Critical Care

Don't get sick. That's all I can think after reading this book. My wife used to work as a hospice nurse. She's out of it now, totally burned out. Most of her patients were just fine to work with, she says, it's the family that drove her nuts. Families don't come off well here: they either keep people alive waaaaaay to long, or want them immediately dead in order to get their inheritence. Mind you, doctors don't come off so well either. The main protagonist is a doctor for want of something to do with his life. His immediate supervisor - another doctor - is clueless but has great style. The main admitting doctor is a chronic alcoholic. The patients? Well, they're suffering from fat, cigarettes, booze, or old age. Only one nurse comes off at all well. This is one damned cynical book. Like I said: don't get sick.

Writing Excellent Plot Excellent Pace Moderate I love this author's work -cynical, black humor, my personal favorite. He writes exceptionally well. His writing could make an insurance brochure interesting. The plot itself often takes a back seat to his cynical description of the medical field. As a professional in the health care field, a lot of this stuff is sad but true. The plot moves along well even though it's frustrating watching the protagonist sink into a quagmire brought on by his bad decisions. This book is an excellent read. That being said, dark humor is definitely an acquired taste.

I plucked this book off a library shelf in 1996 only because the author's last name caught my attention as being similar to my own. I took it and 6 other novels home and sat down to take a quick preliminary glance at all of them, happening to start with CC. Three hours later, I was still in the same place, alternately howling with laughter and shouting out "Richard Dooling is a GENIUS!" This novel has everything--everything I like, at least: black humor, mordant sociology, unusual but believable and mostly even likeable characters, a plot that keeps you turning pages as fast as you can while at the same time wishing the book would not end, mystery, surprises, an inside look at an arcane profession, and finally, wisdom that doesn't seem hokey. I went back to the library in search of information about the author and--this was 1996, remember--found only a couple of reviews, in library journals, and the reviewers had not understood the book AT ALL. Its fortunes improved somewhat after his second novel was published. The movie was also superlative but went largely unnoticed. I recommended both novel and movie to many friends, and several told me one or the other was just too "strong" for their taste. Maybe it just hits too close to home. I have found most of the same qualities in Dooling's subsequent novels, which because of their subjects--Africa, cyberspace--may be far enough removed from what really hurts us here in the U.S. to be more popular.

R.D must have been a doctor in a former life because his eye for medical detail is astonishing(second only to his scathing wit).READ IT!

I read Critical Care as soon as I finished Dooling's latest novel, Brain Storm. I was impressed that Dooling possessed such a huge mastery of the world inside the Intensive Care Unit AND of the law. This book presents similar types of ethical questions that Brain Storm does, but all of it is couched in hilarious dialogue and personal character reflections. Make sure to read this book in a place where laughing outloud won't get you thrown out. Great Book (I just started his other novel, White Man's Grave).