Deadly Cure

Starred review from September 18, 2017
Set in New York City in 1899, this exceptional thriller from Goldstone (Anatomy of Deception) exposes the underside of American medicine at that time. Dr. Noah Whitestone is about to visit some patients from his Brooklyn practice when a neighbor, Mildred Anschutz, begs him to tend to her five-year-old son, Willard, who’s suffering severe abdominal pain. Despite his providing appropriate treatment—two drops of laudanum to allow the child to rest—Willard dies, and his influential family holds Noah responsible. Desperate to clear his name and preserve his reputation, Noah tests a sample of an unknown pill that Arnold Frias, the regular Anschutz family doctor, prescribed to Willard; a radical journalist later informs Noah that Frias may be connected to a cabal that has already made millions peddling patent medicines that are either worthless or actively harmful. Despite his suspicions about the reporter’s motives, Noah soon has reason to credit his account and finds his own life in jeopardy. Goldstone again blends fact and fiction seamlessly. Agent: Michael Carlisle, Inkwell Management.