Heat Shock

Booklist

Greer excels at both plot and characterization...is like being hooked up to an IV that steadily drips suspense...
—starred review, 9/1/03

Publishers Weekly

[a] fast paced tale of medical research gone awry...evokes the Western setting with clean, uncluttered prose and introduces a winning crime-fighting duo...
—9/1/03

Publishers Weekly

Greer, author of the popular CJ Floyd mystery series (Limited Time; The Devil's Backbone), ushers in two compelling new protagonists in this fast-paced tale of medical research gone awry. Dr. Carmen Nguyen is a half-black, half-Vietnamese emergency room physician at a hospital in the Colorado desert; her patient-turned-lover, Walter Rios, is a rugged river-rafter recovering from a near-fatal fishing accident. Together, they come to the assistance of Luke Redstone, an ornery cockfighter dying of a rare form of leukemia caused by mining yellow-cake uranium in his younger days. While Redstone receives treatment in the hospital, someone steals his prized fighting cocks, known for their unusual vigor and bloodthirstiness. Nguyen and Rios soon discover that an unscrupulous Denver biotech executive, Jack Kimbrough, has taken an abnormal interest in Redstone's birds and possesses inside knowledge of how they dominated the fighting circuit. (A secondary character in the CJ Floyd series, the Denver bail bondsman's assistant, Flora Jean, is on the case, too.) With Nguyen's medical expertise and Rio's investigative wile, the pair find that Kimbrough may have come up with a way to replicate the physical invincibility of Redstone's cocks in human beings. It's a discovery that could be worth billions-and could lead to murder. Greer effectively evokes the Western setting with his clean, uncluttered prose and introduces a winning crime-fighting duo. (Oct. 28) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Who killed the fighting-cock flock and why? For all the months she's been at St. Mary's Hospital, ER Doc Carmen Nguyen, half-Vietnamese, half-black, all gorgeous, has been faithful to a promise she made herself: Don't get personally involved with patients. And then suddenly, within days, she breaks the promise twice. "What on earth makes these two men so special?" she wonders. Grizzled old Luke Redstone, dying of leukemia, has an unquenchable sparkle in his eye? Sparkling eyes have meant trouble for her in the past. Ex-marine Walker Rios, whose life she saved after a terrible fall, is big and hunkish? She's paid a painful price for her share of big and hunkish. And yet, there she is under the blazing sun, in the fierce Colorado desert winds, bouncing around on her motorbike at the behest of grizzled old Luke, searching for his prize fighting cocks-until someone begins shooting at her. What's that all about? Soon enough, Carmen finds herself teamed up with Walker in an investigation her good sense bids her resist as her curiosity eggs her on. She learns how champion fighting cocks can be weirdly connected to a get-rich-quick medical scam, and how a good man can make a wary girl willing to take a second chance. Carmen and Walker are an appealing pair, but Greer (Limited Time, 2000, etc.) squanders their charm with draggy pacing.