A SHADOW REVURB
Larry Karp, best known for his “Music Box” series, has now written his second medical thriller. It’s been 17 years since “First, Do No Harm” came out but the wait was well worth it.
His latest effort takes place in Seattle(he calls it Emerald City) in 1976 as the medical world races to create the first in vitro fertilized baby. Karp skillfully reminds us what a huge story this was plus all the controversy that surrounded it.
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Dr. Colin Sanford, a supremely arrogant and skilled OBGYN, joins forces with Dr. Giselle Hearns, to be the first to successfully create an IVF child. However problems arise with the couple who want the child and Dr. Hearn’s boss who, influenced by his rich and powerful father-in-law, is against the procedure on moral and religious grounds.
As Sanford and Hearn do their clandestine research , other forces are at work against them. Blackmail, adultery, and murder enter the story. The detective assigned to the case of Dr. Hearn’s murder, Bernie Baumgartner, is one of Karp’s finest creations. He is a work-obsessed cop with a large dose of “Columbo” in him. He relentlessly pursues the case causing his marriage to disintegrate and his career to go off the rails. The story becomes a battle of mind and will between him and Dr. Sanford with many very surprising twists and turns.
Karp kept me fascinated with this exciting and interesting page-turner. Who would have thought that IVF could be the basis of a thrilling mystery. I just hope that Larry Karp plans more novels featuring Bernie Baumgartner.
Look for “A Perilous Conception” in December.
STEVE SHADOW SCHWARTZ
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