergh kidnapping and murder fifty years later; the mystery of a headless corpse, whose identity astonished police; the telltale bugs that finally sent a murderous grandfather to death row-and many more.

Review: A collection of tales with each one focusing on a specific case and some facts about Dr. Bass thrown in.

I really thought this book would be a good read or at least an interesting read. I love bones, the body, diseases, and how much forensics can tell us. I know that forensic anthropology along with forensic science would be nothing like they show on tv (although it would be cool if it was). Still, I was expecting some fascinating history and gruesome cases. Most of the cases are interesting enough, but their telling gets interrupted by Dr. Bass telling us another tidbit of his life or personal history.

I know that a lot of what he tells is about the history of forensic anthropology and does relate to the case being told. A lot of it is extraneous and adds nothing or little value. I am sure Dr. Bass is a great forensic anthropologist (he is certainly quick to tell us that), but I didn’t like him much as a person. He talks about killing snakes, gets married fourteen months after his first wife dies (something I can’t imagine doing on a personal level), and is always quick to tell us about how great he is.

Rating:






Recommendation: I would recommend this book to those interested in forensic anthropology.

Bleeding 'Em Dry

Blood Work: A Tale of Medicine and Murder in the Scientific Revolution by Holly Tucker

Summary: On a cold day in December 1667 the renegade physician Jean Denis transfused ten ounces of calf's blood into Antoine Mauroy, a madman. Several days and several transfusions later, Mauroy was dead and Denis was framed for murder. A riveting and wide-reaching history, Blood Work shows how blood transfusion became swept up in personal vendettas, international intrigues, and the war between science and superstition. In a foreshadowing of today's stem cell and cloning debates, proponents saw transfusion as a long-awaited cure to deadly illnesses, while others worried that science was toying with forces of nature, perhaps even paving the way for monstrous hybrid creatures. Taking us from the highest ranks of society to the lowest, Holly Tucker introduces us to an unforgettable cast of characters, all ruthless contenders in the battle over transfusion. Finally, in a feat of historical research, she reveals the true identities of Mauroy's murderers—and their motivations to kill.

Review: A tale of blood transfusion, murder, rivalries, and a good dose of medical history.

For me, history is a fascinating subject, especially medical history. It allows you a glimpse into what people’s lives were like hundreds of years ago. It really is incredible how far we have come in the past hundred years. There are so many new advances that would have been unimaginable to people hundreds of years ago. I am glad to live in such a medically advanced age. Medical histories can be downright scary. I cringe when I think about a time when bleeding people was considered a standard medical practice.

I felt so bad for all the poor animals that were killed or tortured during experiments with blood and blood transfusion. As terrible as it is, they didn’t seem to have any other way to learn about blood. You couldn’t use dead bodies since they had no blood flow. It was fascinating to learn about what they thought that blood transfusion would do to people, including turning them into the animal from whence they had gotten the blood from. I can only imagine how far blood transfusion could have gotten if it wasn’t stopped so early in its tracks. 

Rating:

Recommendation: I would recommend this book to those that enjoy medical history. 

A Very Selective History

The American Plague: The Untold Story of Yellow Fever, the Epidemic that Shaped Our History by Molly Caldwell Crosby

Summary: Slave ships brought it to America as far back as 1648-and over the centuries, yellow fever epidemics plagued the United States. Carried along the mighty Mississippi River, it ravaged towns from New Orleans to St. Louis. New York City lost 2,000 lives in one year alone. It even forced the nation's capital to relocate from Philadelphia to Washington, DC.

The American Plague reveals the true story of yellow fever, recounting Memphis, Tennessee's near-destruction and resurrection from the epidemic-and the four men who changed medical history with their battle against an invisible foe that remains a threat to this very day.

Review: A patchy overview of yellow fever and its effect on history.

I love medical history. Medicine has come so far in such a short amount of time. It's fascinating to learn how people used to deal with diseases and what they thought actually caused some diseases. I might have heard of yellow fever before I read this book, but if I had, I didn't know much about it. The book's title makes some big claims and I was prepared to be impressed. I went into this book thinking it would be close to a definitive history of yellow fever like The Emperor of All Maladies did with cancer.

Unfortunately, this book disappointed me. The book only briefly mentions how the disease works and its symptoms. I would have liked a lot more detail about that since this book is supposed to be about yellow fever. It starts off in Africa and tells the story of how it came to America. It makes me think about how quickly yellow fever would have come over to America if it wasn't for slavery. Then it jumps to Memphis and it was interesting to learn how disease did shape Memphis as a city. Then we jump to the present day. I had hope for a more continuous narrative and feel that I don't know nearly enough about yellow fever as I should after reading this book.

Rating:

Recommendation: I would recommend this people interested in diseases, American history, or medical history.

We Aren't Zombies Yet

The Undead: Organ Harvesting, the Ice-Water Test, Beating Heart Cadavers--How Medicine Is Blurring the Line Between Life and Death by Dick Teresi

Summary: Important and provocative, The Undead examines why even with the tools of advanced technology, what we think of as life and death, consciousness and nonconsciousness, is not exactly clear and how this problem has been further complicated by the business of organ harvesting.

Dick Teresi, a science writer with a dark sense of humor, manages to make this story entertaining, informative, and accessible as he shows how death determination has become more complicated than ever. Teresi introduces us to brain-death experts, hospice workers, undertakers, coma specialists and those who have recovered from coma, organ transplant surgeons and organ procurers, anesthesiologists who study pain in legally dead patients, doctors who have saved living patients from organ harvests, nurses who care for beating-heart cadavers, ICU doctors who feel subtly pressured to declare patients dead rather than save them, and many others. Much of what they have to say is shocking. Teresi also provides a brief history of how death has been determined from the times of the ancient Egyptians and the Incas through the twenty-first century. And he draws on the writings and theories of celebrated scientists, doctors, and researchers—Jacques-Bénigne Winslow, Sherwin Nuland, Harvey Cushing, and Lynn Margulis, among others—to reveal how theories about dying and death have changed. With The Undead, Teresi makes us think twice about how the medical community decides when someone is dead.

Review: A thoughtful, but a bit heavy handed, book about life, death, and everything in between. 

Teresi purports to report the facts and just the facts. Despite that, a reader can easily notice his bias and spoils the book a little since what he says has to be taken with a grain of salt. I know death is a controversial subject and I am sure that this book will elicit strong emotions from the readers. I am all for organ donation, but of course that brings up many ethically issues related to what death exactly is and does cardio death or brain death count as death. 

I have my own views of death, which I will not go into here, but there is plenty of information in the book to make you think and question, including those who are for organ donation. Death seems to be less certain than we realize. I liked the historical aspect of the book the best. It is fascinating to see how those in the past viewed death. I liked learning about what happens to the body when it dies (when cell death starts in). The body is more complex than we realize and death is not always assured. 

Rating:

Recommendation: I would recommend this book to those interested in the meaning of life and the science of death.