Fatal Trauma by Richard Mabry

This novel is a pretty good medical thriller and romance. It starts off with drama as a man swinging a pistol enters the ER with his mortally wounded brother. He

insists the doctors save his dying brother or he'll kill them all. Dr. Mark and nurse Kelly slowly do procedures, drawing out the time, hiding the fact the wounded man has already died. Finally, a policeman enters the room and shots are fired. The policeman and the pistol toting man are dead.

The man and his dying brother were part of a drug cartel recently up from Mexico. The leader of the cartel is determined to see all of the ER personnel killed in revenge. Mark and Kelly are in danger.

There is quite a bit of action in the novel. There is good character presentation as well. Mark and Kelly had recently started dating and we see some development in their relationship. That also includes their attitudes towards God. Mark had become a Christian as a child but had let his faith dwindle. There is clear presentation of Christianity as Mark and Kelly (and others) discuss faith.

There are plenty of red herrings and people who turn out to be someone other than they claimed to be. There were several times of great suspense. There was a good twist at the end that surprised me.

Beside the suspense and romance, there were other issues in the novel. The story reminded me how vulnerable doctors are to malpractice suits. Child abuse was a concern as a young child was brought into the ER twice with suspicious injuries. I always enjoy learning about something when I read a novel. In this one I read about a SCRAM ankle bracelet, “secure continuous random alcohol monitoring.” It is worn by people needing to prove they are not consuming any alcohol.

I enjoyed reading the novel. There were just a couple of places where I felt the police procedure was a little out of normal and the plot was a bit off. But in general it was a good medical suspense with a bit of romance.

I am taking part in a blog tour of this book and you can read other reviews here.

Richard Mabry is a retired physician and the author of seven novels. His previous works have been finalists for the Carol Award and Romantic Times Reader's Choice Award, and have won the Selah Award. He and his wife live in North Texas. You can find out more at www.rmabry.com and www.rmabry.blogspot.com.

Abingdon Press, 304 pages.

I received a complimentary egalley of this book through Lirfuse for the purpose of an independent and honest review.