Beat the Reaper/ Joshua Bazell

Beat the Reaper by Joshua Bazell. action-adventure, mafia, medicine, crime. 332 pages

This book was brought to my attention by Christa, who told me that she wanted me to check out this book because 1. I have the magical ability to force authors to announce sequels when I blog about their books (see my example on my review of Christopher Paolini's "Eragon") and 2. because she thought the book was right up my alley. Normally when people recommend a book to me, I smile, nod, and say something along the lines of "yeah, definitely! Thanks for the recommendation! I've been looking for something good!" only to have forgotten anything they said after about five minutes. For some reason, maybe it was the book's intriguing title, this book stuck in my mind. I need to thank Christa and my strange selective memory, because without either of them, I would have missed out on a real gem.

This story tells the tale (or tales, depending on how you look at the narrative) of Dr. Peter Brown, a New York doctor with a bad attitude and a serious need of some sleep and Pietro Brwna, a contract killer for the mafia. You find out relatively early that these two people are actually the same guy, and that Dr. Brown is simply Pietro after he has been relocated through the Witness Protection Program (PS- I realize this is fiction, but my biggest problem with this story as a whole is that anybody, I don't care HOW smart they are, would be allowed to become a doctor through WitSec...totally unbelievable, but makes for one hell of a story). To those of you that aren't convinced by this premise, think of it as the Showtime TV show "Dexter"---except kind of in reverse. While Dexter is a normal citizen who moonlights as a serial killer, Pietro Brwna/Peter Brown is a cold-blooded killer forced to shift gears and save lives as a doctor regardless of his bloody past.

The shifting narrative style is awesome because Bazell, the author manages to leave every chapter with a perfect cliffhanger that finds you wanting to get back to the other half of the story no matter which half you are currently on, while simultaneously allowing you to enjoy the half you have just re-entered. Bazell's characters, while gritty, sarcastic, and in some cases, downright disgusting, are interesting and leave you wanting to learn more about them. Brwna/Brown himself is the most interesting and his "no bullshit. This is my story and fuck you if you don't like it" attitude makes him one of the more entertaining narrators I've read recently.

What also makes this story so great is that besides all of the interesting tidbits the reader learns about both mafia and medicine, two areas that would seem relatively disconnected, one is also entertained by the fact that Pietro Brwna is a total badass. He manages to slaughter massive groups of guys while sustaining minor injuries as well as think of creative ways to kill people (he actually stabs a guy with a section of his tibia that he removes himself...if that's not the toughest thing you've heard in recent history, then I want you to have my back in a barfight because you've been through some stuff).

Bazell leaves some room for a sequel, although from what I've heard from Christa, there's been no news concerning a second book yet (although that may change upon my posting of this entry...we can dream, right?). Pick this one up if you're looking for a quick, energetic, adrenaline-fueled thrillride...and even if you're not, it certainly won't hurt to try it out (and if it does hurt, it won't hurt as much as removing your own tibia and then getting up and stabbing someone with it).

PS- I listened to this one on audiobook, and it included cool sound effects such as the sound of an EKG machine when one is mentioned in the story, or an echo-effect when characters are in a room with an echo. This may be annoying to some, but I enjoyed it. I'd be interested in hearing if anybody else has encountered audiobooks like this and whether or not they enjoyed the extra sound.