Rupture
A. Scott Pearson
Oceanview, $24.95, 288 pages, ISBN: 9781933515236
reviewed by Barry Hunter

It’s always a good thing to come across a good medical thriller. This is a very good one. It reminds me of COMA by Robin Cook in that it is filled with action and features cutting edge technology with a doctor out to solve a problem.

Ira Branch has returned to Memphis, where he grew up, to be a medical researcher at the Gates Memorial Hospital. We first meet him when he helps another doctor try to repair an aneurism caused by a faulty heart device. The patient is one Ira remembers from his childhood. The next day his research is cancelled and he is demoted to surgical rotation due to the lead surgeon lying about his performance.

During the autopsy, Meg Daily, a forensic pathologist, finds inconsistent cells on the device that are similar to those Branch was using for research. Another person, a lead researcher for stem cell research, who is part of RBI, the company that marketed the device, dies while on company business. Several others die as well.

Branch is offered a position at RBI when his assistant is murdered and other strange things start to happen. Ira has an older brother, Henry, who apparently is receiving unauthorized medical procedures. All this adds to the mix as puzzle pieces begin to fit together.

Pearson has written a top notch thriller with plenty of twists and turns to keep everyone guessing as to how it will turn out. He has taken today’s scientific breakthroughs and written what I hope is only the first of many medical thrillers.