Dr. Earl Garnet encounters a deadly bacteria at University Hospitalโone that is killing victims who are in some way connected. A nurse dies horrifically and Dr. Garnetโs own wife is gravely ill. While the surrounding community panics, the staff is quarantinedโmost likely with the sociopath who has masterminded the super-resistant strain and who promises to infect fifty more people immediately. Medical Thriller by Peter Clement; originally published by Fawcett
From Publishers Weekly
Dr. Earl Garnet, St. Paul Hospital's ER chief, is accused of a tragic oversight after a nurse, initially complaining of flulike symptoms, mysteriously dies while under his care. Garnet suspects the cause is a "superbug," a lethal mix of Legionella and staph, resistant to antibiotics. Panic sets in as the number of cases rises, and soon the hospital is placed under quarantine and overrun by police, the media and the National Guard, which leaves Garnet little time to search for a common link among the victims. However, Garnet's wife, an obstetrician at nearby University Hospital, has a hunch that the deaths may be the work of "The Phantom," someone rumored to deliberately infect hospital employees known for their unkind treatment of patients. Clement's (Lethal Practice) own background as a physician comes across in his use of technical terminology and ability to capture hospital politics, which adds to the terror.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From the Inside Flap
BREEDING GROUND
When a nurse in Buffalo dies at St. Paul's Hospital of a once-treatable bacteria, Dr. Earl Garnet and his colleagues try to remain calm. They track the origin of the sickness to University Hospital. But as the infection rages out of control there and more people fall gravely ill--including Garnet's own wife--Earl uncovers a shocking connection between the victims.
KILLING GROUND
Throughout the community, panic and paranoia spread as wildly as the outbreak itself, and the entire University Hospital staff is quarantined. Yet the mastermind who created this deadly superresistant strain may be someone they know, someone locked within the barricades. Now the sociopath has threatened to infect fifty more people. And that will be only the beginning. . . .
DEATH ROUNDS
No one captures the complex workings of an urban hospital like former ER physician Dr. Peter Clement. His new medical thriller ranges from the realm of microbiology to raw, human rage--in a plot so chillingly authentic it could be happening right now. . . .