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| A new author for me. I hope to find more. |
After getting rescued from a skiing mishap that could have been much worse and hearing the news that a friend has been turned into a vegetable by a scuba accident, the anonymous narrator, a wealthy med-tech developer, realizes he’s never worried what will happen if illness or accident leave him incapacitated, unable to communicate his wish to die if he can’t Live-with-a-capital-L, or make sure that wish is honored.
A sympathetic friend puts him in touch with a shadowy group he dubs the Death Angels who offer a unique service. For a cool million, they’ll ask you enough questions to construct an individualized profile of your likely future wishes, then monitor your health, keep an eye out for accidents and step in without further notice if you cross the quality-of-life line you’ve drawn yourself.
The big advantage to this arrangement, of course, is that you get to make decisions about the end of your life while you’re still in the pink of health. The big disadvantage is that once you’ve made the final payment, your contract with the Death Angels is irrevocable—even if you soon develop an aneurysm that produces symptoms so serious you know the Death Angels are watching, even if in the meantime you’ve developed an emotional bond to a son you never knew you had that’s so vital it’s absolutely essential you stay alive at least long enough to find the missing boy and bid him farewell.
White, no stranger to suspenseful but wildly implausible plots (Missing Persons, 2005, etc.), wisely front-loads this thriller with a flatly incredible premise that pays off down the road despite a cargo of further improbabilities.
"Manner of Death"
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| Very involved but interesting and worth a read. |
Following a former colleague's funeral, two strangers approach Gregory and suggest that the death he just mourned did not occur from natural causes and is neither the first nor the last of a terrible chain in which Gregory is the crucial link.
Delving into his past and examining the deaths of associates from his post-medical school days almost two decades before, Gregory quickly discovers that all have been victims of bizarre, fatal accidents except him and his old flame, Sawyer Sackett.
Reuniting with Sawyer to investigate the string of possible murders, Alan finds not only his life, but his marriage endangered. Soon he is moving into the sights of a dangerously disturbed killer-- and deeper into an unsolved mystery buried in the annals of modern American crime.
“Critical Conditons”
Denied an experimental new treatment that could save her life by her parent's managed-care provider, the stepsister has become a symbol of a health care system more concerned with costs than with the lives of its patients.
And when a wealthy executive of the family's HMO is found dead, Alan and Denver detective Sam Purdy uncover the truth that links the teenage girl to his death, and the truth behind a family willing to kill in the name of love...and revenge.
