Review: Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell

You know your day is going to be bad when you fall victim to an attempted mugging on your way to work. Dr. Peter Brown's day started off bad, but got worse when he learns that one of his patients is a member of the very mafia that forced him into the witness protection program in the first place. Dr. Brown is then faced with the daunting choice of keeping Eddy Squillante alive or face the mafia that he betrayed.

Beat the Reaper is a fun novel, full of medical intrigue and mafia hit men. It explores the means of entry into the mafia, namely "getting made". Apparently, you have to kill someone to gain entry. Then moves on to corruption among pharmaceutical representatives. Throw in a dash of sex and a fair amount of violence and there it is.

The story is told from the point of view of Dr. Peter Brown. His cynical, somewhat offensive manner is strangely refreshing. He is a strong character and not afraid to think and do things his own way. It mat seem hard to believe that you can relate to a former mafia hit man, but you do and even feel a little sorry for him by the end of the novel.

Alternating with the current medical dilemma is the back story of Peter Brown growing up and meeting his childhood friend, Adam Locano. The story also involves Peter's grandparents being at Auschwitz. I will not give anything away, but I will say that this part of the story was very well told.

One of my favorite parts of the book are the footnotes throughout. Most of them explain various medical terminology and procedures. I actually learned quite a few things from the footnotes of the book, not all of which can be used in every day conversation. There are also footnotes giving some background and history during the Auschwitz scenes.

This was a very well written book. Josh Bazell has a great voice and I look forward to reading more from him.

About the Author:

Josh Bazell holds a BA in English literature and writing from Brown University and an MD from Columbia. He wrote Beat the Reaper while completing his internship at a hospital, not like the one in the book. He is currently a medical resident at the University of California, San Francisco and working on his second book.