The Red Lotus

 

The Red Lotus by Chris Bohjalian  383 pages

Summary from Goodreads: he first time Alexis saw Austin, it was a Saturday night. Not in a bar, but in the emergency room where Alexis sutured a bullet wound in Austin's arm. Six months later, on the brink of falling in love, they travel to Vietnam on a bike tour so that Austin can show her his passion for cycling and he can pay his respects to the place where his father and uncle fought in the war. But as Alexis sips white wine and waits at the hotel for him to return from his solo ride, two men emerge from the tall grass and Austin vanishes into thin air. The only clue he leaves behind is a bright yellow energy gel dropped on the road.

As Alexis grapples with this bewildering loss, and deals with the FBI, Austin's prickly family, and her colleagues at the hospital, Alexis uncovers a series of strange lies that force her to wonder: Where did Austin go? Why did he really bring her to Vietnam? And how much danger has he left her in?

And here's what I thought: I finally remembered I wanted to read this - and there were library copies available! 

This is the second book by this author that I read this month and the two couldn't be more different, plot-wise. This story has an incredibly scary virus at the center of the story (plus a lot about rats, which is scary all by itself). I guess I would call this a medical thriller because the virus is at the center of everything and Alexis and her boyfriend are caught up in it. I really appreciated that Bohjalian includes very realistic details, along with believable characters -- this is the kind of story I can see coming to life as a movie. The settings are vivid and the story has a fast pace, with a tension that stretches from beginning to end. Good book, although I don't know if I'd be ready for a re-read anytime soon because the subject gave me the creeps.But reading this made me remember how much I liked other medical thrillers when I was a teen -- like books by Robin Cook.

Die Again Tomorrow

Die Again Tomorrow by Kira Peikoff     320 Pages

Isabel Leon, television reality star, is dead. Her body, washed up on Key West beach, is discovered by a toddler. Two ambulances arrive simultaneously, when she has been gone for seven minutes. One set of EMTs do their best to resuscitate her, but twenty-one minutes dead, they give up and call her death. The other EMTs are waiting nearby and agree to take the body to the morgue.

But once the second group has Isabel’s body in their ambulance, things begin to happen. Dr. Horatio Quinn presses a button and the doctored (no pun intended) ambulance begins to turn into a small laboratory. Using X101, an experimental drug not approved by the FDA and developed by Quinn, is administered along with a set of complicated other medical interventions.

Soon Isabel is alive. Although she suffers from fatigue, as is expected, there is no brain damage. The medical team who saved her operates outside the law. The Network, as it is called, can change the world.

But Isabel faces a major hurdle. She recently “sold” her life insurance to save her mother from breast cancer. She herself, a high risk, underwent a double mastectomy to avoid the cancer from developing in her. Now that she will probably live a long and healthy life, her broker is furious. It will take too many years for him to collect, and he wants, no needs, the money now.

The story begins at the end, with Isabel’s death and continues that way for a while. Readers get a chance to see the backstory so that when the narrative shifts from past to present, the transition is seamless. That’s tricky thing to pull off, but Piekoff does it masterfully. The story grabbed me from the first sentence (1 minute dead.). In addition to her “benefactor”, there are people who want to get their hands on the X101 and will get rid of anything and anyone who is in the way. A great thrill ride that I give 5 out of 5 stars.