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Tainted

by Ross Pennie

The latest suspense novel written by a real-life Canadian doctor demonstrates that our country’s contribution to the medical thriller subgenre is not so much evolving as stabilizing. Tainted immediately admits Brantford-based physician-cum-university professor Ross Pennie into the small but growing club whose ranks include Kathy Reichs and Dan Kalla. Content-wise, it leans more toward the latter, which is understandable, given that Pennie, like Kalla, is an infectious-disease specialist. Alas, he also shares his cohorts’ propensity for overwrought melodrama in the face of otherwise quite credible science-based suspense.

The plot, which concerns a mutated form of mad cow disease, is, in fact, very well woven. Twists and turns are expected in a story of this type but, to his credit, Pennie consistently parcels out just enough information to keep even the most jaded reader guessing without being confused. Better yet, the eventual explanation for the outbreak, as deduced by three characters chasing separate leads, is quite clever.

The dialogue, however, proves to be a stumbling block. In a style reminiscent of the Hardy Boys, Pennie shoehorns urgency into ridiculously expository dialogue. And some of that dialogue is simply ludicrous: “‘Isn’t it ironic,’ said Colleen, ‘how preoccupied they were with the appearance of the outside of their skulls, while a time bomb ticked away on the inside?’”

If the dialogue is problematic, the characterization is downright farcical. Pennie works too hard at giving his protagonists “humanizing” problems. Hungarian hero Dr. Sol Szabo spends more time wrestling with guilt over his temper and curtness than he does analyzing the facts at hand; Dr. Watsonish diagnostician Hamish Wakefield makes bull-headed statements but is easily offended, possibly due to being a closeted homosexual; taciturn but reliable lab assistant Natasha Sharma could connect disparate dots easily, if only she could get her Punjabi mother to stop phoning to try to arrange a marriage. The whole thing reads less like a cultural mosaic than a collection of obvious stereotypes.

Pennie also includes an entirely unnecessary, action-filled climax involving a back-country redneck sausage manufacturer, a suitcase of blood money, and a double murder (well, if you include the dog). The redneck’s involvement in the medical plot is legitimate, but the story was good enough without the sensationalistic endgame.

 

Reviewer: Gary Butler

Publisher: ECW Press

DETAILS

Price: $24.95

Page Count: 312 pp

Format: Cloth

ISBN: 978-1-55022-860-1

Released: April

Issue Date: 2009-5

Categories: Fiction: Novels