Review – Heart Failure

In Heart Failure, Dr. Richard Mabry continues his unique mixture of medicine, mystery and mayhem.

Adam Davidson is on the run. Though he’s committed no crime, he was the key witness in sending Chicago mobster Charlie DeLuca to prison, and the DeLuca mob wants revenge. Adam entered the witness protection program, but when the mob found him there he bolted the program and struck out on his own. Originally a practicing lawyer, he now makes a living as a paralegal in a small city near Dallas. Although he lives in constant fear of discovery, he has unwisely become engaged to Dr. Carrie Markham, a successful young internist at a local clinic.

Carrie has her own past. Two years previously, her husband died in surgery. Carrie feels guilt for not pressing him sooner into medical treatment, and she is angry with God for not answering her prayers for him. Nevertheless, she is far enough past that loss to feel genuine love for Adam.

Their idyllic courtship is interrupted, though, when someone shoots at them through the windshield of Adam’s car. That incident was frightening enough, but Carrie is further bothered by seeing that Adam was accustomed to that kind of incident. She feels betrayed when he confesses his situation and that Adam is not his real name, so she returns his ring. Still, her love requires that she give him the opportunity for full explanation.

From that point, tension builds continuously in the narrative. As attempts continue on their lives, Adam and Carrie search desperately to find the would-be assassin. Suspects include paramedic Rob Cole, who makes heavy-handed attempts to get close to Carrie. Adam’s erratic boss, Bruce Hartley, has past gambling debts and Chicago connections. The managing partner at Carrie’s clinic, Dr. Phil Rushton, also acts suspiciously. And there is the beautiful, blatantly forward Mary Delkus, who suddenly shows up sharing Adam’s job as a paralegal. And all the while, as if in normal life, Carrie has to treat a series of emergencies at the clinic and hospital.

As is his custom, Dr. Mabry manages his mixture of suspense and medical incidents superbly so that the plot never slows. Further, his explanation of medical situations is always clear enough for the reader to follow. In sum, he has achieved another excellent thriller that leads the reader crisis by crisis up to a satisfying climax and resolution.