Harvest. Tess Gerritsen

Harvest
Tess Gerritsen
Publisher:Windsor/Paragon
Date: 2007. 1st published 1996
Format: Large print hardcover
Pages: 445
Genre: Medical Thriller
Source: Local library

In the ER of a Boston hospital, a tale of twisted terror lies waiting...Dr Abby Di Matteo - a second-year surgical student in Boston Bayside's elite cardiac team - is about to make a decision that will jeopardize her career.

A car-crash victim's healthy heart is ready to be harvested, having been cross-matched to a private patient, forty-six year-old Nina Voss. Instead Abby makes sure the transplant goes to a dying seventeen-year-old boy who is also a perfect match. The repercussions leave her plagued with self-doubt. Suddenly a new heart appears, and the transplant is completed. Then she makes a terrible discovery. The new heart has not come through the proper channels.

Defying the hospital's demands for silence, Abby begins her own investigation that reveals an intricate and murderous chain of deceptions ...WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY THE AUTHOR

Harvest is a very well written chilling medical thriller by Tess Gerritsen.  I don't usually read this genre, however The Eclectic Reading Challenge called for one, so Harvest was my choice.  I have mixed feelings about it.  The book itself was excellent, but very unsettling to think this could actually happen - and it's not beyond the realms of belief.

Abby is one gutsy medical resident, she notices things and queries things.  It is a big mystery as to where a heart comes from for Nina Voss, after Abby manages to channel a heart to a young teen boy who is in desperate need of it.  She eventually talks to Vivian Chao, a talented doctor who has left the hospital for another appointment.  Vivian is not 'team' material.  Abby finds that doctors have died in mysterious circumstances and what she finds is that it is not as it has been made to seem. Could she too be in danger?

Abby turns to Katzka - a policeman, to help her with her fears of what is happening in her hospital. Eventually with many twists and turns the grisly truth is evident.  Abby finds that some of those she worked with, even loved, were not trustworthy or in any way compassionate, they have been involved with something very sinister.  A Russian mafia like group are at work - bringing live people for heart donations.  Yakov one of those boys, suspects something and at the very end he is able to turn the tide.

Chilling, suspenseful and well written.  However I won't be reaching very soon for any more medical thrillers! Too well written for me!