Teaser Tuesdays: Saving Max by Antoinette van Heugten

"He lies motionless in a slurry of blackened blood, his white T-shirt and underwear spattered with crazy, crimson spurts. His legs and arms are curled in fetal position. "
~Page 108

Title: Saving Max
Author: Antoinette van Heugten
ISBN: 978-0778329633
Publisher: Mira Books/2010
Pages: 400

Lawyer Danielle Parkman is a single mother with high-functioning Autistic son. Max, a teenager is very intelligent but lately he has withdrawn into himself by taking drugs and having violent tendencies. As nothing seems to work for him, Danielle decides to take him to Maitland, a well known psychiatric facility. They do some tests on Max telling her that Max needs constant care as he is violent, which can harm himself and others. Danielle doesn't believe it at all and wants him out of the facility but somehow can't take him out.

When she tries to get him out all by herself, she finds him lying in blood, unconscious and a body of another teenager, near him. That boy has been bruttaly stabbed to death. Thinking the worst, she tries to run away with her son and is caught, taken for an accessory for a violent crime. She is arrested and and is prevented from seeing her son.

But Danielle knows that Max can't have killed that other boy even though the circumstances point out towards him. She has to get to the bottom of it and save her son, no matter what. When she does that, she finds irregularities in Maitland, where no one is ready to cooperate with her. Infact she finds that, Max is being given drugs for what he is not. The more she gets into it, more and more skeletons seem to tumble out. She has to know if her son is responsible for the crime and she is prepared to go to any length to find out the truth. If not Max, who is the killer? And why?

Saving Max deals with the dilemma of a mother with a special need child. Dealing with autitism, in a daily basis is not easy. Max is vey intelligent but he is volatile and he can't lead a normal life like others. Danielle is well aware of that and tries to make it as normal she can, for Max. This along with it being a crime fiction, pulled me right into it. I could feel her pain at all times. Max's too. When the truth does come out, it is too horrifying to contemplate....

Teaser Tuesdays: Sins of the Flesh by Caridad Piñeiro

"Her skin had assumed the colour of the verdant woods around her. I'm human, but my skin isn't normal, she thought as the full impact of her condition hit her." ~~~Page 17

Title: Sins of the Flesh
Author: Caridad Piñeiro
ISBN: 9780446543835
Publisher: Forever/2009
Pages: 313

Back Cover:

Caterina Shaw’s days are numbered. Her only chance for survival is a highly experimental gene treatment – a risk she willingly takes. But now Caterina barely recognizes herself. She has new, terrifying powers, an exotic, arresting body — and she’s been accused of a savage murder, sending her on the run.

Mick Carrera is a mercenary and an expert at capturing elusive, clever prey. Yet the woman he’s hunting down is far from the vicious killer he’s been told to expect: Caterina is wounded, vulnerable, and a startling mystery of medical science. Even more, she’s a beautiful woman whose innocent sensuality tempts Mick to show her exactly how thrilling pleasure can be. The heat that builds between them is irresistible, but surrendering to it could kill them both . . . for a dangerous group is plotting its next move using Caterina as its deadly pawn.

My views:

The title and the cover are somewhat a misnomer. This is more a paranormal suspense than anything else. It has also tackles medical issues.....the ethics of it. Do doctors have the right to experiment with human beings? What if something goes wrong? That's what happened with Caterina. An experiment went horribly wrong, she became a murder suspect and is being hunted down for it. Mick somehow can't believe she is a murderer. He takes her to his own place, hiding her from the law as well as the killer hired by the doctor. He along with his sister start a detox programme and she slowly recovers her memory and remembers everthing. However, the toxicity is too much to make her an healthy person.

There are loose ends. Some of the characters seem too good or too bad. The plot too stumbles at places. But for a fast read, it works well.

TSS: Life Support by Tess Gerritsen

Title: Life Support
Author: Tess Gerritsen
ISBN: 978-0671553043
Publisher: Pocket books/1998
Pages: 400

Back Cover:

New York Times bestselling author Tess Gerritsen weaves authenticity into another novel of searing medical suspense, as a dedicated woman doctor probes into the cause of a mystifying and lethal outbreak.

The quiet overnight shift at Springer Hospital ER suits Dr. Toby Harper just fine -- until she admits a man in critical condition from a possible viral infection of the brain. The delirious man barely responds to treatment -- and then disappears without a trace. Before Toby can find him, a second case occurs, revealing a terrifying fact: the virus can only be spread through direct tissue exchange. Following a trail of death that winds from a pregnant sixteen-year-old prostitute to her own home, Toby discovers the unthinkable: the epidemic didn't just happen -- someone let it loose....

My views:

I have read almost all of the Robin Cook books but this is my first Tess Gerritsen book. And I am determined to read more of her works. Dr Toby Harper has to get into the bottom of it, when she finds similarities between the patients admitted in the hospital. She suspects an epidemic and when she gets around asking for facts, she finds herself isolated. She is suspected of abusing her own mother and even her sister thinks the worst about her. But all this makes Toby more determined. She is a very strong personality and is not deterred by the oppisition.

Gerritsen's knowledge about the medical world is commendable. Her writring is vey good which totally engrosses the reader. And with pharma giants involved, this book becomes so very real and scary...

TSS: The Switch by Sandra Brown

Happy Sunday to all, the last one of January 2010. A whole month is gone in a jiffy. After few weeks of cold, we are having sunny weather. I am soaking it up and enjoying the day. Life couldn't have been better than this. Personal front is really going good, although it hasn't been very conducive for reading.

Also I had been lagging behind my reviews. Today I wrote all those pending reviews and scheduled those to be posted in the next few days. I kind of feel very light. Here is one of those reviews I wrote.


Title:The Switch
Author: Sandra Brown
ISBN: 0446609943
Publisher: Warner Vision/2000
Pages: 550

Gillian and Melina Lloyd are identical twins. They share a bond which can only happen with identical twins. No one can tell them apart. Melina works as a media escort. And Gillian is desperate for a child. So much so that she gets herself enrolled into a feritilty clinic and is a prime candidate to receive sperm from a donor. The day she is artificially inseminated, she meets Melina and they celebrate. However, nothing can be known before a week or so. Seeing Gillian tense, Melina asks Gillian to take her place to escort a NASA astronaut Col. "Chief" Hart. Gillian refuses at first.

Next morning Gillian is found brutally murdered and Melina is devastated. It turns out that, as Chief was the person who saw her, he is the prime suspect. He along with Melina, is determined to find the killer. And they stumble upon a totally horrifying scheme of a so called fanatic, a television preacher, who has thousands of followers. He can go to any length to protect his interests, and is determined to use Melina in place of Gillian for his own ends. With the FBI entering the scene, the plot thickens as a major conspiracy is discovered.

The Switch is a good suspense thriller, with misuse of medical practices thrown in, in good measure. The worst part is, it can be true too, if we are not careful and let psychotic megalomania rule over minds. There is this romance aspect too, which is no way deters the story.