Heroic Measures by Joel Shulkin, MD

We meet Stephen Englehart, MD, a US Army medical examiner. A thankless job that he approaches with a heartfelt dedication to bring some sense of peace to the deceased soldier’s family. This devotion to honor and duty is why he’s one of the Army’s best.

A spec ops mission in Afghanistan is ambushed. The soldiers were caught in a literal firestorm. The after-action reports that Englehart reads suggest that the remains were burned beyond recognition. No rookie or otherwise inexperienced examiners for these soldiers. Englehart’s the head dog so he pulls rank and takes charge.

Imagine his surprise when he opens the body bag and finds a corpse with hardly a scratch on him. Thinking that the body has been accidentally switched, he starts by trying to identify the corpse on his table.

Yep. It matches. Must be something wrong with the accompanying report. He starts in on the autopsy with plans to work out the messed-up paperwork later.

The autopsy begins as normal . . . until the corpse awakens. Sits up and storms out. That’ll get one’s attention.

Now, the story takes a huge turn. Englehart is less concerned about cause of death. He needs to learn just what the hell is going on . . .

. . . and this is where I started to lose interest. There’s a place for fantasy and sci-fi stories like this. Hey, I loved the Terminator as much as the next. This one, however, left me cold. For me (and only me), a story needs some grounding in even the remotest chance of reality. Others who like fantasy could well be enthralled with the science and plot development. It was work for me to get through. Guess I’m just not the target audience.

Too old and too grumpy.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. All you ask for in exchange is my honest review.

 

East Coast Don