Review: “Needle Work”
I chose this from an ARC program because I like medical TV dramas, and the preview was intriguing.
The Premise
Anesthesiologist Dr. Jude Rosen has been on the job long enough to know that Death is an unfair colleague — sometimes He takes those who don’t deserve it far too early. With his best friend Farrah in the throes of agony in the late stages of cancer, Jude makes a decision to help her that jeopardises his career. After an unrelated malpractice suit upends his life, he finds himself in dire straits financially and unable to provide for his wife and two young daughters. Trouble soon finds him in the form of “diverting” — procuring drugs for illegal use. As he bumbles his way into becoming a criminal, he has to outsmart a wily villain that threatens everything he once took for granted.
The Pros
This was a fast-paced medical thriller with an anti-hero that you can’t help but root for, despite his flaws. The writing style was engaging and thorough in its descriptions, with breathtaking moments of profound reflection:
We’re the doctors in the shadows, behind the curtains, behind the surgeons.
Anesthesiologists carry the most powerful narcotics known to humankind in the front pocket of our scrubs.
When death becomes so routine, the boundaries between who is doing good and who is doing evil don’t just blur — the distinction is ablated.
The descending spiral of the main character is fascinating, and I loved how the relationship between him and his friend Farrah is described — it felt so genuine even in the darkness of its devotion. I also liked the daughter Regina’s reticence and precociousness (possible future psychopath in the making!), and the build-up of the villain was expertly done. The ending was also unexpected and fantastic, and far more real than I would have anticipated.
The Cons
I really enjoyed this book, but I did find there were a couple of moments that didn’t quite add up — the culminating event involves the use of a gun, but I thought the shooter would have had his own; the foreshadowing here spoilt it a bit for me as I knew what was coming the moment the weapon was handed over. I also wished for some more insight into Jude’s early days prior to the moment we meet him; it is repeatedly suggested that he was a bad person, and while I understood his former mistakes, I didn’t get that feeling of him being “rotten to the core” — how, why?
Conclusion
Despite a couple of niggles that I would attribute to my own pickiness as a reader, this was a fantastic read and ticks all the boxes for me in terms of an action-packed, savvy thriller. The medical jargon is explained so any reader can grasp it, and the writer’s style is easy to follow as it unwinds an intriguing plot. If you like “Breaking Bad” and medical dramas like “Grey’s Anatomy” or “E.R.” this would definitely be right up your alley. Note: I was getting the “Walter White”-esque parallel quite alright on my own (as would literally anyone who’s seen the show) so didn’t see the need to spell it out in the actual text of the novel! Nevertheless this was a fabulous joyride of a medical thriller, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys great writing and a suspenseful plot. I look forward to reading more from this author.
