Robbed of her ability to speak, Kathleen must find some way to communicate with Richard. She must tell him what Hamlin has done in the hope of preventing further experimentation. Making her task more difficult is convincing Richard that what she is telling him actually happened, not as he is likely to assume, the result of drug induced hallucinations.

This job accomplished, her troubles are still escalating. An unknown man is trying to inject an unknown fluid into her IV port. Scarcely able to move and unable to speak, it seems she has no way to alert hospital staff her life is in danger. In all likelihood, Kathleen will have survived a brain hemorrhage only to die at the hands of a murderer.

Peter Clement is a master craftsman of the medical thriller. From a layman’s viewpoint, the medical aspect of the book is well done. There is just enough scientific explanation to render the account authentic without becoming so technical as to confuse those unfamiliar with the terminology. As a thriller the book rates high marks as well. It would not be wise to begin this novel with only a bit of time to read. Other essential chores will undoubtedly be neglected as the reader becomes engrossed in the plot.

It is easy to imagine the terror that overcomes Kathleen as she realizes that the only thing that can save her life is her own creativity. Likewise, as Richard finds the lights switched off in the medical records department and being pursued by an unknown assailant, one can understand his panic.

Critical Condition could succeed on its merits as a properly researched medical drama but it has more to offer the reader. Author Clement’s command of the language is such that English majors might well applaud his literary effort. To wit, “They were the kind that old forests and neighborhoods with old money had in common, spreading over everything like a thick canopy that shut out the light below. And just as on the floor of an old forest the new growth was stunted, the offspring in such places often failed to live up to the parents.” Or, “(the rat) dropped its grisly load and scuttled... He bent down to examine what it had been carrying. From the arteries and veins hanging out of it like tiny hoses, he instantly recognized a human heart.”

Mr. Clement demonstrates his facility as an author by injecting just the right amount of irony into his novel. For instance, Kathleen’s would-be assailant is interrupted in his attempt to kill her. Richard, having interjected his displeasure with the ICU staff in their care of his lover, stomps out of the unit, nearly colliding with a janitor, who was, in fact, the man trying to kill Kathleen.

Perhaps the most important aspect of Peter Clement’s novels is that they all have a message beyond an exciting, medically accurate, realistic story. To elaborate further on this point would be revealing aspects of the plot that would decrease the potential reader’s enjoyment, but Mr. Clement makes a valid argument for treading carefully and slowly into a new area of medical research. The story, in fact, is initially as much a why-done-it as a who-done-it, adding to its appeal.

--Andy Plonka