Life Support (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0671553046/qid=921176186/

March 11, 1999

I found it....here it is..........Suzanne

Text Only

at a glance

reviews

customer comments

if you like this book...

read an interview with Tess Gerritsen

Keyword Search

Books

Popular Music

Classical Music

Video

Full search: Books, Music, or Video

Life Support

by Tess Gerritsen

Shopping with us is 100% safe. Guaranteed.

List Price: $6.99

Our Price: $5.59

You Save: $1.40 (20%)

Availability: Usually ships within 24 hours.

Mass Market Paperback - 384 pages (August 1998)

Pocket Books; ISBN: 0671553046 ; Dimensions (in inches): 1.15 x 6.83

x 4.24

Amazon.com Sales Rank: 16,079

Avg. Customer Review:

Number of Reviews: 22

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Write an online review and share your thoughts with other readers!

Customers who bought this book also bought:

a.. Harvest; Tess Gerritsen

b.. Presumed Guilty; Tess Gerritsen

c.. Bloodstream; Tess Gerritsen

d.. Whistleblower; Tess Gerritsen

Click here for more suggestions...

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Reviews

Thrillers Editor's Recommended Book

Tess Gerritsen used to be a practicing physician, and there's

detailed evidence of her insider's knowledge on every page of this excellent

thriller. Toby Harper works the night shift in the emergency room of a private

hospital in Boston, where the suspicious deaths of two aged patients from what

turns out to be Mad Cow Disease leads to the discovery of illicit anti-aging

experiments by a pompous endocrinologist. As she did in her first medical

thriller, Harvest, Gerritsen blends the personal lives of her characters with a

totally believable scientific background, to produce a seamless web of suspense.

--This text refers to the hardcover edition of this title

Romance Editor's Recommended Book

Former romance author and medical doctor Tess Gerritsen is writing

in a new genre: medical suspense. Advertised as her " first novel, " Harvest

jumped onto the New York Times bestseller list and thus legions of new fans were

introduced to the work of this talented author. Gerritsen's second thriller,

Life Support, is as moving as any of her romances. Dr. Toby Harper works the

night shift in an emergency room. More comfortable with the steady horror and

tedium of emergency care than with a normal lifestyle, Toby alienates herself

socially from her peers and from her sister. She spends her daytime hours alone

with her mother who suffers from Alzheimer's disease. When elderly Alzheimer's

patients from the same retirement home start dying mysteriously, Toby is the

only one suspicious enough to investigate. As a result she finds herself, her

mother, and her own sanity at risk. --This text refers to the hardcover edition

of this title

From Booklist , July 19, 1997

Brant Hill Clinic and Residential Care Facility houses wealthy

elderly persons who want to find the fountain of youth. Coincidentally, the

home-care aide for emergency room doctor Toby Harper's mother is an associate of

researcher Carl Wallenberg, who, with fetal brain tissue implants, seeks the

same spring. Toby herself eventually strikes most of the other characters in

Gerritsen's cleverly developed thriller as paranoid (of course, she's not). The

story leading to that suspicion opens in the ER with Toby's embarrassment when

the son of a patient asks to see his father, present only a moment ago. Then two

prostitutes give birth to ugly somethings, neither monsters nor tumors. There

must be answers to these mysteries. Trying to find them, however, Toby and

medical examiner Dan Dvorak nearly die as the trail winds to--ta-da!--Brant

Hill. The second medical thriller from internist Gerritsen, who has ditched

medicine for full-time writing, seems scarcely to need the aggressive marketing

campaign scheduled for it. Reader word-of-mouth alone ought to move it.

Beatty

--This text refers to the hardcover edition of this title

From Kirkus Reviews , June 15, 1997

Former internist Gerritsen follows Harvest (1996) with another

far-fetched but effective medical thriller. Toby Harper is an idealistic

emergency-room physician who has chosen to work the graveyard shift so she can

care for her Alzheimer's-afflicted mother. When a disoriented old man walks out

of the ER and disappears, Toby finds that she cannot let the case go. She sniffs

around Brant Hill, the ultra-upscale retirement village where he lived. Then

another Brant Hill resident ends up in the ER with symptoms of disorientation

and seizures: Toby worries that some unknown toxin at Brant Hill might be to

blame. Or perhaps there's a problem with an experimental hormone protocol being

used to restore youth to elderly residents? When the new patient dies, the

snooty and evasive medical director for the complex denies the need for an

autopsy, but willful Toby diverts the body to the medical examiner,

Dvorak, who also happens to be handsome and divorced. finds that the old

man died of Creutzfeldt- Jakob Disease, an extremely rare condition. When

another CJD autopsy report shows up for a Brant Hill resident, Toby steps up her

investigation. But she is also having trouble at home: The woman she's just

hired to help care for her mother has told police that Toby has been physically

abusing her parent. However beleaguered, Toby continues her detecting. A local

prostitute gives birth to a strange one-eyed baby, who turns out to be a

genetically altered factory of sorts, producing multiple pituitary glands. Could

the Brant Hill gang be using this fetal tissue as part of their

fountain-of-youth protocol, and could an unhealthy embryo have been behind the

CJD outbreak? The climactic showdown hyperventilates to the point of silliness,

but realism's not the point here. A satisfyingly nefarious scheme, some

tentative romance, and enough medical rushing-about to satisfy hardcore ER fans

title

Click here for all reviews...

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Customer Comments

Average Customer Review: Number of Reviews: 22

A reader from Darrin and Tammi Waldorf, land, USA , January 14,

1999

Good But Not Great

We (car pool) liked the plot of this book. However, we listened to

the unabridged version which was rather long and drawn out. The characters were

good however; it was a general oppinion that too much time was spent developing

them as well as the plot. One of the things we liked about the book was anyone

having experiences with an elderly person requiring around the clock care could

really understand and relate to and feel sorry for Dr. Harper and her emotions

about her mother. I recommend this book for others to listen to, but go with the

abridged version as the unabridged version drags along and is juste interesting

enough to keep you listening. It dosn't get exciting until about the 5th or 6th

tape in the 8 tape series. One of the things we didn't like about this book was

the length of time it took Ms. Gerritsen to bring the plot to fruition. Again,

we did like the plot. Mr. Guidall whod did a good job, read the

unabridged version we listened to; however, we didn't really care for his style.

This is the first book by Ms. Gerritsen we have had the pleasure of listening to

or reading. It is a good book; however, after listening to it, we are not ready

to place it on the same shelf beside authors such as Robin Cook. It was decided

that we would listen to other books by Tess Gerritsen. --This text refers to the

audio cassette edition of this title

A reader from North Carolina , January 2, 1999

Could not get past the 4th chapter.

I enjoyed Harvest but I thought Life Support was a bore. It never

caught my interest and never even intrigued me. Don't bother with it.

pucksau@... from California , December 16, 1998

Excellent

A strong and likeable character, a few shadowy, evil characters, and

an interesting plot make this a very easy read. I liked it even better than her

first book, Harvest.

A reader from North Carolina , November 21, 1998

Outstanding!

Miss Gerritsen has taken the medical thriller to new heights with

both " Life Support " and her previous bestseller, " Harvest. " She weaves an

intricate plot, fascinating science and wonderful characters to create a

fabulous story. And as if that weren't enough, her writing is breathlessly clean

and clear, pulling you effortlessly through the book. I read it in one sitting.

Outstanding!!

intriguefan@... from Chicago , September 25, 1998

Better than " Harvest, " but a Little Hard to Take

While better than the thoroughly predictable " Harvest, " Ms.

Gerritsen's second medical thriller still isn't that great. She sets off with a

great creepy prologue and builds continual suspense throughout, yet the book is

so relentlessly downbeat it's a little hard to take. Basically, everything that

could go wrong for our heroine does: she's accused of abusing her mother, all of

her allies end up dead, and the whole world basically turns against her. I

personally read for enjoyment, and I found it hard to enjoy one horrible thing

happening to this woman after another. Maybe people who get off on the endless

suffering on " Party of Five " will enjoy it. I don't know. The medical detail is

superb and Gerritsen keeps you on your toes, but the book's so painful (even the

ending) that I left it more depressed than satisfied. Proceed at your own risk.

--This text refers to the hardcover edition of this title

A reader from Olney, MD , September 25, 1998

Page-turner

Talk about a woman that has her world collapsing around her. Really

enjoyed it and would recommend to anyone that enjoys a medical triller! --This

text refers to the hardcover edition of this title

ERICSTEAM@... from MISSOURI, USA , September 13, 1998

OUTSTANDING

The research that the author did prior to finishing this medical

thriller undoubtedly made the scientific breakthroughs so believable that you

felt it could easily be happening now in real life. I could hardly put the book

down and it was full of surprises.

A reader from USA , August 10, 1998

Most exciting book I have read so far.

I thought this was a terrific thriller. I could not put it down. One

review on the cover says " be prepared to drop all your obligations until you

finish " . I found this to be very true. I very much enjoyed and I believe you

will too.

Click here for all 22 customer comments...

--------------------------------------------------------------------

You can read an interview with Tess Gerritsen.

Customers who bought titles by Tess Gerritsen also bought titles by

these authors:

a.. Eileen Dreyer

b.. Fisher

c.. Leonard S. Goldberg

d.. Francis J. C. Roe

e.. Kip Langello

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Look for similar books by subject:

Browse other Mystery & Thrillers titles.

Mystery fiction

Fiction - Psychological Suspense

Fiction

Medical

Suspense

i.e., each book must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...

--------------------------------------------------------------------

a.. I have read this book, and I want to review it.

b.. I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.

c.. I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.

Top of Page

Shopping Cart | Your Account | Help

Book Search | Browse Subjects | Bestsellers | Featured in the Media |

Award Winners | Computers & Internet Kids | Business & Investing

Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.de

Sign In

Life Support (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0671553046/qid=921176186/

Recommended Posts

Guest guest

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Join the conversation

Activity