Since reading on autopsy, I have been piqued by diabolical crimes that are revealed by the medical examiners. Medical crimes have been rampant for quite some time. Angels of death are cases in which medical personnel murder their own patients through poisoning or other methods which are intrinsic, identification of the crime only able to be done through an autopsy.
This book delves further into the issue of succinylcholine poisoning such as in the famous Coppolino case years back in the States. The storyline will leave you on the edge of your seat till the last page.
Jennifer Hernandez is a fourth-year medical student at UCLA, just beginning an elective in general surgery, whose world is shattered during a break in an otherwise ordinary day. While relaxing in the surgical lounge of L.A.'s Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre, she half listens to a TV segment on medical tourism: first-world citizens travelling to third-world countries for surgery.
But when she hears her beloved grandmother's name mentioned, Jennifer's heart nearly stops: the CNN reporter says that Maria Hernandez has died, a day after undergoing a hip replacement in New Delhi's Queen Victoria Hospital.
Maria had raised Jennifer and her brothers from infancy, and the bond between grandmother and granddaughter was unbreakable. Still, the news that Maria travelled to India is a shock to Jennifer, until she realizes that it was the only viable option for the hardworking yet uninsured woman.
Devastated, and desperate for answers, Jennifer takes emergency leave from school and heads to India, where relations with local officials go from sympathetic to sour as she pushes for more information.
With revelations of other unexplained deaths compounded by pressure from Indian hospital officials for hasty cremations, Jennifer reaches out to her mentor, New York City medical examiner Dr. Laurie Montgomery, who has her own deep connection to Maria.
Laurie, along with her husband, Dr. Jack Stapleton, rushes to the younger woman's side, and discovers a sophisticated medical facility with little margin for error. As the death count grows, so do the questions, leading Laurie and Jennifer to unveil a sinister, multilayered conspiracy of global proportions.
I have only recently riveted by murder mysteries and thrillers. This novel certainly has made me dig in my heels deeper to continue these genres with a thirst.
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