cover image The Family Scalpel

The Family Scalpel

Marshall Goldberg. Dufour Editions, $14.95 (384pp) ISBN 978-0-8023-1308-9

What a family. From 80-year-old patriarch down to the 23-year-old medical student/computer whiz, the Blackmans are surgeons, radiologists, ER physicians, epidemiologists--sawbones of some sort or another. All 10 of them are overzealous in the pursuit of career excellence, fame and fortune, and, in this medical thriller, scalpel-deep in international intrigue. The reader is advised to keep the annotated genealogy on hand for easy reference: it's a full-time job keeping track of all these Blackmans, and it does detract from this thriller set largely in Philadelphia's Jefferson University Hospital and the posh Main Line where the Blackmans live. The dialogue sometimes stalls, but when a convincing and creepy serial killer enters, the story really takes off as the Blackman clan gets personally involved. Goldberg, a medical doctor and author of The Karamanov Equations, excels in his descriptions of medical procedures and exotic diseases but as this often gripping story shows, he also has a talent for suspense. (Sept.)