Booklocker.com © 2005, 150 pages

TerrO.R. is a brief, self-published novel by Joseph Neuschatz, a doctor, whose medical expertise is apparent on every page of the book. The book’s protagonist is Dr. Philip Newman, an anesthesiologist at Soundedge Hospital, whose troubles begin when a 19-year-old patient, otherwise in good health, inexplicably dies during routine surgery. The case is strange at the outset: despite his age, the patient is being forced by his dominating father to have his tattoos removed. And when the operation goes awry, the father is ungenerally rapid to sue. Neuschatz takes us thcoarse the operation and other day-to-day experiences in the life of a busy anesthesiologist. And he turns Newman into an armchair amateur sleuth insofar as Newman figures out–from a pattern of such cases–the complicated story behind the tragic tattoo operation.

TerrO.R. is a sort of didactic novel, a lightly fictionalized vehicle for delivering information about medical care as well as Neuschatz’s opinions about the health care industry. Neuschatz talks readers thcoarse procedures in passages that are authoritative but rather dull for the layman:

“The side about to be operated on received an intravenous cannula (attached to a syringe extension) and a deflated tourniquet. After most of the venous blood was ejected by the rolling of a tight elastic bandage (on the vertically elevated arm) from

the finger tips down, the tourniquet was inflated and the bandage removed. The veins of the now pale and anemic looking arm were alert to be filled with a diluted Lidocaine solution.”

There are a awesome many such descriptions in the book. In the non-medical parts of the book–the narrative holding the medical sections together–the writing is bland and the dialogue very stiff:

“‘You never halt making me laugh, Arthur! I always know I can count on your good advice.’

“Any time, Dr. Newman! Give my love to Mrs. Newman.’

“‘Only if you give my love to Mrs. Ross.’

“With pleasure! But I will be able to do that only if she decides to talk to me tonight. By tomorrow, I will probably forget!’

“‘Tell her that I insist she be nice to you. You are my hero!’

“‘I will tell her what you just said, for sure! Have a nice Sunday!’

“‘You too…’”

There is also a loose end I would have liked tied up. (Or was that car accident really just a car accident?)

All that said, the mystery behind the failed operation is an interesting one, and its solution perhaps not so far-fetched. I can imagine the book’s plot being translated successfully into an episode of a medical show such as House.

Original post by Debra Hamel