Product Description

Vicki Shea, the hero of Mortal Judgments, returns in this new thriller from the mind of John A. Peak. Since defending her client from malpractice charges in Mortal Judgments, Vicki has returned to medicine, and now practices full time as a pediatrician.

When a severely injured infant is brought into the hospital, the nurse bypasses the on-call doctor and immediately calls Vicki. Vicki's years spent practicing law make her the best choice for dealing with such questionable cases. The mother claims the injuries are the result of a fall she took while holding the child, but the injuries tell another story. Vicki notifies the police then plunges, single-mindedly, into what she knows will be a long, frustrating, and exhausting battle with nature. Vicki will not allow this patient to fall into the hospital's statistics officially known as "morbidity and mortality," the M and M.

The police arrest and charge the mother for child abuse. Then she apparently commits suicide while out on bail. Vicki is not satisfied, and, with the help of her friend Detective Tim Murphy, she stubbornly traces the murder of the child's mother to a sinister, criminal network that becomes a personal threat to her.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2789849 in Books
• Published on: 2002-11-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

From Publishers Weekly
M and M stands for hospital morbidity and mortality tables in Peak's taut, well-told page-turner featuring doctor-lawyer Shea, last seen in 1999's Mortal Judgments. Pediatrician Vicki Shea is called in when a severely injured infant is rushed to San Francisco's Gunnison Memorial Hospital. The memory of Shea's own brain-damaged baby is still fresh in her mind despite the passage of 20-odd years. The mother says the baby's injuries are the result of a fall, but since the blue marks on both upper arms suggest child abuse, the mother is arrested. Out on bail a few days later, she apparently commits suicide, leaving a note reading "I am so sorry." End of case? No, just the beginning. Vicki joins with San Francisco police detective Tim Murphy to investigate what they soon come to realize is a homicide. Shea comes across as an appealing, brainy protagonist, while the author's sure sense of pace and clinical understatement are other strengths. ("If the [gun] muzzle is held against the flesh, when it's fired it leaves a distinct ring of powder residue concentrated around the edge of the hole like a stencil," Murphy explains for Shea's benefit. "This one had powder residue sprayed all around her mouth. The gun was at least several inches, maybe a foot away from her face when it fired.") And, unlike many contemporary thriller writers, Peak doesn't depend on overdone violence to tighten the screws.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
"M and M" stands for "Morbidity and Mortality" at the hospital where Dr. Vicki Shea, a resident in pediatric medicine, works. She is a former assistant district attorney who left law to become a resident in pediatric medicine at San Francisco General Hospital. Vicki is brought in as the physician on call in a suspected child-abuse case involving a 17-week-old infant. The case spirals from child abuse to child smuggling. Dr. Shea risks her practice to get to the center of the smuggling ring and help the children before they end up deported or dead. The cop first called in on the child-abuse case becomes further involved in the mystery and with Dr. Shea, losing his objectivity as a romance develops between the two. A good page-turner. Eileen Hardy
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author
John A. Peak is a lawyer in private practice living in San Francisco , California. He spent 13 years with the office of the City Attorney for the City and County of San Francisco where he represented San Francisco General Hospital, the Paramedic Division and other health agencies. He has also represented a number of San Francisco police officers in civil cases, including a number of high profile trials.

Customer Reviews

exciting medical thriller
Only a few months old, Charlotte Sanderson is at Gunnison Memorial Hospital Emergency Room, the victim of traumatic brain injury most likely caused by severe shaking or banging. Dr. Vicki Shea, as a pediatrician and former medical malpractice attorney, concludes that someone almost killed the baby though the mother Julia claims an accident happened. Vicki discounts Julia's assertion and reports the battering to the authorities. San Francisco Psych Police Officer Tim Murphy handles the abuse case.

As the child heals, Julia evidently commits suicide. SFPD closes the book based on the note at the scene, the victim using heroin and her depression over the baby's health and her arrest for probable cause. Vicki disagrees with the conclusion. With the help of Tim, she begins her own inquiries that will lead her into an illegal immigration smuggling ring with a bunch of new kids and more then just threats on her life as the mobsters running the train will kill to keep the business going.

M AND M is an exciting medical thriller that is at its peak when Julia, her medical associates, and other interested parties from related fields deal with the Charlotte case. The varying perspectives are seen up close as the audience observes the medical, criminal, social, and family angles to a baby-battering situation. When the story line spins into illegal immigrants, it takes quite a detour, but though well written and cleverly linked to the original theme, this subplot seems distant from Charlotte. Sub-genre fans will enjoy this exciting thriller in which the caring lead protagonist feels so devotedly human.

Harriet Klausner

A Mess
This story starts terrifically.

For the first 60 or 70 pages, I couldn't put it down.

The plot involving the battered baby and her suicide (?) mother is riveting.

But then Peak drives into the sands.

He detours into a illegal-immigrant story. The story has potential, but he makes little of it. Only one of the dozen immigrants (Nadya) comes alive. The rest are just unnamed children (except Peter, who dies offstage).

Worse, the love-story rolls in, and contains absolutely no electricity. The sex scenes are laughable. Right out of a plumbing manual.

Forty pages from the end of the book--when the plot should be careening at 110 mph, nothing was happening (except sex-plumbing), I lost interest, and stopped reading.

How could something that started so well end so lamely?????

Judge for yourself.

Or, if you are wise, don't.