Rating: 
Summary: Very poorly written
Review: I read five to eight books a week on average, mostly mysteries and thrillers. I couldn't get through this mess. The writing is poor, passive and confusing. The writer jerks us back and forth in time. Did anyone in his basic English class ever explain that flashbacks pull the reader out of the story? I have a feeling this book could have been much better if the writer had started at the beginning, with Henry and just kept going. We should have sympathy for the child, but Farris pulls the reader away from Henry and what happens to move forward in time. I was rather appalled at the language the main character used in the ER. I sure hope it's NOT like that!
I have a 50 page rule. If a book doesn't grab me in the first 50 pages, I give up and go on to something more interesting. I barely got to page 31 before giving up. So many books, so little time to waste on something that couldn't hold my interest. Farris should read some Michael Palmer, Tess Gerritson and the like to see how good medical thrillers are written.
Rating: 
Summary: exciting medical thriller
Review: In Glory, Arizona Dr. Malcolm Ishmail works the local hospital's emergency room, a far cry from his days in Phoenix. He ponders how far he could fall due to ethically reporting the failures of his lover neurosurgeon Mimi Lyle only he was asked to leave town. He has to end his musing because his thirteen years old asthmatic patient Henry Rojelio turns blue and soon becomes comatose. Malcolm has no idea what happened only that he must leave town again.Over the next seven years later, Malcolm works where he can find employment as a traveling "itinerant physician". Mostly he performs medical work in tiny Nebraska towns. As he has done since Phoenix he reflects back to Mimi, though an incompetent, she sat at the acme of her profession as a superstar. Ultimately, he wonders if Mimi is at the heart of his spiral downward or is he just paranoid. He knows first hand how vengeful she can be, but that was then in Arizona and this is now in Nebraska. Malcolm knows he can never go home though there is one person he would like to see smile. LIE STILL is an exciting medical thriller with a tremendous twist of an ending. Malcolm has learned the hard way that often politics supersedes ethics as no good deed goes unpunished. He a superb protagonist as he wallows in disappointment as to what happened to his career when he challenged those with the gold like Professor Mimi "voodoo" Lyle. David Farris provides a terse story with no padding as even profanity comes across apropos. Harriet Klausner
Rating: 
Summary: 4 1/2 stars
Review: See storyline above. Before you even start to read the book you know the protagonist loses his job, has an affair, and you know Henry collapses. This takes away some of the fun of reading, unpredictability. ( If you don't read the book flap you'll be in for more surprises). That being said, I still liked it.
A sharply written medical thriller which also brings up some interesting ethical issues. Throughout the novel you'll be treated to some of the authors own medical stories. A good read. Recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating.
Review: There is a regular article in Discover magazine that I look forward to. It is typically written by a series of ER doctors, and focuses on cases that pose a mystery, either diagnostic or regarding the origin of an injury or illness. The mystery is nearly always solved in some imaginative way, and it makes for fascinating reading.
This novel is like the elongated version of five year's worth of Discover magazines' stories, all surrounding a pretty ingenious mystery/thriller. It's not upbeat, by any means, and there aren't a lot of happy endings, but trust me when I say that it'll be hard to put down. The writing style is engaging and well thought out, and the main character, though flawed, is likeable and worth rooting for. Those of you who like to read fiction for entertainment, but appreciate learning some things along the way, will be right at home here, as the author makes the technical side of medicine pretty palatable for the layman. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Satisfying medical mystery
Review: Very readable, satisfying medical mystery. Why yes, I have a penchant for same! Wanting to read more from Farris' pen.
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