Book Review: Homicidal Intent

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Homicidal Intent     Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
Vivian Chern
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Medical   Thriller
Dell, Sept 2001 $5.99, 400 pp.

Well-behaved twelve-year-old Jason never gave his parents any trouble. Yet one day he walked into his school with a gun and calmly killed three people (two students and a teacher) and injured another student. He then calmly put the gun down and went over to table and grabbed some popcorn. The city of New York is horrified that something like this could happen at such an upscale school.

The prosecutors want to try him as an adult but even they want to know what triggered this unprovoked attack. The lead prosecutor on the case asks his live-in fiancee, Tamsen Bayn to evaluate the child’s parents. At the same time she agrees to help, she also plans to represent Grandines Pharmaceuticals with their new drug that is coming out on the market in a few weeks. While taking it, alcoholics won’t have the urge to drink. As people connected to Grandines start dying, Tamsen begins the dangerous game of sleuthing which leads to a possible link between the two cases and a possible acquittal for Jason.

This is an exciting medical thriller in which appearances are deceiving and what you know probably will kill you. It is the tale of ruthless men who will do anything to attain their goals and it is the story of one doctor acting as the Lone Ranger trying to stop them. Both the heroine and the villains are believable helping make the story line reminiscent of the works of Robin Cook and Michael Palmer.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner