Fatal Intent by Tammy Euliano

About the Book:

When her elderly patients start dying at home days after minor surgery, anesthesiologist Dr. Kate Downey wants to know why. The surgeon, not so much. “Old people die, that’s what they do,” is his response. When Kate presses, surgeon Charles Ricken places the blame squarely on her shoulders. Kate is currently on probation and the chief of staff sides with the surgeon, leaving Kate to prove her innocence and save her own career. With her husband in a prolonged coma, it’s all she has left.

Aided by her eccentric Great Aunt Irm, a precocious medical student, and the lawyer son of a victim, Kate launches her own unorthodox investigation of these unexpected deaths. As she comes closer to exposing the culprit’s identity, she faces professional intimidation, threats to her life, a home invasion, and, tragically, the suspicious death of someone close. The stakes escalate to the breaking point when Kate, under violent duress, is forced to choose which of her loved ones to save—and which must be sacrificed.

My Review:

I enjoyed this novel. Kate is a good amateur sleuth, trying to preserve her own job while investigating why patients are dying a day after a surgery that should not have been life threatening. 

The issue Euliano focuses on in this novel is end of life. How and when should a person die? She explores two aspects. Kate's husband is in a vegetative state after a traumatic brain injury. She and her brother-in-law battle as she wants to keep her husband alive while the brother-in-law wants to let him die. The other aspect is a sort of physician assisted suicide with a devious twist.

Euliano's writing style is good. The novel kept going at a good pace and held my interest to the very end. I like Kate as a heroine, tenacious in getting to the truth even at the possible expense of her career. I will be looking for the next one in this series.

My rating: 4/5 stars.

About the Author:

Tammy Euliano completed all of her training at the University of Florida, from undergrad through fellowship, and has been on faculty since 1996. She specializes in obstetric anesthesia, with special interest in education of medical students and residents. She has authored a basic textbook of anesthesia for medical students. She was promoted to full professor and later decided to resign her administrative role, reduce her clinical time to 60% and began writing fiction. You can find out more at https://teuliano.com/ 

Oceanview Publishing, 320 pages.

(My star ratings: 5-I love it, 4-I like it, 3-It's OK, 2-I don't like it, 1-I hate it.)