Tammy Euliano, MD is a practicing anesthesiologist and tenured professor at the University of Florida. In addition to a prolific list of academic publications, YouTube teaching videos, and numerous teaching awards, she has also written award-winning short fiction. In her debut novel “Fatal Intent,” anesthesiologist Dr. Kate Downey must confront difficult situations when her elderly patients start dying at home days after minor surgery; is it end of life care, or assisted death.
“Fatal Intent” begins as anesthesiologist Dr. Kate Downey begrudgingly begins her Sunday by going to church with her great-aunt Irm. While there, Kate finds out that the VIP patient she was taking care of at the hospital has died days after being discharged, just like one of her neighbors who was also one of Kate’s patients. When she brings this information up to the surgeon who performed the surgeries, Dr. Charles Ricken, he ends up blaming her. Since she is currently on probation, her career is in jeopardy but she is determined to find out why patients are dying after they are sent home from the hospital. To make matters worse, her husband Greg is in a prolonged coma and his brother Adam is constantly urging her to pull the plug. Together with her Great Aunt Irm, a precocious medical student named Jenn, and Christian, the lawyer son of a victim, Kate launches her own unorthodox investigation of these unexpected deaths. As she comes closer to exposing the killer’s identity, she faces professional intimidation, threats to her life, a home invasion, and the suspicious death of someone close to her. The stakes escalate to the breaking point when Kate, under violent duress, is forced to choose which of her loved ones to save—and which must be sacrificed.
Some of the most authentic novels come from authors who write about what they know. Since the author is an anesthesiologist, this gives her outstanding debut novel the authenticity it needs to deliver an exciting medical mystery drama. It gives readers an intriguing look at the inner workings of hospitals, namely, after a patient dies, the staff holds a “root cause analysis” meeting where they analyze what happened. By using descriptive language “I ran down the hall, holding onto my bouncing lanyard,” readers can picture the drama unfolding in hospital hallways. When Kate gets overwhelmed and anxiety rolls in, “There was no air. I was suffocating. My heart pounded, faster and faster,” anyone who has been in such situations can relate. Written in the first person point of view, it contains likeable and relatable characters and the story flows easily from page to page. The action intensifies during Chapter Fifty when Kate is lured to the hospital basement and is forced to choose between saving her Aunt Irm, her friend Christopher, or her husband Greg. In the end, the killer turns out to be someone who was hired by relatives of ailing patients to “euthanize” them. Aside from being a medical suspense novel, “Fatal Intent” deals with difficult end-of-life issues. In the Author’s Note at the end, Tammy Euliano stresses that her hope is that it will start an open dialogue about such issues and prompt families to consider Living Wills and Health Care Surrogates and directs readers to where they can find more information. “Fatal Intent” is a must-read thrilling medical mystery novel and is recommended for fans of Robin Cook and Tess Gerritsen who appreciate medical thrillers. Hopefully, there will be more in the future.
“I broke down in his arms, overwhelmed by utter exhaustion and crippling guilt. But Aunt Irm and Christian had suffered too. Would my grief over Greg be construed as regret over the decision?”
*The author received a copy of this book for an honest review. The views and opinions expressed here belong solely to her.
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