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Staff Pick
Beat the Reaper: A Novel

Beat the Reaper: A Novel

Current price: $21.99
Publication Date: September 14th, 2009
Publisher:
Back Bay Books
ISBN:
9780316032216
Pages:
336

Staff Reviews

If you like a book like an old sweater, all warm, fuzzy and comforting, stay far, far away from this one! On the other hand, if you don’t know the meaning of the word squeamish, if you prefer your dog book dripping rabid foam, your pride & prejudice with a side of zombies, your girl with a dragon tattoo … then this one is for you.  Be prepared for a story that will smack you upside the head, grab you with sharp teeth and shake you until you’re dizzy. 

— Christine J.

Josh Bazell's story of a young Manhattan emergency room doctor with an unusual past goes down like a good Bloody Mary with a powerful kick. The briskly paced thriller offers an entertaining plot, quirky characters, and a shocking ending that will haunt the reader for a long while.

Amy Pierson, Toad Hall Bookstore, Rockport, MA
January 2009 Indie Next List

Description

Dr. Peter Brown is an intern at Manhattan's worst hospital, with a talent for medicine, a shift from hell, and a past he'd prefer to keep hidden. Whether it's a blocked circumflex artery or a plan to land a massive malpractice suit, he knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men.

Pietro "Bearclaw" Brnwna is a hitman for the mob, with a genius for violence, a well-earned fear of sharks, and an overly close relationship with the Federal Witness Relocation Program. More likely to leave a trail of dead gangsters than a molecule of evidence, he's the last person you want to see in your hospital room.

Nicholas LoBrutto, aka Eddy Squillante, is Dr. Brown's new patient, with three months to live and a very strange idea: that Peter Brown and Pietro Brnwa might-just might-be the same person . . .

Now, with the mob, the government, and death itself descending on the hospital, Peter has to buy time and do whatever it takes to keep his patients, himself, and his last shot at redemption alive. To get through the next eight hours-and somehow beat the reaper.

Spattered in adrenaline-fueled action and bone-saw-sharp dialogue, Beat the Reaper is a debut thriller so utterly original you won't be able to guess what happens next, and so shockingly entertaining you won't be able to put it down.

About the Author

Josh Bazell has a BA in writing from Brown University and an MD from Columbia.  His first book, the international bestseller Beat the Reaper, has been published in thirty-two languages and was one of Time's ten best novels of 2009.  He lives in Brooklyn and Barcelona.

Praise for Beat the Reaper: A Novel

"Outrageously funny....BEAT THE REAPER may be the most imaginative debut of the year."—Carol Memmott, USA Today

"It's just what the doctor ordered....Think House meets The Sopranos."—Benjamin Svetkey, Entertainment Weekly

"Completely outrageous...genuinely entertaining."—New York Times Book Review

"A fast, funny ride....Bazell keeps the story moving at warp speed."—Charlotte Observer

"A breakneck cross between a hospital drama, The Godfather, and a Quentin Tarantino film."—Bloombert News

"It's too much fun and too much gore to take your eyes off the page."—Washington Post Book World

"Savagely diverting....BEAT THE REAPER only gets better, turn by turn, page by page."—New York Daily News