This Won't Hurt a Bit

Rating:
Summary: What a good read!
Review: I couldn't put it down. "This Won't Hurt A Bit" keeps you wondering -- and caring -- about whodunit. It has red herrings aplenty and unforeseen twists, all firmly contexted in a modern hospital. It even has a bit of romance (not too much). Unlike most hospital/medical novels, it makes support staff the major players, and it treats doctors as walk-on characters with feet of clay. Clear prose, good plotting, interesting characters, and an abundance of texture -- who could ask for more?

Rating:
Summary: What a good read!
Review: I couldn't put it down. "This Won't Hurt A Bit" keeps you wondering -- and caring -- about whodunit. It has red herrings aplenty and unforeseen twists, all firmly contexted in a modern hospital. It even has a bit of romance (not too much). Unlike most hospital/medical novels, it makes support staff the major players, and it treats doctors as walk-on characters with feet of clay. Clear prose, good plotting, interesting characters, and an abundance of texture -- who could ask for more?

Rating:
Summary: I HATE TIMOTHY SHEARD
Review: I hate that Timothy Sheard. Because of him, I lost a day of work. I was reading his novel, THIS WON'T HURT A BIT, and I could not put it down. I was up until 3 in the morning. I was so tired, I had to call out from my job. I am a respiratory therapist. I work in a big teaching hospital in Brooklyn. The scenes in the book were right out of my job. I especially liked it when the mean Dr. Gandy - she is a female urologist - was giving nurse Gary Tuttle a hard time. Gary told her, "Yes doctor, okay, doctor," but under his breath he was muttering, "That f-ing b-. That g- d- b-.!" I laughed and laughed, because I have muttered under my breath many times when I had to deal with a mean physician. I hope Mr. Sheard does not write another book. I am almost out of sick days, and I can not afford to take more time off from my job. M-. A respiratory therapist in Brookly.

Rating:
Summary: I HATE TIMOTHY SHEARD
Review: I hate that Timothy Sheard. Because of him, I lost a day of work. I was reading his novel, THIS WON'T HURT A BIT, and I could not put it down. I was up until 3 in the morning. I was so tired, I had to call out from my job. I am a respiratory therapist. I work in a big teaching hospital in Brooklyn. The scenes in the book were right out of my job. I especially liked it when the mean Dr. Gandy - she is a female urologist - was giving nurse Gary Tuttle a hard time. Gary told her, "Yes doctor, okay, doctor," but under his breath he was muttering, "That f-ing b-. That g- d- b-.!" I laughed and laughed, because I have muttered under my breath many times when I had to deal with a mean physician. I hope Mr. Sheard does not write another book. I am almost out of sick days, and I can not afford to take more time off from my job. M-. A respiratory therapist in Brookly.

Rating:
Summary: A Procedural in Reverse
Review: This book didn't hurt a bit! It's got humor, a real crime, conspiracy, all the usual suspects. And--the solution is found not by a staff of ace police investigators, but in a mirror image of a procedural, the original suspect's hospital co-workers--the most-likely-to-be-questioned--are asking the questions and using their network of fellow-worker loyalties and insider knowledge to find the answers.

It's got characters you can identify with--if they're not like people you know, you're not living right--and a sense of justice that goes beyond the murder that's being solved and into the world where heroes often go unnoticed and the unworthy are treated as heroes. Sheard's depiction of the lives of the ordinary workers as they struggle to make a living, raise their kids, care for patients and each other--their weaknesses and their strengths--is one of the book's strongest points.

The mystery is solved, but I found myself wanting to know more about Lenny, Moose, Birdie and the rest of the crew--and hopefully there will be sequels so we can get better acquainted.