Prescribed Danger

Prescribed Danger (2002) Gwen Hunter

The second Dr. Rhea Lynch mystery.

A couple is rushed to the ER after having escaped from captivity. The woman is in labor and her health makes everyone involved concerned. When it is discovered the couple were forcibly tattooed with racist images, things go from bad to worse.

This is a very interesting story, in that she does not hesitate to kill of children. It’s not that I like stories where children die, but in the situation that is described, children and the elderly would be badly affected.

Because this story is also about an epidemic that hits the area.

I have been fascinated for years by epidemics, and here were get to see the probable protocols put into place, and all the other things that might happen in the case of an epidemic.

Ordinary civil rights could be abrogated at will. If a patient was diagnosed with the atypical virulent pneumonia, now called simply AVP, then he could not sign out of the hospital, could not refuse treatment and isolation, and could not leave against medical advice.

I’m not sure if other people would find those be interesting, but I very much enjoyed reading about all the details. Which is good because I was pretty sure I knew who was behind the Bad Things.

I do like the secondary characters in this story, which again is good because the mystery part was kinda obvious to me. Not that that is inherently a bad thing, but since it isn’t a police procedural, we don’t watch the case building against the criminals and the search for evidence–not really–which does take something away from the mystery.

But like I said, I do enjoy the secondary characters.

Old women in this county have more power than you can imagine. You want something done, just tell a man’s grandma. It’ll be done a lot faster than if you tell the man.

I’m not sure I truly believe that–at least not everywhere–but it’s a nice thing to consider.

Publisher: Bella Rosa Books
Rating: 7/10

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