No. of pages: 333
Rating: 8/10
Synopsis: Phil Pescoe, the 37-year-old emergency physician at Deaconess Hospital in San Francisco, becomes alarmed by a dramatic increase in the number of deaths on the East Annex (the Alzheimer's Ward). The deaths coincide with the initiation of a new drug study on the annex where a team of neurologists have been administering "NAF"—an experimental and highly promising treatment for Alzheimer's disease—to half of the patients on the ward. Mysteriously, the hospital pushes forward with the study even though six patients have died since the start of the trial. Pescoe teams up with Clara Wong—a brilliant internist with a troubled past—to investigate the situation. Their inquiries lead them unwittingly into the cutthroat world of big-business pharmaceuticals, where they are threatened to be swept up and lost before they have the opportunity to discover the truth behind the elaborate cover-up.With the death count mounting, Pescoe and Wong race against time to save the patients on the ward and to stop the drug manufacturer from unleashing a dangerous new drug on the general populace.
Review: Phil Pescoe, an emergency doctor at Deconess Hospital is called in for a code blue, a patient is dying and it's up to Phil to try and save them. The odd thing is though, that the code blue is for the Alzheimer's unit, where the patients are never resuscitated. Phil finds out that they're doing a drug study on the Alzheimer patients, but he seems to be the only person alarmed by the dramatic increase in deaths. That is until he meets Clara Wong, who is also incredibly suspicious, so together they are determined to find out what is really happening in the East Annex.
I love medical thrillers, especially ones such as this, where you get a bit of romance mixed with a gripping storyline. I really liked the characters of Phil and Clara, and thought they were well developed and interesting. The medical trials storyline was something new to me, and it seemed really well researched, with a lot of detail, but with it all explained so a non-medical person could understand easily. That's what I love so much about medical books, as well as a great story, I also enjoy learning about the medical side of things which has always interested me. I would definitely recommend this to fans of Tess Gerritsen's earlier works, it has a very similar feel to it, and is just as great a read. Very hard to believe this is a debut novel! Will definitely be looking out for more by this author in the future.
I was given this book as part of a book tour by Pump Up Your Books in return for my honest opinion.
