Timothy Sheard A Race Against Death

A Race Against Death

Timothy Sheard

Five Star, Aug 2006, $25.95

ISBN: 159414463X

At James Madison University Hospital, the air conditioning is not working so some departments are brutally hot. Union steward widower Lenny Moss has received plenty of complaints over the unhealthy working conditions and has pressured the administration to fix the mechanical problem to include some of the support staff not being in rooms like laundry in the heat of the day. He hopes to spend his nights in heat with housekeeping's Betty, a single mother, who he really likes.

Meanwhile ICU Dr. Samir Singh and his team fail to save the life of Charyse Desic, who had just undergone a recent abortion. The staff's OBGYN Dr. Leslie Odom could not care less that some street loser patient of his died. However her boyfriend Tyrell Hardy does and he plans to kill the doctor who butchered his beloved. Lenny and fourth year medical student Kate Palmer are stunned by Odom's attitude and do some quiet investigating into the physician's past only to find a hellish track record and are unsure what to do especially since the hospital administration has obviously covered for this dangerous physician.

It has been several years since Joe starred in a novel (see SOME CUTS NEVER HEAL and THIS WON'T HURT A BIT), but the wait was worth it. A RACE AGAINST DEATH is an interesting amateur sleuth medical thriller starring a caring hero (perfect personality for a shop steward) who knows he is in over his head with his inquiries, but feels he must act before more tragedies occur. The support cast is top rate as they make the hospital seem genuine and Lenny's romance with Betty adds depth to the character. Timothy Sheard provides a delightful hospital investigative tale that grips readers from the moment that Dr. Singh and his team apply CPR, but fail.

Harriet Klausner