Positive Match (Hc)

I have to say that I have read a number of medical thrillers lately and they seem to have a common theme running through them: patients are getting hurt or dying due to some hospital or doctor who has an agenda (maybe to test their new experimental drug). This book blew my mind because the ending was so unbelievable. The plot involves a lot of different characters from all walks of life, poor Mexicans trying to cross the border, the doctor who works with them and his young colleagues who are "techies", gangsters, the new company that is providing body parts so quickly when needed. I don't want to get too much into the plot and ruin it (read the synopsis), but the author writes very well and the story doesn't drag at all. I believe this book is a step above the average medical thrillers that seem to be coming out of the woodwork lately. Hope you enjoy it!

Hard to put down, lots of characters and plot twists.

Positive Match is a suspense thriller about a futuristic health care corporation suspected of obtaining human organs in a possibly suspicious manner. The book features a pleasantly diverse cast of characters. Dr. Nguyen-Anh Dupree is featured as an Asian doctor with a Louisiana dialect practicing medicine in Third World Mexico. When one of the young men from the Mexican Village disappears, Dupree, along with three others go after the baddies armed with computers, accounting spreadsheets and a other creative methods. The female lead is Maggie Sepulveda, an up and coming accountant hired to do a due diligence investigation before the corporation can finance its expansion. Sidekicks include Duchess, an African-American advertising executive specializing in computer graphics and Data, a crippled Chicano college student whose brother is a South Central L.A. gang lord. They are two computer hackers who run a computer programmer training project called "Boot up the Hood" out of the public library for the neighborhood at risk kids. The books villains include an aging Anglo millionaire and an Asian computer nerd, both of whom are up to no good. This novel is a little uneven in the beginning, but gets steadily better, resulting in a very satisfying second half. The characters are well-developed and interesting with a lot of a attention to detail. I enjoyed the multi-culturalism, as it added a colorful texture to the novel. One that is not usually found in most thrillers. I also enjoyed the non-violent, thinking person's approach to catching the bad guys, even though the main characters brains were backed with secondary characters muscle. The plot was interesting but not extremely original. The characterizations, however, are what make this book different from the typical, cookie-cutter medical thriller. This is a team that I really hope to see again. Good serialization potential. Author Tony Chiu may be one to watch.

The plot makes clear that this thriller is also a statement about dangers in the trend to put medicine in the hands of private, profit-making corporations. Given what's going on in managed care, "Positive Match" might not be the "reducto ad absurdum" it may seem at first glance. It could be a creepy prophecy

Dr. Nguyen-Anh Dupree is a Vietnamese-American who practices medicine in a Mexican health clinic, where he enjoys working with the poor. His life radically changes when he begins to suspect the highly regarded organ-donor transplant corporation, Medex, of gutting illegal immigrants in order to harvest their body parts. He has no solid evidence to prove his assumption. Medex' partner is Caduceus 21, a financially healthy health company that is about to go public. The company hires investment banker Maggie Sepulveda to oversee the pending stock transactions. As Maggie learns more about her corporate client, she begins to wonder if the firm is indeed performing illegal actions. When Nguyen, Maggie, and several assistants meet, they agree to find out where the evidence is buried that will expose the diabolical activities of both companies. However, no one quite understands that their foe will do anything, including harvesting their opponents' organs, in order to keep their lucrative trade active. POSITIVE MATCH is an exciting, rocket-like paced medical thriller that takes off on page one and never stops until the story is completed. Though the topic of organ harvesting seems a bit trite and there are way too many background arenas, debut author Tony Chiu imbues a freshness by using illegal immigrants as the source. Fans of medical thrillers will enjoy this entry into the field. Harriet Klausner