Book Review: Donor

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Donor     Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
Charles Wilson
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Medical   Thriller
St. Martin's, Nov 1999, $6.99, 320 pp.

For the most part, Dr. Michael Sims enjoys working the emergency room at Biloxi Regional Hospital in Mississippi, but occasionally a patient's case eats at his soul. While Michael deals with such an incident, Harrison County Sheriff Everette and a FBI agent investigate the death of Congressman Donnelly, who left a note before apparently committing suicide. His daughter Shannon firmly believes her father was murdered, but the law enforcement officials and Dr. Joseph Marzullo insist he killed himself.

That night Senator Terry asks Michael to run for Donnelly's vacant seat. Just after that, Michael meets Shannon, who insists someone cold-bloodedly and with purpose killed her father. He does not believe her theory until several incidents occur. Especially hitting home is the sudden unexpected death of a recovering teenage patient. Michael and Shannon join forces to uncover the truth. However, they quickly crash into a medical experiment supported by the highest levels of individuals in government, people that have no compunction in killing anyone in their paths.

Charles Wilson takes the seemingly impossible and turns it into an everyday happening that rings so genuine readers will be to frightened to visit ERs or even doctors. His latest medical thriller DONOR is a terrorizing tale in which the audience knows the bad guys early on but can still feels the rising tension that threatens to engulf the reader. The story line is filled with action, but it is the feel of reality that makes this novel such a winner. The lead characters are an engaging pair, but it is the cold villain who makes this book into a one-sitting cardiac arrest tale.

Harriet Klausner

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