Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner
Absent Witness
Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
Nancy Kopp
Class/Genre: Mystery Legal Setting Thriller Medical
Onyx, Oct 1999, $6.99, 380 pp.
In Evanston, Illinois, the Jackson Memorial Hospital is named as one of America’s best health care facilities for the third straight year. Eight months ago, a pickup truck skidded into Katherine Buckley’s car, sending her into a coma. A comatose patient all that time at Jackson, Katherine is now three months pregnant. Her guardians decide to allow the fetus to develop, but hire attorney Carrie Nelson to learn who raped their unconscious daughter.
Carrie quickly learns that many people such as staff and family have legitimate access to Katherine. However, easy access also exists for other patients and strangers wandering the halls of the facility. Though her task seems impossible, Carrie finds a witness to the attack. A mental patient has encoded the information including the identity of the rapist onto a computer disc. Though Carrie now possesses the data, she sues the hospital, not realizing that someone will do anything including murder to end her case.
Nancy Kopp has written a top rate legal thriller that centers on some of today’s most difficult social issues such as keeping a person alive on life support so a fetus can survive. Ms. Kopp also tackles out of control sexual impulses that lead to perverse behavior. The appeal of ABSENT WITNESS remains with the fantastic mystery filled with misdirection that will thoroughly entertain readers even as they think about the social issues of modern medicine.
Harriet Klausner
Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner
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