The Anatomy of Deception | Lawrence Goldstone | Definately 'out of my box' but worth it!

The Anatomy of Deception | Lawrence Goldstone | Enjoyable Historical Medical Thriller

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The Anatomy of Dec...

	The Anatomy of Deception Lawrence Goldstone Delacorte Press, 2008 - 352 pages average customer review:based on 21 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A mesmerizing forensic thriller that thrusts the reader into the operating rooms, drawing rooms, and back alleys of 1889 Philadelphia, as a young doctor grapples with the principles of scientific process to track a daring killer

In the morgue of a Philadelphia hospital, a group of physicians open a coffin and uncover the corpse of a beautiful young woman. What they see takes their breath away. Within days, one of them strongly suspects that he knows the woman?s identity?and the horrifying events that led to her death. But in this richly atmospheric novel?an ingenious blend of history, suspense and early forensic science?the most compelling chapter is yet to come, as young Ephraim Carroll is plunged into a maze of murder, secrets and unimaginable crimes....

Dr. Ephraim Carroll came to Philadelphia to study with a leading professor, the brilliant William Osler, believing that he would gain the power to save countless lives. As America hurtles toward a new century, medicine is changing rapidly, in part due to the legalization of autopsy?a crime only a few years before. But Carroll and his mentor are at odds over what they glimpsed that morning in the hospital?s Dead House. And when a second mysterious death is determined to have been a ruthless murder, Carroll can feel the darkness gathering around him?and he ignites an investigation of his own.

Soon he is moving between the realm of elite medicine, Philadelphia high society, and a teeming badlands of criminality and sexual depravity along the city?s fetid waterfront. With a wealthy, seductive woman clouding his vision, the controversial artist Thomas Eakins sowing scandal, and the secrets of the nation?s powerful surgeons unraveling around him, Carroll is forced to confront an agonizing moral choice?between exposing a killer, undoing a wrong, and, quite possibly, protecting the future of medicine itself?.

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Definately 'out of my box' but worth it!

I've never read anything to do with medicine before. Therefore, a lot of the historical aspect was lost on me, and I actually was disappointed by that. Reading this book made me want to do some digging into the history of medicine (if I could only find the time!) I feel I missed out on something, that this book would have been much more satisfying had I been familar with the historical background and terminology, BUT that being said, it was still a fabulous book. The main character learns much about himself in the process of unraveling the mystery of the woman in the morgue, meeting some colorful characters along the way. It was very entertaining, a page-turner that I found difficult to put down.

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Enjoyable Historical Medical Thriller

This doesn't have the ironic wit of The Interpretation of Murder, but it seems underrated based on the reviews I've seen. The novel is filled with interesting historical detail about surgical practices of the period and while it doesn't overwhelm with flavor, it feels of it's time and has a quaint Booth Tarkington flavor.

Halsted and Osler, what a team

The fathers of modern day medicine as characters in a well done murder mystery. While this may be considered heresy by some, I found the book very well done and extremely accurate as to the period in which it took place.

More compelling than the characters and the mystery itself was how well the writer created the dark and dreary times of Philadelphia and its interaction with the medical climate of the late 1800s. The writer cleverly used factual accounts of these individuals with such clarity as to create believable roles by these famous physicians in crimes those of us who have read historical facts of these two great men could never imagine. But he does it convincingly and kudos for that.

While not as well written or as good, this book reminded me of Caleb Carr's excellent (and one of my favorite books) - The Alienist.

If you are not familiar with Halsted and Osler, I recommend a little historical search about both before delving into this book as to understand these two men prior to reading this book makes the book all the more interesting.

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absorbing read

Let me first say that I do not look for "deeper meaning" in many of my fiction books. All my life, books have been and are a source of entertainment and enjoyment. Reading a book can be a "mini-vacation" if you will, taking you into a different world while you read it. I really must say I did enjoy this book. It was not spellbinding, but it was a good read and some parts of it were so compelling I had to read on past my appointed "quit time". Reading this will not be a waste of time for anyone.

Anatomy of Deception

This novel falls into one of my favorite genres, historical fiction. That is, fiction that combines true elements of history within the narrative, fleshing out a period in time around characters that existed in real life. In Anatomy of Deception, Goldstone weaves a mystery into 1880s Philadelphia. Dr. Ephraim Carroll studies under the real-life Dr. William Osler, a pioneer of American surgery. Dr. Carroll quickly becomes embroiled in a mystery that seems to have no end of unexpected twists.

Lawrence Goldstone's first attempt at fiction is well-researched and well-written. The pace was slow at times, but I never lost interest in the characters. I would recommend this book to fans of the genre. If you like this, you should definitely check out Erik Larson's The Devil in the White City and Matthew Pearl's The Dante Club.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

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