2 out of 4 stars
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Would you risk your career to save a friend's reputation? This is one of many complex conundrums that the main character faces in The Surgeon's Wife, by William H. Coles. The story follows chief surgeon Mike Boudreaux as he navigates the moral crisis of how to help his senior colleague and mentor, Clayton Otherson, who begins to make fatal mistakes in the operating room. Clayton is pushing for the hospital to allow increased surgeries on obese patients, allowing weight loss surgery for people who do not necessarily need it, in order to maintain his reputation as a top surgeon in the field. He begins to resent Mike when he is ordered to complete additional training and operate under supervision. Despite making errors, Clayton stubbornly ignores the warnings and continues with risky surgeries. When things go from bad to worse, he blames Mike for not helping him cover up his mistakes. Clayton sees Mike’s refusal to overlook his errors as a criticism of his skills and deliberate attempt to erode his top ranking in the field of bariatric surgery.
The second part of the story delves into a complicated romantic relationship between Mike and Catherine Otherson, who is Clayton’s wife. There are deep issues of family and friendship addressed in the plot as Clayton’s mental stability spirals downward after he learns of the affair and Mike’s reluctance to help save his career. The author does a nice job showing Clayton’s character slowly breakdown through the course of the book and makes it clear why he slowly loses his mental capacities.
The author's expertise in the medical field is clear in the ease with which he writes descriptions about surgeries and hospital settings. There were a number of undefined technical terms that will stump the general reader and I admit having to look up some of the medical terms. Aside from that, the writing was uncomplicated. The dialogue was a bit overly dramatic and contained a lot of unnecessary profanity. Everyone always seemed to be snappy or irritated and rather aggressively stubborn, which made for a lot of unlikeable characters. While the medical drama was interesting as a plot, the romantic connection between Mike and Catherine felt rushed and not very believable.
The book is divided into 37 chapters, which are further divided into three “Parts.” The start of "Part Three" did not really signal a major break in the storyline so I think the book would be better divided into only two parts. There were also a few terms or phrases that were particular to New Orleans and could have benefited from a bit more explanation for readers unfamiliar with that region. For example, the sentence "I krewed with her father on Bacchus," on p. 40, means nothing to me although I am vaguely familiar with New Orleans "krewe" tied to Carnival season.
The author does a good job describing current locations with details of the sights, sounds, and smells all around. His colorful descriptions make the reader really feel that they are in New Orleans. The author is also good at describing people and their physical features, using expertly crafted descriptions that bring the figures to life. I would have liked more character backstory, which would help define the relationship between Mike and Clayton. Even by the end of the book, I hardly knew anything about the main character, Mike, except for his career and romantic issues. There is profanity and complex content so I would recommend this book to mature readers that are interested in drama and medical stories. Because of the large number of grammatical errors and several confusing parts of dialogue, coupled with the abrupt and confusing romance between Mike and Catherine, I rate this book 2 out of 4 stars.
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The Surgeon's Wife
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