Beat The Reaper by Josh Bazell (2009).
One of those sensational debut
thriller from most unlikely place: an emergency room.
This thriller about a mob-hitman turns an
emergency room doctor (something to do with a witness protection program) is
written by a real doctor and it is the funniest and most exciting thriller that
I’ve read this year.
From the first to the last
paragraph, it’s gross and hilarious all the way in and out!!
And NEVER slows down! There is not
even one, so-called, filler chapter in this book. Seriously, this writer is
crazy!!
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layers. – Dr. Peter
Brown=Pietro Brnwa. a.k.a. Bearcrow. Enormous mob hitman who is
known for his ruthless violence.
When he was
young, both his grandparents got murdered in their cozy little home.
He then,
later, revenges them by killing murderers, Joe and Mike Virzi. But, by doing so,
he enquires the help of David, Skinflick’s dad and a big shot Mafia, and that
sets the path for his life: A Mob Hitman and the best of them all. At one
point, he is so respected, he becomes a minor celebrity in Mob circle. Not that
he cares.
Later, he
enrolled in witness protection program which granted him enough money to enroll
into the medical school. A few years later, he becomes a surgeon and starts
working as an emergency doc for a really crazy hospital with a new ID. (Dr.
Peter Brown instead of Pietro Brnwa).
Why he betrays his Mafia family is a long and
disturbing story and it is waiting for you just before the final climax which
is so fantastically disgusting and graphic, you just have to shut up and admire
the twisted imagination of Josh Bazell.
Adam Locano. A.k.a. Skinflick. Bearcrow’s first and possibly only friend.
They met in a military school and immediately clicked on. He is also happened
to be a son of very prominent Mafia member and that’s where Bearcrow’s career
starts.
He doesn’t
stand out physically, but has a sharpest mind in family and starts running
things after graduating school. However, he is really crazy, and gets jealousy
like a mad dog and ultimately, that crazy jealous drives Bearcrow to become a
police witness.
LoBrutto=Eddy Squillante. A.k.a. Eddy Consol. This is a guy
who just happens to be admitted to the same hospital where Bearcrow works as
Dr. Brown and out of sheer panic, calls all his friend letting them know where
Bearcrow is hiding. He dies out of a natural cause. So all he does is create
mayhem and die even before it is started. Dumb idiot. I can’t find any other
words to describe him, but we need him for the story, you know.
Magdalena. A musician and a dream
of Bearcrow. He falls in love with her at first sight and ever since cleans up
his act and trying to go straight.
However, we
all DO know what happens when a Mob hitman is trying to go straight, right? (John
Woo’s The Killer) and what will happen to an innocent girl friend of ex-mob
hitman, right? Then you know what’s coming.
Sam Freed. Retired cop who help
Bearcrow get into witness protection program.
The rest
doesn’t really matter much but I will list some anyway.
Akfal, the other suffering
intern, Zhing Zhing, a constantly
depressed intern, Chief Resident, a
sexy and permanently pissed-off woman, Dr.
Friendly, a good but womanizing
surgeon and there are tough nurses from every possible countries out there.
Irish, Caribbean, Philippines, Southern Asia and most of the way through
Eastern Europe. There is also, Kirt Limmi, Skinflick’s close friend
who off course got killed, Denise, Skinflick’s
love of life who married someone else and bunch of Mafia guys with all funny nicknames.
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lace. –Possibly the worst hospital in
all of US. Emergency room is flooded with patients, every single staff is
over-worked, under-paid, and all doctors are sleep-deprived and quite a few are
under drug all the time just to keep it up with their shifts. Basically, they
are in war zone where, off course, Dr. Brown flourishes.
Almost
all freshback occurs in New Jersey, a town of Mafia where, also, Dr. Brown’s
former self, Pietro Brnwa flourish as a Mob Hitman.
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lot. – There are
basically two stories go hand to hand. One is Bearcrow as Dr. Brown who is
running an emergency room in Manhattan. The present.
The other is Bearcrow’s
life up until the witness protection program. The past. And then those two
story line is interacting really nicely to the final and shockingly violent
climax which will leave you with wow for its pure imagination and sickness!!
The story is
quite straight forward, almost cliché. The mob hitman quits his job, hides and enjoys(?)
his life minding his own business. Than out of nowhere, one of his old
acquaintances, LoBrutto, shows up in his hospital half dead, immediately
recognises Bearcrow, gets totally paranoid to think maybe Bearcrow is there to
finish him off, not to mention he is almost dead with natural cause anyway, calls
everyone he knows about his finding.
Well,
not exactly. It actually goes like this: LeBrutto makes a deal with Bearcrow
that as long as he is alive, nobody will find out where Bearcrow is hiding. But
as I mention above, LeBrutto is almost dead with natural cause when he is
admitted to the hospital anyway, so it doesn’t take long for him to die and
before he know, Bearcrow is facing lows of mafia assasins in his hospital. From there,
it’s shoot them all, kill them all action-comedy-thriller to the totally insane, not to mention awesome!!,
climax.
There is also
short history lessons in almost all chapters about how Italian Mafia come to
run the underground for a long time and how they grabs the easiest money out of
tax system and how also more hungry Russians take over the business and so
on…which is surprisingly, really interesting and informative.
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erdict. This book is a
definition of the page-tuner. You won’t be able to put it down (that easily)
unless it is absolutely necessary. And, get this: everything actually gets
better and faster towards the final climax. I mean, when’s the last time you
ever read a book like that?
It is fast, fun, and somehow has both intelligence and wildness at the
same time. The main character Bearcrow is supposedly a wild beast but he is
not. He is tough, yes, but not crazy. Vicious when necessary but generally, very
calm and even generous.
Josh Bazell defenitely has to write a follow-up because this could be a amazing series. Sequel is what
I need.
