4 out of 4 stars
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The Surgeon's Wife by William H. Coles is a believable tale of intrigue, stormy relationships, hospital protocols, and a love triangle.
In The Surgeon's Wife Clayton Otherson is a famous surgeon whose primary surgeries are for the obese, has made a mistake on the operating table, the chief of surgery Mike Boudreaux steps in to help. After this incident Mike is tormented on what it the best action to take for his mentor and friend and fellow surgeon Clayton. After it is argued and discussed at length in a meeting with Mike's peers they decide to let Clayton continue to due surgery supervised. Clayton doesn't react well to this as he feels that he didn't do anything wrong and thinks Mike is attacking him personally after all he has done for Mike.
Clayton has a specialty which is to do surgery on the obese and many feel that he doesn't screen his patients properly and just will operate indiscriminately. This is an issue that comes up later in the book as well with another patient that Mike had suggested to the patient's parents that there were other alternatives other than surgery for their daughter, but partly due to Clayton's notoriety perhaps, the parents decide to go ahead with the surgery anyway. I won't give a spoiler on this part but just know that this is a very important patient of Clayton's in this book and made me reflect on a lot of these issues in between turning the page myself.
Meanwhile, Clayton, whose obviously suffering the strain of his professional life going down hill, seems to self destruct. He pushes his wife, Catherine and daughter, Mellissa away and is unbearable to live with. Catherine finds comfort from Mike who feels guilt and remorse for being with his old friend and mentor's wife but still doesn't want to stop seeing Catherine.
I'm not going to give away the ending as there were twists and surprises, but just know that it was not all that I would have expected. The author brought the characters to life from page 1 and to me no matter if it may not be as happy of a book in places as I would like I am not going to give it anything less than a 4 out of 4 stars. The author made me feel not only for the patients that were going through these botched surgeries but also for the surgeons, nurses and other people that were concerned. At times like I had mentioned it may have been sad, but that was because you were feeling what the author had put down in words. It was very believable, and a very good book. I look forward to reading more books from this author!
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The Surgeon's Wife
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