A device that can save a life is also one that can end it
Kadence, a new type of implanted defibrillator, misfires in a patient visiting University Hospital for a routine medical procedure—causing the heart rhythm problem it's meant to correct. Dr. Kate Downey, an experienced anesthesiologist, resuscitates the patient, but she grows concerned for a loved one who recently received the same device—her beloved Great-Aunt Irm.
When a second device misfires, Kate turns to Nikki Yarborough, her friend and Aunt Irm's cardiologist. Though Nikki helps protect Kate's aunt, she is prevented from alerting other patients by the corporate greed of her department chairman. As the inventor of the device and part owner of MDI, the company he formed to commercialize it, he claims that the device misfires are due to a soon-to-be-corrected software bug. Kate learns his claim is false.
The misfires continue as Christian O'Donnell, a friend and lawyer, comes to town to facilitate the sale of MDI. Kate and Nikki are drawn into a race to find the source of the malfunctions, but threats to Nikki and a mysterious murder complicate their progress. Are the seemingly random shocks misfires, or are they attacks?
A jaw-dropping twist causes her to rethink everything she once thought she knew, but Kate will stop at nothing to protect her aunt and the other patients whose life-saving devices could turn on them at any moment.
Tammy Euliano writes medical thrillers. She's inspired by her day job as a physician, researcher and medical educator. She is a tenured professor at the University of Florida, where she's been honored with numerous teaching awards, nearly 100,000 views of her YouTube teaching videos, and was featured in a calendar of women inventors (copies available wherever you buy your out-of-date calendars).
When she's not writing or at the hospital, she enjoys traveling with her family, playing sports, cheering on the Gators, and entertaining her two wonderful dogs.
Website: http://www.teuliano.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/teuliano
Twitter: https://twitter.com/teuliano
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/teuliano/
Amazon link: https://amzn.to/3Chdv7t
Goodreads link: https://bit.ly/3Z8GTqu
How I came to become an author in my 50s
Once upon a time…I had been teaching medical students about anesthesia for many years and recognized a need for better reading materials at an appropriate level for them. So I asked my mentor and he said, “Let’s write one.” So we did, just the two of us, and had an amazing time. After, neither of us wanted to end the collaboration so he suggested we start a mystery novel. Sadly, he fell ill and passed away before we made much progress, but he’d lit the spark and the stories began to flow.
Except I quickly learned that academic writing resembles fiction writing about as well as my Pictionary version of a cow resembles any living creature (not at all). Though I loved to read, I’d never considered the craft of the books I love, which of course is the author’s intent. Point-of-view and head-hopping and passive voice and wow, the world of writing is no less dense than medicine. I went to trusty Amazon to find a book to teach me to write a book, which seemed kind of meta, and discovered there were pages and pages of great-sounding titles, and whole books on setting and character and theme…oh my, what had I gotten myself into?
Using K.M. Weiland’s Outlining Your Novel I came up with an outline for the book that had been in the back (and often front) of my mind for several years, a book about a mercy-killer for hire and the surrounding implications. The idea of managing the end-of-life has fascinated me since way before any kid should think about such things, with a debate in my 5th grade class about the fate of a young woman in a persistent vegetative state. Medical technology and the ability to keep the body alive has far out-paced our ethical ability to deal with the implications.
The characters of Fatal Intent took up residency in my head, invading my sleep, and even my waking hours. It was time to give them a voice. I resigned my time-consuming administrative positions, wrapped up my ongoing research projects, handed off most of my teaching responsibilities to up-and-coming faculty who needed it for their resumes, and dropped to part-time at the hospital so I could begin my “encore career.” Now the characters have continued into book #2 Misfire and are still talking me into a third in the series. I’ve also written other books seeking a home and having a blast doing it.
Where do Characters Come From
I’m frequently asked where my characters come from. My protagonist, Dr. Kate Downey, started as a white-washed me and morphed into her own person. It’s such an odd thing. More advanced writers teach that the characters have a life of their own and will “tell you” if you’re trying to have them do something out of character (so to speak). To which I thought “You’re nuts.” Until it happened to me. I’ll try to write a scene and it just won’t work. The dialogue won’t flow, etc. Then I’ll have Kate, or another character, write me a letter in their own voice about how they feel about what’s going on. It’s so strange for my hands to write (I do this in long-hand) words that seem to flow without me really thinking about it. A different brain compartment maybe? Except my doctor self knows that doesn’t work (shut up, doctor self, it’s a cool analogy).
Many readers’ favorite character is Kate’s German, idiom-challenged Great Aunt Irm. She was a character my mentor, Dr. J.S. Gravenstein, wanted to use in a mystery we began years ago, before he fell ill and passed away. It was his own Great Aunt Irm from his childhood in pre-World War II Germany. I met her only through his stories, and mostly I elaborated from my experiences with him. She’s become quite vivid in my head. Her friend, Carmel, is my own Great Aunt Carmel.
Various people in the hospital are combinations of people I know, EXCEPT for the bad guys of course, they are all completely fictional…completely. Just like the hospital. University Hospital in a small town in North Central Florida is definitely NOT the hospital where I work. The similarities in descriptions and location are purely coincidental.
My Thoughts
Misfire by Tammy Euliano is a medical thriller and second in a series. Kadence is a new type of implanted defibrillator that corrects a heart problem called afib. This is an Automatic Implantable Cardioverter Defibrilator (AICD)
Dr. Kate Downey is an anesthesiologist and when one of her patient's AICD misfires, thus the title, and nearly causes her patients life she begins to get concerned. She along with the cardiologist, Nikki Yarborough they need to figure out what happened. Kate is doubly concerned as her Great Aunt Erm has one of these devices. It is kind of scary because I have a similiar device.
She is very concerned and long with another friend, Christian O'Donnell they find that these are not just misfires, they are done intentially, but why? As they investigate further, they realize that it is done out of greed and money. It is now a race against time to stop whoever is triggering the misfires. As time goes on everyone is in danger from the person or persons doing this.
As a side note Dr Kate recently lost her husband and newborn daughter, Christian also lost his wife and child, killed in an accident. These two are drawn together in their grief and there is a budding romance going on also.
I have always enjoyed medical thrillers, and this was a good one. Well written, lots of suspense and a surprise ending. Oh yes, did I mention Great Aunt Erm? What a character this lady is, very savvy and downright funny! I had not read the first book as some suggested but was able to get to know the characters from the first book. It did help that the author is a Professor of Anesthesiology, she knows her stuff!
I really enjoyed this book and intend to read the 1st in the series and look forward to the third one, if there is one.
I give it 5 stars!
I received a copy of the book for review purposes only.
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