Dr. Peter Brown is an intern at Manhattan's worst hospital, with a talent for medicine, a shift from hell, and a past he'd prefer to keep hidden. Whether it's a blocked circumflex artery or a plan to land a massive malpractice suit, he knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men.
Pietro "Bearclaw" Brnwna is a hitman for the mob, with a genius for violence, a well-earned fear of sharks, and an overly close relationship with the Federal Witness Relocation Program. More likely to leave a trail of dead gangsters than a molecule of evidence, he's the last person you want to see in your hospital room.
Nicholas LoBrutto, aka Eddy Squillante, is Dr. Brown's new patient, with three months to live and a very strange idea: that Peter Brown and Pietro Brnwa might-just might-be the same person ...
Now, with the mob, the government, and death itself descending on the hospital, Peter has to buy time and do whatever it takes to keep his patients, himself, and his last shot at redemption alive. To get through the next eight hours-and somehow beat the reaper.
Spattered in adrenaline-fueled action and bone-saw-sharp dialogue, BEAT THE REAPER is a debut thriller so utterly original you won't be able to guess what happens next, and so shockingly entertaining you won't be able to put it down.
Josh Bazell holds a BA in writing from Brown University and a MD from Columbia. He is currently a medical resident at the University of California, San Francisco, and is working on his second novel.
"Outrageously funny....BEAT THE REAPER may be the most imaginative debut of the year."
"It's just what the doctor ordered....Think
House meets
The Sopranos."
"Completely outrageous...genuinely entertaining."
"A fast, funny ride....Bazell keeps the story moving at warp speed."
"A breakneck cross between a hospital drama,
The Godfather, and a Quentin Tarantino film."
"It's too much fun and too much gore to take your eyes off the page."
"Savagely diverting....BEAT THE REAPER only gets better, turn by turn, page by page."
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Distributor: Hachette Book Group USA
Publication Date: 09-14-2009
Pages: 336
Measurements: 8.25in X 5.5in X 1in X .68lb
