Fatal Complications

At the start of Benedict’s overheated novel, his third medical thriller after The Edge of Death and Adrenaline, Luke Daulton, an anesthesiologist at Swatara Regional Hospital in Hershey, Pa., who was a respected senior resident in his previous job at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, helps a panicky fellow doctor perform a C-section on an overweight patient in the Swatara delivery room. To Luke’s surprise, this life-saving act leads to an odd warning from Dr. Jason Katz, the head of Swatara’s anesthesia department. Meanwhile, lawyer Bart Hinkle is prepared to take drastic measures in dealing with his troublesome wife; Russell Pierce, a prominent U.S. senator, is scheduled for gallbladder surgery; and Luke’s pregnant wife nears full term. The reader soon learns that Katz and his thuggish aide, hospital orderly Nikolai Andropov, are up to no good. The OR scenes play out with satisfactory urgency even as Katz’s evil machinations strain credulity. (Dec.)