Heat Shock

A half black, half Vietnamese emergency room doctor, Carmen Nguyen, who knows better, gets involved in the affairs of a dying patient, Luke Redstone. Luke, who is suffering from leukemia and has only a short time to live, begs her to go check on his gamecocks that he keeps behind his cabin. When she rides her motorcycle to his house in the woods, she is shot at before she gets close enough to see how the cocks are faring. Another patient, Walter Rios, who is recovering from a rough tumble over a rocky cliff, also becomes entangled in the gamecock affair. Even though Redstone's gamecocks are superior birds that win most of their matches, Rios and Carmen feel there is something else about the birds that make others wish to steal and even kill if necessary to obtain the cocks. Their path crosses that of a ruthless businessman, a cadre of killers, several scientists and a group of Navajos who have somehow become involved.Much to the disgust of Nguyen's Vietnamese aunt who is not fond of American men, a romance begins to build between Rios, a guilt-ridden white water rafting guide and Nguyen. Nguyen is torn between pleasing her aunt and her love for Rios. There is plenty of background on Carmen's Vietnam beginnings and the reasons for Walter's guilt. The mystery plays out in the stunning scenery of the Grand Mesa and over the contaminated grounds of former uranium mines in western Colorado.Robert Greer has written a fascinating mystery that includes science, medicine, murder and romance. It is a wonderful book that holds your attention to the last page.Reviewed by alice Holmanof the RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

Doctor Carmen Nguyen is taking time off from genetic research and working in a Colorado emergency room. An ex-uranium miner who trains cockfighting birds comes to the ER with an unusual form of leukemia due to mining yellow-cake uranium when he was younger. She soon discovers that the miner's birds are stronger than they should be and that Denver biotech executive, Jack Kimbrough has taken an unusual interest in the fighting birds.There is just the right blend of fascinating characters and intriguing plot in this action filled thriller to make this a book you won't soon forget.

Like any good science/mystery writer, Robert Greer trolls the latest in research to postulate a plausible, if scary, scenario for his recent submission to the future of science and mankind. But the reader must exercise patience, as Greer slowly builds to a climax in the final chapters, one that reveals the twisted plot of the ill-intentioned perpetrators.Greer mixes an unlikely group of characters, from the eccentric to the dastardly, almost with one eye on the potential movie option. Carmen Nguyen is an emergency room physician in a Colorado facility, not the position of her choice, which is oncology and genetic research. However, while doing research in Utah, Carmen runs into a professional snafu: bureaucratic infighting and theft of resources that leaves her temporarily unemployed, disgusted and betrayed by coworkers. Nevertheless, Doctor Nguyen is enjoying her new job, now that she has distanced herself from her experience in Utah, although she knows that she is not working to capacity or in her chosen field. Then a man with disturbing symptoms is brought to her emergency room and his potential diagnosis challenges her research skills and reawakens her scientific curiosity. An ex-uranium miner, also a professional bird trainer for local cockfights, is brought to his knees by an unusual, but identifiable, form of leukemia. Carmen bonds with the crusty old man, and he eventually cons her into checking up on his game birds. When Walter Rios, a solitary river rafter, has a freak accident while fishing, he takes a fall that puts his life in danger. Because of his accident, he meets the old miner in the hospital, where they share Carmen as their physician, both falling under her spell. Walter and Carmen, carrying out old Luke's directions together, stumble across some very strange evidence, bringing into question the invincibility of the gamecocks and the long-term effects of uranium on the humans.Greer doesn't neglect the usual raft of bad guys, busy hatching nefarious schemes for self-aggrandizement and personal profit. Greer fleshes them out with all the despicable characteristics of the anti-hero. There is a cultural mix within the story that adds to the surrealism of the plot: Navajo soldiers who served together in Vietnam, multi-ethnic Carmen and her Vietnamese aunt and haunting memories of the massacre at Mei Lai. These people seem as disparate as unmatched squares of a patchwork quilt, but they form a complete pattern before the novel is finished.This mystery/suspense thriller has the requisite fascinating characters, an intriguing plot and the well-planned denouement of the criminals, lurking behind the scenes. At the end of the day, right may appear to triumph over might, but there are questions left unanswered, future complications for another book. His detailed scientific research pays off as Greer pens an action-packed thriller, guaranteed not to disappoint fans of the genre. Luan Gaines/2003.

In Colorado Doctor Carmen Nguyen works the emergency room at St. Mary's Hospital. The Vietnamese-African-American finds herself attracted to two new patients. Sixty-nine years old crusty but likable Luke Redstone, owner of the most highly regarded fighting cocks in the area, is dying from leukemia. Ruggedly handsome former marine Walter Rios was rushed to ER when he fell during a fly fishing trip and ruptured his brachial artery.Somehow Luke persuades Carmen to search for his prize winning cocks. However, while biking in the desert, someone fires shots at Carmen. Walter joins Carmen on her investigation into the stolen cocks and the shooting. Soon they learns that a Denver biotech executive Jack Kimbrough is experimenting on duplicating the physical skills of Luke's birds in human beings. However, with billions at stake that knowledge could prove deadly to the two amateur sleuths.The remote Colorado desert is brought to picturesque life in this thrilling amateur sleuth tale. Besides the scenery which takes on a characterization of its own, the three key good guys are fully developed and their new relationships are realistic and fun to observe, especially with a wary Carmen. The medical thriller aspects seems more like an underpinning so that fans of that sub-genre may be disappointed by the dose of that subplot as the amateur sleuth camaraderie is the strength of HEAT SHOCK.Harriet Klausner