The Doctors' Lounge

 










I just finished reading The Doctors' Lounge:  Medicine from the Inside. (Brier Hospital) by Lawrence Gold M.D. As a nurse, I am always interested in medical based mysteries.

"Jacob Weizman, the popular character first introduced in the novel, No Cure for Murder, has, after sixty years of exemplary medical practice, suffered a crisis of confidence and has withdrawn from hospital practice. He spends mornings in the Doctors’ Lounge where he becomes a sage, a sounding board, consultant, adviser, and all around mentor for physicians, nurses, and even for hospital administrators.
Through Jacob’s involvement, we observe the realities of medical practice and how it affects practitioners and patients alike."

This book gives a really good, honest look into the day to day professional and private lives of physician's, nurses and other hospital staff and the issues that they face in today's world. Underneath this part of the story, is "a mystery".

Jacob Weizman has been a physician for 60 years. Yes, he is 88. His wife Lola is a psychiatrist. Jacob has recently taken a temporary or unofficial retirement after the death of a young patient. He questions could he have done more, did he miss something, is he not as sharp as he used to be. But he continues to hang out in the Doctors' Lounge provide consultations.

Maury is a colleague of Jacob and Lola. He lost his wife and is very depressed.

Bernie is also a colleague and is showing signs of cognitive impairment. His abilities as a doctor are questioned by the staff.

Harmony Lane is a young doctor who lost her privileges a few years ago after she administered experimental drugs to some patients and some of those patients died. She has been reinstated. Her patient Sy, and his wife beg her to end his suffering from a terminal illness, but she refuses. After his death in the hospital, Harmony is accused of murder. She is now in danger of losing her medical license and possibly going to prison. Was it palliative care? Euthanasia? Murder?

Lisa Logan is brought in after a serious suicide attempt. She is 26 and has a "do not resuscitate" form signed.
Her twin sister says "let her die."  Her mother says "save her." What should her doctor do?

Terri Katz is a young nurse at Brier Hospital. She did two tours in Iraq and settled into civilian life. But she has a feeling someone is watching her. Then the threatening phone calls start. Her car tires are slashed. Who is doing this and why? How far will they go? (This is the mystery part of the story)

This is not "Gray's Anatomy". While that is an entertaining show, that, yes I watch it ..all that stuff didn't go on when I worked in a hospital. While the book is fiction, this story deals with what doctors and nurses really deal with; aging of their patients and themselves, what is their place as they age, terminal illnesses and how to ease suffering and allow people to die with dignity, lawsuits-legitimate or frivolous, what are patients wishes and what is the best thing to do for them, supporting patient's families, colleagues and their families.

I found the writing very good. I think most people don't think of their doctor as being a person like them that has friends, family, feelings of  happiness, sadness, or frustration. After all they have to appear calm, confident and optimistic or what would the patients think? I think this story gives a true depiction of what it is to be a doctor, trying to do the best they can for their patients and how that doesn't always go as they hoped.

Lawrence Gold has written eight books before this one in the Brier hospital series. I was not aware of this series and look forward to reading them.

http://www.goodreads.com/series/103915-brier-hospital

Here is his website which shows his fiction, non fiction and screenplays.

http://www.lawrencewgoldmd.com/home-and-brier-hospital-series.html



From Goodreads:

"Lawrence W. Gold, MD is a retired physician. He is a veteran of the Vietnam War where he served in an evacuation hospital, ran an emergency room and was a Battalion Surgeon. He completed his training in internal medicine and diseases of the kidney in 1968.

He retired in 1995 after 23 years in a hospital-based practice caring for patients with complicated illnesses and served as Chief of Medicine. After retirement he and his wife, Doris, spent time sailing at sea. He has written three screenplays based on his novels. His screenplay for Rage won honorable mention at the 80th annual Writer's Digest contest. He lives in Grass Valley, CA with his wife."
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/516092.Lawrence_W_Gold

I received a free copy in exchange for a review.

Wayward Pines Season Two

Guess what?




Wayward Pines has a season two. Did you watch it last summer?

It ended like it ended as in no more to come. It was based on a book series by Blake Crouch.
M. Night Shyamalan is the producer. (Got to be good, right?)
If you like thrillers, twists and feelings of "what just happened here", I recommend it.

Season two starts on May 25 on Fox, 8 p.m.

Here is the synopsis from Fox.

"From M. Night Shyamalan and based on Blake Crouch's international best-selling series of books, 10 all-new episodes of the suspenseful drama are set to air in Summer 2016. The second season will pick up in the wake of Season One, when a new arrival in Wayward Pines finds himself in the middle of a serious rebellion, as the residents battle over how to preserve the endangered human race."

Series one synopsis from Fox:

"Secret Service agent Ethan Burke arrives in the bucolic town of Wayward Pines, ID, on a mission to find two missing federal agents. But instead of answers, Ethan's investigation only turns up more questions. What's wrong with Wayward Pines? Each step closer to the truth takes Ethan further from the life he knew, from the husband and father he was, until he must face the terrifying reality that he may never get out of Wayward Pines alive."   - Written by Fox

Looks like Season One is available on Hulu.

Television interview with Dean Mayes, author of The Recipient

O.k. y'all. Watch this interview.

Remember I have been telling you about the book The Recipient? It came out May 2.

Here is an interview with Dean Mayes, the author of the book, on a television program in Adelaide, Australia called Our Time TV.  It is just short of 10 minutes and you will get a good idea of what the book is about and why it is SO GOOD.  And you get to hear people with  real Australian accenst... because they are from Australia...(Sorry, Dean, Americans love to hear accents. We don't have accents, other people do. LOL)

http://www.deanfromaustralia.com/2016/05/talking-recipient-with-our-time-tv.html

Onyx Webb Book 5 by Richard Fenton and Andrea Waltz

 

 Have you been following the Onyx Webb series?
Synopsis of Book One in case you haven't started it.

 "It’s June, 1980 and piano prodigy, Juniper Cole is on the way to her senior prom.
- It’s January 2010, and Koda Mulvaney has blown through his 20 million dollar trust fund and is told by his father to return home and go to work.
- It’s August, 1904 and little Onyx Webb is on her way to the famous World’s Fair in St. Louis with her father, Catfish.
Two of the three will see a ghost, one will become a ghost and everyone will learn that life is hard to let go of even when you’re dead. A paranormal suspense, supernatural romance, with a dash of historical fiction, Onyx Webb is what author Richard Fenton and Andrea Waltz have called creep-spiration. The stories may haunt you, the darkness may disturb you, but ultimately you’ll be reminded to treasure every moment of your life because… If you think life is precious now? Just wait until you’re dead."

In Book Five, we learn more about the Mulvaney's and their history, Stan Lee and his history, more about what makes them tick along with Mika and Onyx. The web continues to be woven a little tighter with each book. This is one of those books that you have that feeling of not wanting to read the last few pages, because then it is done and now what? We have to wait until July for Book Six. These are really quick reads. I could easily read one in a day.

Here is the new cover. Now the series isn't horror so if you don't like that sort of thing, don't worry. Think Twilight, Dark Shadows ...



FYI: Onyx Webb: Book One was a finalist (in the Cross Genre category) in the National Indie Excellence Awards. http://www.indieexcellence.com/indie-results-10th-finalists.htm

The authors have made being a fan of the series, interactive. It's pretty fun. They have a great Face Book page and you can become a fan and receive newsletters that are pretty cool. They a bit about their inspirations for different parts and settings of the story, how they go about writing such a complex series and "fun facts" about other things. For instance did you know the reason there is all the hoopla about Friday the 13th? This was on the FB site last week.

"Why is Friday the 13th considered bad luck? Historically: The # 13 represents Judas, the 13th to arrive at The Last Supper. Friday by itself is unlucky because it was the day of Christ's Crucifixion. Years ago, the British set out to disprove the superstition. They named a new vessel HMS Friday, laid her to keel on a Friday, and then set her to sea on a Friday that fell on the 13th. Neither ship not crew was ever heard from again. Then of course, there's Apollo 13. - Source The Little Book of Answers by Doug Lennox"

https://www.amazon.com/Onyx-Webb-10-book-series/dp/B07FRPKDWF

Get entangled!

I received a free copy in exchange for a review - but I really like this series!

Excuses

I haven't been a very good example of a blogger recently, have I?

Well, I have excuses.

It all started over a month ago with intentional home fixing up which has morphed into "have to do things" because we looked too close. You know how that goes. Example: you intend to clean off the stove and the next thing you know, you are cleaning the oven, the refrigerator, and cabinet. If you happen to walk in the next room in the same time period, you will start it all over again in that room.

We are into several big things (I think) which has involved numerous trips to do it yourself stores, walking around the house inside and out, looking at various things on the internet, holding the net on the ground in case husband falls off the roof, moving things on and off decks blah blah blah.

I don't really like to do this kind of thing. I am more of a "let me know when you're done, I will keep out of the way" person.



Currently reading and will share soon:

Onyx Webb book 5. Thanks Andrea and Richard. Just a very few pages to go.
Laying Ghosts: A Selkie Moon Mystery prequel. Thanks Virginia.

Anyone notice a theme here?

Then on my reading radar: The Doctor's Lounge (thanks Larry) - queued up in my Nook.

For my June Mystery Book Club, we will be reading books from the Mystery Award Nominees 2016. These can be easily found on http://stopyourekillingme.com/


What is the date today? 


Gotta run! Be back soon.

Houdini and Doyle

Did you know about this mini series starting tonight? I didn't tell one of my friends told me about it.
How did I not know about this? 10 episode series on Fox 8 p.m. Central

IMDB
"At the turn of the 20th century the Metropolitan Police were overwhelmed with bizarre cases so they turned to outsiders including Houdini and Doyle, who collaborated with New Scotland Yard on some unsolved and inexplicable crimes. "

Wiki
        

"Harry Houdini is a skeptic who doesn't believe anything unless he can see it himself. Dr. Arthur Conan Doyle is a believer who wants to prove that the supernatural is real. The drama opens in 1900, shortly after the publication of Doyle's The Great Boer War. Houdini and Doyle become involved in the investigation of several mysterious deaths. They argue over whether the causes are natural or supernatural, and often wager on the cause, which causes their police liaison, Constable Stratton, some embarrassment."

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houdini_and_Doyle

 

I didn't know Houdini and Doyle were good friends. Did you? Here is a real picture of them.

 

Got to go set this up on my DVR!

 

 



 

 

Rage Against the Dying

Our May Mystery Book Club book is Rage Against the Dying: A Brigid Quinn Series Book 1 by Becky Masterman.



The description:


"You have never met an (ex) FBI agent like Brigid Quinn

"Keeping secrets, telling lies, they require the same skill. Both become a habit, almost an addiction, that's hard to break even with the people closest to you, out of the business. For example, they say never trust a woman who tells you her age; if she can't keep that secret, she can't keep yours. I'm fifty-nine."

Brigid Quinn's experiences in hunting sexual predators for the FBI have left her with memories she wishes she didn't have and lethal skills she hopes never to need again. Having been pushed into early retirement by events she thinks she's put firmly behind her, Brigid keeps telling herself she is settling down nicely in Tucson with a wonderful new husband, Carlo, and their dogs.
But the past intervenes when a man named Floyd Lynch confesses to the worst unsolved case of Brigid's career—the disappearance and presumed murder of her young protégée, Jessica. Floyd knows things about that terrible night that were never made public, and offers to lead the cops to Jessica's body in return for a plea bargain.
It should finally be the end of a dark chapter in Brigid's life. Except…the new FBI agent on the case, Laura Coleman, thinks the confession is fake, and Brigid finds she cannot walk away from violence and retribution after all, no matter what the cost.
With a fiercely original and compelling voice, Becky Masterman's Rage Against the Dying marks the heart-stopping debut of a brilliant new thriller writer."

Sigh...
The writing is very good. Brigid is a likeable character. I am familiar with many of the landmarks described in Tucson. I give it a 3 1/2 on my "icky meter."

The case Brigid gets sucked back into, after supposed to have been retired, or should we say couldn't stay out of, is "icky" with despicable people and violence. Not my thing. But about 1/2 through, we didn't have to read too much about that anymore. I have a bad feeling that this stuff has happened.

My other thought was that, for being ex FBI, Brigid made some really bad choices in this story bordering on dumb moves. I kept saying to myself, "Why would she do that? OMG, don't do that. While she is obviously a brave woman in her work life, I didn't find that in her personal life. Interesting contrast. I did find her thought processes when working through the case, interesting.

After letting it all settle for a couple of days, I think I might read book 2:  Fear the Darkness.

What did you think?

Addendum: We had a really good discussion at out MBC earlier this month. Most members really liked the book. We all agreed Brigid is a likeable character. After the discussion, I see why Brigid possibly made some of the decisions she did. Most, including me, agreed we want to read the next book in the series.