Josh Bazell

I enjoyed Beat the Reaper quite a bit, and the first half of this book also. There's some very funny stuff in it, notably his little discourse on evolutionary psychology and how it explains why we hate mimes made me laugh out loud. But somehow I sort of lost interest midway through the book, when the secret referee or whatever he calls her, shows up. Lots of good scenes and it's still a bit funny and exciting, but it didn't have either the narrative pull or excitement of the first novel. I passed that one around to 3 or 4 others.… (more)

I knew I would enjoy this book from page 1. It's fast-moving, muscular, and funny. I won't get into summary, here, beyond the fact that it's about a doctor with an unusual past and skillset in a crappy hospital in New York, and the things that happen to him over the course of one day, and the ways he deals with them, will have you grinning with glee.

If you're a fan of thrillers, read it. Even if, like me, you usually can't stand thrillers because of crappy writing. This writing isn't crappy. It's the best kind of writing for a thriller: it stays out of the way of the story.

Now: READ IT!… (more)