Flawless

This is a pretty good medical thriller - the second in a series, although I haven't read the first one.

I like the main character - he's smart & smart-alecky & snotty in a way that amuses me. He's fleshed out & believable. The sense of place here (San Francisco) is fairly well rendered & the plot is twisty & turny & believable. It's also timely given our fascination with plastic surgery of all kinds. This was just what it was meant to be - a good, fun vacation read.

A former medical detective for the Centers for Disease Control, Dr. Nate McCormick had seen enough suffering to last a lifetime. Now he’s left the CDC, determined to begin a new life with his girlfriend in San Francisco…until the vicious murder of a biotech researcher—an old friend—hurtles him back into the medical world he’d left behind. While the police hunt for a killer, Nate starts sifting through evidence, determined to find what his friend did to provoke his brutal death. And the truth he ultimately discovers far exceeds the very worst he had imagined.

I liked the premise of this story but the main character, Nate, was often immature, angry and not that likeable. Nate also put himself and sometimes others in grave danger show more over and over again without good reason. There was interesting medical information scattered throughout and the pace was fast but Nate made so many bad decisions that I didn’t enjoy this much. show less

I enjoyed the first Dr Nathaniel McCormick book, Isolation Ward, which compared to Flawless was much better. This was okay but wasn't really that great. Whilst you can read Flawless without having read Isolation Ward as there is plenty of background to each character here and their circumstances I really think you're better off reading it first as frankly it is a better book.

Overall, this isn't a bad book, it just doesn't meet the standard set in the prior one.

Young,annoying,arrogant doc takes on medical heavies to solve a nasty crime.