TerrO.R. (***)

A CHILLINGLY PLAUSIBLE SCENARIO!

In his first outing, Neuschatz has done himself proud and written a novel that bodes well for more work to come! But "TerrO.R." is a debut novel that is not without its flaws.

The good news is that the plot premise is imaginative (dare I say unique), compelling and frightening.

As an anesthesiologist, Dr Philip Newman is all too aware that tragic, sudden, unexplained deaths sometimes occur on the operating table. So when James Walker, a young man in perfect health, succumbs to cardiac arrest during a routine cosmetic surgical tattoo removal, Newman is devastated but not unduly surprised. But when an autopsy is forbidden by the family on religious grounds and a massive malpractice suit is served with such blinding speed that Walker’s body has barely had a chance to cool, Newman begins to question events more closely. Eerie similarities between Walker’s operating room death and other similar unexplained fatalities have Newman balking at what would otherwise be an automatic out of court settlement of the malpractice suit. With the cooperation of hospitals, surgeons and anesthesiologists from across the country, Newman conducts an Internet based epidemiological investigation that uncovers a plot so frighteningly plausible you’ll find the hairs on the back of your neck tingling with horror.

The even better news is that Neuschatz writes well! The daily life and work of an anesthesiologist are included with a wealth of arcane minutiae and technical detail that could easily blow right over the heads of lay readers or simply bore them to death as the plot bogs down and fails to move forward. But Neuschatz seems to have deftly avoided these problems. His writing educates, informs, entertains and manages to keep a compelling plot firmly on track.

Now here’s the bad news.

It is clear that Neuschatz has serious criticism to level at the US legal system, the liability insurance system, the overwhelming litigiousness of US society and the fact that many malpractice suits are settled automatically out of court (regardless of actual fault) with the resulting costs being passed on to medical practitioners in the form of increased liability premiums. In fact, it is these very problems that form the quite plausible basis for Neuschatz’ ingenious plot premise.

However, Neuschatz let his emotions get in the way of his writing and the resulting ending was a serious letdown for this reader. He forgot that the criminals in his thriller were the perpetrators of an enormous fraud that got discovered. The hospitals, the doctors AND the insurance industry were the victims - I repeat - the victims. But once the plot had been uncovered and revealed for the fraud it was, Neuschatz simply dropped the thriller plotline like a day old hot potato now gone cold and swiveled his gun sights to the insurance industry.

Instead of offering constructive criticism as to how the insurance and legal industry might make changes to prevent the real occurrence of a fictional story like this one, he ended his novel with an epilogue that was pure vitriol and sarcasm directed at judges, medical malpractice lawyers, juries and HMOs. As a result, I was left with the final sour thought that perhaps Neuschatz considered the cons as simple users of a flawed system and the system itself to be the criminal. Neuschatz is entitled to his opinion, of course, but … purely from the point of view of reviewing “TerrO.R.”, the ending flattened the entire reading experience and dragged what might easily have been a 4 or 5 star exciting debut down to a 3-star overall impression at best.

Paul Weiss