This is a wild ride, a story of a Jewish hit man for the mafia, and how he becomes a doctor. It was a little slow at the start, but for the last 150 pages or so, you can't put it down. It's fast-paced, outlandish, and bloody. The book is also funny, sometimes very funny. ( )

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! ( )

Maru

What an excellent read. I will be looking for other books by Josh Bazell. ( )

Not bad, Not That Great. Gets a little too wild at the end to have any believability. Would I read another by the author, probably not. ( )

this was one of those books i accidentally read, and i don't ENTIRELY regret it. there were a lot of interesting facts about anatomy thrown into what was, to me, a kind of annoying mafia tale. sure, the whole episode where all poles are painted as suspicious, anti-semitic assholes really rubbed me the wrong way. the medical stuff was neat and there were actually a couple moments where his writing left me a bit in awe. as for the rest ... well, at least it went by quick. ( )

Peter Brown started life as an orphaned kiddo being raised by his loving, Holocaust-survivor grandparents, but when they're randomly and brutally murdered in their own home, Peter sets out for revenge and ends up as a very competent hitman for the mob, then as a very competent MD intern in the Witness Protection Program. And then his past comes calling during a hospital shift from hell.
This isn't my usual fare at all, but my friend, Rob, has been wanting me to read it for years and I finally gave in. I'm so glad I did. It's fantastic even as it's also very much not what I usually go for. It's dark and downright brutal in parts, but somehow Bazell manages even so to keep it light and funny. Most of that is because of the narrator, who ticks a lot of the right boxes for me: smart, *very* good at pretty much everything he does, but also very matter-of-fact about it and with a healthy dose of self-deprecation, and chock full of charisma. The plot is great, too: lots of interesting twists as the story plays out both in the present and in flashbacks that unfold his hitman past. Definitely recommended, even if, like me, this might not be your usual jam. ( )

Despite the hooplah, I did not like this book at all. Author tried to write humorous thriller, and I found his perpetual attempts to showcase his Ivy League education annoying, and the basic story line was preposterous. ( )

adult fiction; crime/thriller. A pretty good mafia/escape from mafia story, though it does get a bit more graphic towards the end (actually, a lot more graphic). ( )

Fun read... a lot of tough guy wish fulfillment... and the end is pretty callous on one end and ridiculous on the other, but overall pretty solid for what it is. ( )

Novela desquiciada, frenética, grosera y divertidísima sobre un médico residente que es también un antiguo matón de la mafia metido en el programa de protección de testigos. Si tuviéramos que hacer de periodistas diríamos que es una mezcla de House y los Soprano, pero con Tourette. En realidad es el médico Pietro "Garra de oso" Brnwna, cuya historia pasada y presente conoceremos intercaladas en un libro delirante.

Me ha encantado, con los fallos de narración que tiene (que los tiene, incluyendo los alegatos políticos en la visita a Auschwitz que no encajan nada con el resto de la novela). La historia es interesante (a la vez que delirante, triste, violenta, todo mezclado y en alternancia) y el ritmo no decae.

O sea,que la recomiendo. No es para almas amantes de Coelho, eso sí.

Vaya como muestra de la sapiencia médica mezclada con la brutalidad y la grosería el comienzo del libro:

De modo que voy camino del trabajo, me paro a ver cómo una paloma se pelea con una rata en la nieve y un gilipollas intenta atracarme! Naturalmente tiene una pistola. Se me acerca por detrás y me la clava en la base del cráneo. Está fría, y en realidad produce una sensación agradable, como de digitopuntura.

–Tranquilo, doctor –me sugiere.

Lo que lo explica todo, al menos. Incluso a las cinco de la mañana, no soy la clase de tío al que se suele atracar. Soy como una estatua de estibador plantada en la Isla de Pascua.
Pero el capullo me ve bajo el abrigo los pantalones azules del pijama sanitario y los zuecos de plástico verde perforados, así que piensa que debo de llevar drogas y dinero encima. Y que a lo mejor he hecho alguna especie de juramento de no patearle su culo de tonto del culo por tratar de asaltarme.
Apenas tengo drogas y dinero suficiente para pasar el día. Y el único juramento que he hecho, según recuerdo, es el de no tener propósito de hacer daño. Me parece que ya hemos pasado de ese punto.

–Vale –digo, alzando las manos.

La rata y la paloma se han largado. Cobardes.
Me doy la vuelta, movimiento que me aparta la pistola de la nuca y me deja con la mano derecha levantada por encima del brazo del capullo. Lo agarro del codo y tiro bruscamente hacia arriba, haciendo que sus ligamentos salten como tapones de champán.
Detengámonos un momento a contemplar el prodigio que llamamos codo.

Los dos huesos del brazo, cúbito y radio, se mueven por separado, y también giran. Lo que pueden comprobar poniendo la palma de la mano hacia arriba, posición en la cual el cúbito y el radio se encuentran en paralelo, y volviéndola luego hacia abajo, postura en que se cruzan formando una equis. Necesitan, por tanto, un complejo sistema de anclaje en el codo, con los ligamentos envolviendo los diversos extremos óseos en unas tiras rebobinables semejantes a la cinta pegada en el mango de una raqueta de tenis. Es una pena romperlos.

( )

A very mature take on the whole hero/anti-hero genre popularized by Lindsay's "Dexter". Page turning and exciting but definitely for adults. ( )

This is a half-assed review because interning with a literary agency means all I do is read manuscripts and write reviews on them, page-long summarizations of plot, character, and strengths and weaknesses that will determine whether an agent actually looks at the thing or if I write the author a nice 300-word pass saying no thanks and here's why, or worse, copy and paste the their name into a polite but generic form letter.

However. I don't know how I feel about this yet. I don't know if I would've written a nice report for this, or recommended that my agents read it, because my agents take on nice books about family conflict and interpersonal dynamics, not horrific, insane and sometimes self-inflicted violence. I've been to the darker side of the internet. I've seen some shit.

I could not read what happens near the end of this bitingly hilarious novel. I love the main character. I love his voice, and unlike some reviewers I was fascinated by his flashbacks. The medical jargon was ridiculous and off-putting and so bad it gains the ring of truth... but oh man. This was 127 Hours level bad, guys. This is not a fun, light-hearted book. This is not light-hearted reading, at least at the end.

Does this mean it's a bad book? Not really. It's well-written and it's entertaining. Just... also horrifying. Keep that in mind if you decide to read it. ( )

This book goes to the extreme, then takes that over the top, then goes over the top a little more. It is the most profane, irritated sounding, attitude-heavy, outrageous book I've read in a long time. Actually, I listed to it, and the reader's voice will stick in my head for a long time. Mostly he was superb, especially in the voice of the first person narrator. I liked him less as Magdalena, the Romanian girlfriend.

This book has the mob, it has sex, it has hospital antics--it has more than you would think is even possible to put into a book of this size. I went between loving it and feeling irritated, but I certainly had to hear it out to the end. The plot jumps deftly between the protagonist's present predicament and the story of how he got there, going back to his childhood. The book is filled with so many strong opinions about so many things (medicine, Poland, treatment of Jews, the mob, etc. etc. etc. etc.) that it makes John D. MacDonald's works look like those of a man without an opinion in the world. So your taste for this book will depend on your tolerance for its opinions. I don't know if they are the author's--so I won't say they are. There is a disclaimer at the end of the book that basically tells the reader to disregard any facts, particularly medical ones, the book seems to promote.

In the end, it was the sheer unbelievability of whole story that caused me to downgrade the book a notch or two. But I remain intrigued and may try this author again. (What do you know--there's a sequel.)

BTW, the author is a doctor. I'm kind of relieved and kind of scared to know that. ( )

For those who want some ultra-violence with their ultra-funny. A truly unique voice in contemporary crime fic. ( )

Pietro Brnwa -- aka Peter Brown -- is a former mafia hitman who has entered Witness Protection and is now a doctor in an appallingly terribly hospital. And someone from his past has just checked in as a patient.

It's a fun story, full of cynical humor and violence and weird bits of medical trivia, but I found it just a little too over-the-top (particularly one especially grotesque scene towards the end), and it's maybe trying just a little too hard to be clever. The result is mostly enjoyable, but not quite as thoroughly so as I'd hoped. ( )

Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell is a wildly funny mashup of a medical and gangser thriller. Peter Brown is an overworked medical resident trying to get through his day at the worst hospital in Manhattan. Between keeping his medical students in line, overseeing the care of patients, covering up the medical mistakes he routinely comes across, and trying to keep communications open between himself and other medical workers, the last thing he needed was to recognize a patient as a mobster. You see, in another life Peter Brown was a mob hit-man known as Bearclaw Brown.

He entered the witness protection program and is hiding in plain sight as a trauma physician. His former accomplice threatens to rat him out if he doesn’t save his life. The day that follows is both thrilling and hilarious as it includes the doctor making a clever diagnosis, chasing down a runaway wheelchair patient and getting accidentally stuck with a needle full of infected pus. We are also treated to Brown’s backstory which includes plenty of gun and knife play as well as a harrowing encounter with a shark tank.

Fast, original and darkly funny, I found Beat the Reaper an absolute blast. This book will not appeal to everyone as it is very violent and quite improbable but for those who like dark and twisted stories as much as I, this is a great read. ( )

Really liked it, although it went over the top at the end. ( )

This is highly entertaining. ( )

I enjoyed this way more than I thought I would, actually. Well-written, darkly comic thriller. Loved the lead character. Quibbles: Magdalena never made sense to me as a character, although it could be Brown's idealized perspective on her. ( )

The ending of this book redeemed it for me. I found myself dragging through the beginning but racing to finish it at the end. The author reached out to me via Goodreads suggesting that I would like this book based on my interest in Chuck Palahnuik. The dry sarcasm and the grotesque descriptions of diseases and violence did remind me of Palahnuik's style. I would definitely read a sequel to this book or even another book by this author. ( )

very interesting, very different. great concept, could have used one (or two) more edits. Some of the gory - factor was a bit overdone and gratuitous.
( )

Meet Dr. Peter Brown, an intern in Internal Medicine at Manhattan Catholic Hospital. His real name was Pietro “Bearclaw” Brnwa, a hitman for the mafia before entering the Witness Protection Program. Unfortunately for him, one of his patients recognizes him from the old days and threatens to inform the mafia if his surgery isn’t successful. The main character exudes a certain amount of raffish charm, and has experienced quite a bit of tragedy in his past. The storyline is split between present day, where Dr. Brown makes his rounds at the hospital and pops pills to stay awake, and the past after his grandparents were murdered and he starts a campaign to find out who killed them – a path that eventually leads to the mafia. Parts of this book were extremely gross and violent (not to mention unrealistic) with very little emotion shown to counteract the gore. But I have to say the wry voice of the Pietro/Peter and the touches of humor made this a winning book to read. I especially loved the Reaper paragraph markers. ( )

Quite the thrill ride, definitely not for the weak of heart. ( )

Medical knowledge and pharmaceutical history 10/10, funny 9/10, terrible ending due to really silly conceit. I still recommend it, especially if you like medicine, history, and dark humor. ( )