Review: Fatal

Something is happening to the people of Belinda, West Virginia. They’re coming down with a weird disease that causes them to go nuts while breaking out in big nasty lumps all over. Heroic Young Doctor Matt Rutledge, a Belinda native who’s returned to practice in his hometown, is convinced that the evil Belinda Coal and Coke Company is behind it, what with their history of environmental and safety violations.

Boston Coroner Nikki Solari begins investigating the death of her best friend, who died of a mysterious ailment that caused her to go nuts while breaking out in big nasty lumps all over. Her search takes her to her friend’s hometown , which is—surprise!—Belinda, West Virginia.

Meanwhile, retired teacher Ellen Kroft is serving as the sole non -physician, non-scientist member of a Presidential task force evaluating Omnivax, a super, 30-vaccines-in-one shot that the government is considering making mandatory for all children. Ellen, who has a granddaughter with autism that Ellen believes was caused by a vaccine, is the sole dissenter. But Big Medicine isn’t going to let her derail a multimillion-dollar money machine. They send an evil character over to threaten her into silence, which, since this is a novel, only serves to stiffen her resolve. If you’re guessing that her investigation takes her to Belinda, West Virginia, you get a cookie.

The book plays on people’s rapidly growing suspicion of vaccines, a suspicion which author Michael Palmer (a doctor himself) obviously shares. Fairly often, books with a big current-events driven message underlying them run the risk of putting the reader off with long, impassioned, and unbelievable speeches that do nothing to advance the plot. Palmer manages to avoid this—mostly.

Books like this also tend to run to cardboard-cutout villains who have no motivation deeper than sheer greed and who do stuff like threatening unspeakable violations to little girls. Here, Palmer is no exception. His villains have all the emotional depth of a parking -lot puddle, and if you can’t figure out who the “hidden” bad guy is within ten pages of meeting him, you obviously haven’t been reading mysteries very long.

On the upside , the book moves along at a good pace and keeps you interested. There are some bumps in the plot, some moments where I went “oh, come ON,” and a bit with the hillbilly brothers who befriend Matt that set my teeth on edge. But on the whole, it’s not a bad read if you’re in an undemanding mood.

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Dusty Rhoades - RAM

Book Review: Fatal