Review – Fatal Trauma

Dr. Mark Baker’s hospital emergency room is invaded by a wild-eyed gunman who holds a pistol at the head of nurse Kelly Atkinson. The gunman demands that Mark save his wounded brother, whom Kelly pushes in a wheelchair, or everyone in the room will die. Thus Fatal Trauma, Dr. Richard Mabry’s new medical suspense thriller, begins quite literally with a bang. This opening scene ends with both criminal brothers dead and a security guard severely wounded. Mark and surgeon Anna King try unsuccessfully to save the security guard.

But peril does not end with this incident. The dead brothers belong to the Zetas, the most feared of Mexican drug cartels, whose operations reach far into the American interior. The Zetas never let the death of a member go unavenged. So Mark and Kelly, while pondering a possible love relationship with each other, must live under a constant threat to their lives, and must do so without protection by an unsympathetic police department.

From that point, Dr. Mabry develops his story with an ever-enlarging group of suspected Zeta operatives and with increasing tension, building at last to a thrilling climax and satisfying denouement. The development includes a suitable number of technical medical situations, but Dr. Mabry’s clear prose renders these understandable to non-medical readers. This novel differs from the author’s prior works by a greater complexity of characters and greater richness of subplots, but he manages these easily without losing momentum in his main story. The spiritual threads of the novel are also woven seamlessly into the narrative.

In my opinion, this is Dr. Mabry’s best novel to date. I recommend it most highly for readers from junior high level up to octogenarians.