Product Description

Straight out of today’s hospitals and labs–and tomorrow’s headlines–comes a frightening, scalpel-sharp thriller from medical insider Joshua Spanogle. In an astounding debut, Spanogle takes us on an all-too-real race against time…as a young doctor enters the dark side of scientific research, desperate to stop a terrifying epidemic before it is too late….

In Baltimore’s St. Raphael’s Hospital, three newly admitted patients are among society’s most helpless citizens: female residents of Baltimore’s group homes for the mentally impaired, their bodies racked by a virus the likes of which no one at St. Raphael’s has ever seen.

Dr. Nathaniel McCormick is one of the first on the scene. A young investigator from the Centers for Disease Control, Nate is paid to explore the bizarre, the exotic, and the baffling–from superviruses to bioterrorism. But as soon as Nate begins to investigate the lives and habits of the victims, he knows something is terribly wrong. Using all his skills as a medical detective, Nate soon zeroes in on the “vector”–the one person who had sexual contact with the first victims. And when that suspect is found murdered, Nate fears that the disease he’s chasing may not be an act of nature, but of man.

With his brash style angering his superiors and fellow investigators alike, Nate turns to an old colleague and former lover, Dr. Brooke Michaels, for help. Together the two investigators follow a twisting trail of clues to a discovery that is at once groundbreaking and unspeakable. And as a circle of treachery tightens around him, Nate is about to confront the most chilling revelation of all–and a past Nate himself has been trying to escape.

At once a taut medical thriller and a riveting psychological portrait of a young doctor on the edge, Isolation Ward is a tale of runaway tension–with a brilliant “what-if” premise that is harrowing…heartbreaking…and impossible to wrench from your imagination.


From the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #242014 in Books
• Published on: 2006-12-26
• Released on: 2006-12-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 544 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780440242284
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
Medical thrillers have been rather sickly of late, but Stanford med student Spanogle has applied the paddles and delivered a real jolt of excitement with this debut novel of a dangerous viral outbreak, diabolical medical chicanery and research run amok. Dr. Nathaniel McCormick, an officer in the CDC's Epidemic Intelligence Service, is called to St. Raphael's Hospital in Baltimore, where three young women come to the emergency room complaining of flulike symptoms and, after being admitted, begin to deteriorate in very alarming (and graphic) ways. After their skin begins to slough off in large patches, Nate fears the worst: that a deadly viral disease has been unleashed as part of a terrorist attack. Nate is an intelligent, impulsive, intriguing character, willing to lie and steal from both friend and foe to further the case. Once he learns, at a very high price, that a drug company has been experimenting with a very particular means for treating diseased organs, things begin to come together—but time remains of the essence. Spanogle is a funny, smart and skilled writer at the beginning of what readers will hope is a long and prolific career. (Feb. 28)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review
"Combines a wonderfully flawed yet stereotypically smart-ass hero with a plot that moves as rapidly as a lethal virus." Entertainment Weekly, grade A-

"[A] tightly woven debut thriller.... engrossing and intellectually wrought. Kirkus Reviews, starred review --Amazon

"Combines a wonderfully flawed yet stereotypically smart-ass hero with a plot that moves as rapidly as a lethal virus." Entertainment Weekly, grade A-

"[A] tightly woven debut thriller.... engrossing and intellectually wrought. Kirkus Reviews, starred review


From the Hardcover edition. --Amazon

Nice book in fine shape. Jacket slightly crinked along top. One small ding on front but looks fine. Book is in great shape with no visible flaws. Collector's item and a great read to boot. --Seller

Review
"Combines a wonderfully flawed yet stereotypically smart-ass hero with a plot that moves as rapidly as a lethal virus."—Entertainment Weekly, grade A-

"[A] tightly woven debut thriller.... engrossing and intellectually wrought.—Kirkus Reviews, starred review


From the Hardcover edition.

Customer Reviews

A new Cook????
Joshua Spanogle's Isolation Ward is a gripping and suspenseful read. The plot is fairly loose throughout the book but does eventually come together. Dr. Nathaniel McCormick (Nate) is an in your face doctor that works for the Centers for Disease Control. The guy doesn't know how to back down, even from his boss and will use a caged rat if necessary (read the book, it'll make sense) to defend himself. Though I like Nate, I'm not sure he's realistic.

As I read Isolation Ward, I kept drawing comparisons with the other doctor turned bestselling author, Robin Cook. This is unfair on my part, but I remember reading Cook's first bestseller Coma way back when and the comparison is natural enough. Spanogle is talented, and in time may become as good an author as Cook. Certainly, Isolation Ward is a good start.

Good plot, tight dialog, and interesting characters make Isolation Ward a good read.

An excellent "first novel" by a promising new talent...
Even though I had packed a fair share of books on my recent roadtrip, my flight back from Orlando to Portland was lacking some mind-candy reading. I visited the airport book store and picked up Isolation Ward by Joshua Spanogle. This is an excellent first novel, and it made the trip back a whole lot shorter...

Dr Nathaniel McCormick works for the Centers For Disease Control, and he's out in Baltimore when a strange virus outbreak occurs. The symptoms look like a cross between a flu and a hemorrhagic fever, and it's got a high mortality rate. Furthermore, it's only appearing in mentally handicapped individuals who reside at group homes. The medical tests are not finding anything currently in the books, but some old-fashioned legwork is showing a web of sexual partners with a single individual at the center. The harder McCormick pushes to question people and test the homes, the more interference he gets from high-powered officials. And when "patient zero" is found murdered, McCormick knows that there's a major cover-up taking place. He just doesn't know what it is or where the virus will show up next. Together with a prior love interest, he turns his sights on a biotech firm associated with the medical college he was thrown out of earlier in his life. Far too many of the people he visits end up dead shortly afterwards, and he's not quite sure if he'll discover his answers before they get to him also...

Generally speaking, I cut new authors a little slack when it comes to their first published work. Writing a mainstream novel is not easy, and getting the pacing down usually comes with time. In this case, Spanogle cut to the head of the class. The depiction of a new virus threat seemed very realistic, as well as the constant questioning as to whether this was a bio-terrorist threat or just a new bug. It also showed that there are no easy answers when it comes to the detective work, and sometimes luck plays a more important role than skill. Just about the time you think you know where his story is going, there's a twist that takes you off in another direction. And although you think there are people in the story you can trust, each one has just a slight edge to them that makes you wonder if there's something that you don't yet know...

A very good, entertaining read, and an excellent first effort... Spanogle will be an author I keep on my "must read" list...

A fascinating and memorable debut novel
Joshua Spanogle is currently a student at Stanford Medical School, but he has already acquired quite a bit of backstory. A Yale graduate, Spanogle has also served as a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Bioethics. As if medical school wasn't time-consuming enough, Spanogle has written a medical thriller, ISOLATION WARD, that infuses elements of medical acumen and detective work to result in one of the more memorable books of recent note in any genre.

Spanogle's creation is Dr. Nathaniel McCormick, an officer of the Epidemic Intelligence Service, which in turn is a branch of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The title "officer" connotes hierarchy and bureaucracy, and McCormick does not play well with others. Additionally, his personality is closer to that of Gregory House than Marcus Welby. These traits do not mesh well with his supervisors in the CDC, the hospitals he visits, law enforcement...well, you get the idea. This guy has an authority problem. And what makes it additionally tough for his superiors is that McCormick, more often than not, is right.

When a number of people begin showing up at a Baltimore Hospital emergency room with extremely nasty symptoms, McCormick --- loose cannon that he is --- goes rolling across the deck and over a number of toes. It doesn't take long to figure out that the patients are all residents of group homes. McCormick himself notes that he doesn't like being stuck in examining rooms --- an interesting attitude for a physician --- and is soon out in the streets and neighborhoods of Baltimore, investigating the patients, their employers and their friends, and kicking over rocks in the best manner of Robert B. Parker's Spenser and Raymond Chandler's Marlowe.

When an individual with a link to all the patients is found brutally murdered, McCormick's unauthorized investigation takes him to Northern California, where he not only uncovers the bizarre and frightening etiology of the mystery disease, but is also forced to confront and resolve issues from his own past that have a bearing on his present.

Spanogle has created a unique character here; McCormick is slightly irritating yet ultimately likable, and there is no question that he is an irresistible force attracted toward the truth. Considering that medical research and detective work are quite similar, it is somewhat surprising that characters such as McCormick are not more common in fiction. Spanogle, with McCormick and ISOLATION WARD, has raised the bar for future creators his first time out. Recommended.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub