Isolation Ward

January 2, 2006
Medical thrillers have been rather sickly of late, but Stanford med student Spanogle has applied the paddles and delivered a real jolt of excitement with this debut novel of a dangerous viral outbreak, diabolical medical chicanery and research run amok. Dr. Nathaniel McCormick, an officer in the CDC's Epidemic Intelligence Service, is called to St. Raphael's Hospital in Baltimore, where three young women come to the emergency room complaining of flulike symptoms and, after being admitted, begin to deteriorate in very alarming (and graphic) ways. After their skin begins to slough off in large patches, Nate fears the worst: that a deadly viral disease has been unleashed as part of a terrorist attack. Nate is an intelligent, impulsive, intriguing character, willing to lie and steal from both friend and foe to further the case. Once he learns, at a very high price, that a drug company has been experimenting with a very particular means for treating diseased organs, things begin to come together—but time remains of the essence. Spanogle is a funny, smart and skilled writer at the beginning of what readers will hope is a long and prolific career.

This author's debut story of medical research turned sinister and murderous is expertly read by Christian Rummel. His female voices are as smooth as those of his males. Make that smooth, believable, and emotional in all the right places. He's so good, perhaps his acting career will take a back seat to a future in narration. Sign him up again, Random House. As for Spanogle, a Stanford medical student and former bioethics researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, he's working on a second medical thriller, GROWTH FACTOR. Growth and maturity are just what his characters and their dialogue need in his otherwise solid first effort. D.J.M. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine