I rarely read fiction but made an exception for South Eight. The marketer’s promise of weaving thorny issues of modern medicine into a mystery with a romance piqued my interest.
Author Larry Atlas writes what he knows. After a career as drill sergeant in the army, Atlas became a successful actor and screenwriter, after which he trained as a hospitalist nurse (RN) before furthering his career as a rehab nurse practitioner (NP).
The novel’s main character, Abel Arkin, MD, goes from teen orphan to military sharpshooter to brilliant hospitalist who questions what he’s doing…and what modern medicine is doing. The plot hinges on a despicable army veteran with end-stage disease blackmailing Dr. Arkin about his role in a tragedy in Afganistan years earlier.
Once I got into the story, the mystery hooked me. Along with the plot line, South Eight grapplies with issues of trust at work and in social relationships. I found the peek into the world of snipers fascinating. The story’s description of “smart” electronic medical records using eye scans to assess physicians responses while reading/inputting data provoked excitement and fear. How wonderful for an up-to-the-minute computer to provide patient lists that indicate who needs to be seen first because of worrisome vital sign changes or lab results. How equally awful to have “big brother” assessing clinicians’ thinking process through eye movements and reaction time to clicks.
It took me longer than I’d like to get into the story. And I don’t know how a non-medical reader would feel about the medical jargon, even though Atlas usually explains what words mean. My advice is to hang in there through the first two chapters because South Eight offers an entertaining, provocative, and satisfying read.
