Blood Double

Rating:
Summary: 4 1/2 stars
Review: Dr. Carroll Monks, an emergency room doctor, saves a mysterious man from a heroin overdose. A mysterious fire breaks out and the mans blood samples are stolen.
Dr. Monks sets out to learn more about the man he saved and soon finds himself in a very dangerous situation.
The rapid pace, as well as the subject matter (The human genome), makes it a quick and exciting read. A good hi-tech medical thriller.

Recommended.

Rating:
Summary: A good follow-up
Review: I loved McMahon's first book, Twice Dying. And while Blood Double isn't quite as potent, it is a fast-paced narrative that has a lot of merit. The characters are believably well developed, particularly Lex Rittenour, the Gates-type computer wiz with a personality deficit and a drug problem. McMahon nails Lex's drug-addict behavior nicely: the grim nasties when he needs a fix, the nutty pleasantries when he's had one.

The pithy issue of genome mapping (and its many-tiered implications) and the pending IPO of Lex's very incomplete computer program (that promises to bring in billions) and the sundry Big Boys involved in the financial aspects of this stock offering are at the core of this book.

People involved, even peripherally, in the program's creation and sale keep getting dead. It is Lex's near-fatal overdose that lands him in the ER where Monks is responsible for saving his life. The book takes off like a rocket from that point, with some harrowing attempts on Monks's life, the introduction of a possible love interest (the one character I found not entirely believable) and ultimately a harsh look at the reality of the corporate world--where what you put a stop to today will get renovated and go out there tomorrow, no matter what.

Clean, lean prose and an intense narrative make this a book easily read in one sitting.
Recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Fast and solid
Review: On a March evening in San Francisco a dying man is dumped in Mercy Hospital's parking lot, and it doesn't take ER's head doctor, Carroll Monks, long to discover he's more than just your average overdosed junkie. Only minutes after the man is swept away by his physician and several tough looking bodyguards, the hospital is set on fire and vandalized, the man's blood samples gone. Soon Monks and his daughter, an intern at Mercy, are being targeted for what they know and forced to flee for their lives in search of answers.

BLOOD DOUBLE, Neil McMahon's second book about this tough but believable Carroll Monks, hooks the reader immediately and continues to be fast paced and full of fascinating scientific information on genetics. While the writing is not lyrical, it is solid for its genre, and while the story seldom stirs us deeply enough to laugh or cry, it escapes being shallow by allowing us a glimpse into the horrific lives of illegal immigrants forced into street slavery. There are some great action scenes near the end and the characters, thankfully, remain true to themselves. The villain may be no great surprise, but there's still a twist.

For readers interested in a different sort of medical thriller with a strong protagonist and some cutting edge genetics, BLOOD DOUBLE is a winner.