Peak, John A. Books

M and M: A Thriller

John A. Peak

Amazon Price: $18.96 List Price: $24.95 Usually ships in 2 to 3 weeks By: St. Martin's Minotaur Amazon Marketplace: 24 new & used starting at $0.01

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Subjects -> Mystery & Thrillers -> Thrillers -> Suspense

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Vicki Shea, the hero of Mortal Judgments, returns in this new thriller from the mind of John A. Peak. Since defending her client from malpractice charges in Mortal Judgments, Vicki has returned to medicine, and now practices full time as a pediatrician.

When a severely injured infant is brought into the hospital, the nurse bypasses the on-call doctor and immediately calls Vicki. Vicki's years spent practicing law make her the best choice for dealing with such questionable cases. The mother claims the injuries are the result of a fall she took while holding the child, but the injuries tell another story. Vicki notifies the police then plunges, single-mindedly, into what she knows will be a long, frustrating, and exhausting battle with nature. Vicki will not allow this patient to fall into the hospital's statistics officially known as "morbidity and mortality," the M and M.

The police arrest and charge the mother for child abuse. Then she apparently commits suicide while out on bail. Vicki is not satisfied, and, with the help of her friend Detective Tim Murphy, she stubbornly traces the murder of the child's mother to a sinister, criminal network that becomes a personal threat to her.

Mortal Judgments

John A. Peak

List Price: $23.95 By: St Martins Pr Amazon Marketplace: 25 new & used starting at $0.01

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Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Genre Fiction -> Medical
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Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Contemporary

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Vicki Shea, a sharp San Francisco malpractice lawyer with a medical degree, has just been approached with what promises to be her most challenging--and deadly--case. Arnold Jones, an orthopedic surgeon with an unblemished record, faces an expensive lawsuit from the estate of his wealthy client, a famous lingerie designer whose accidental death during a routine surgery has the experts confounded. But Jones knows he wasn't at fault and refuses to let his insurance company settle.

Against the advice of her colleagues, Vicki takes on the case. Risking the odds, she begins her inquiry and uncovers much more than she bargained for. When a number of key people involved in Vicki's investigation die mysteriously and she almost meets with several untimely "accidents" herself, Vicki realizes she may be gambling with more than just the odds. Millions of dollars are at stake, and someone is willing to do anything to make sure Vicki doesn't discover the truth.

John Peak, a well-known medical malpractice lawyer and author of Spare Change (which Publishers Weekly deemed "a smashing first novel") and Blood Relations, writes his most important book yet. A heart-pounding thriller, Mortal Judgments explores the realm of sheer terror and invites the reader into a thrilling world of accessible and engrossing legal and medical detail.

Blood Relations

John A. Peak

Amazon Price: $18.96 List Price: $24.95 Usually ships in 2 to 3 weeks By: Thomas Dunne Books Amazon Marketplace: 15 new & used starting at $0.01

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Editorial Review:

Retired police sergeant Robert MacDonald's son is murdered, a crime that brings the sergeant out of retirement, and as he investigates the killing, he uncovers more about himself and his son than he would have wished."

Spare Change

John A. Peak

List Price: $24.95 By: St Martins Pr Amazon Marketplace: 15 new & used starting at $3.75

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Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Contemporary
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

When Folks Like Us Get Into Deep Trouble 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Maybe the reality of the setting, maybe the plot events, and probably the interactions between people did it to me...made the skin in the middle of my back tighten, sent a frisson of anxiety rippling through me, drew an involuntary squirm of apprehension and discomfort from me.

I liked this book because it could have easily been me and people I know in this situation. All the characters faced the unfolding events with a real, believable mixture of common sense and unprepared incredulity..."this simply can't be happening to me!" There were none of the cute little artificial plot lines, no Rosetta Stones of miraculous revelations, to move the story along. There was only the real-life gradual accumulation of another piece to the puzzle, each piece revealing an ugly, uglier, then terrifying understanding of what was happening.

The characters were real people, as well as the events. I could taste the liquor as Jeff Talbot lunged for its numbing embrace (OK, in my case it was cigarettes, but the compulsive lunge of an addict toward his heart's insane desire is equally real in any language.) Suzann and Katy were equally real people, almost exactly like ladies I know. And you, too, would be dumbfounded and slow to realize the truth if you were unlocking your car door, and a heavyweight bullet thunked through the door next to your knee. And you, too, would feel your stomach lurch and suck dry with the kick of irretrievable loss when...

This really isn't a mystery or a thriller. It is a mysterious and thrilling story about loss and redemption, hopelessness and self-discovery, aimlessness and new meaning. Trite? But, true! You'll remember these characters a long time...maybe, always.

Editorial Review:

Down-and-out, alcoholic lawyer Jeff Talbot joins a San Francisco law firm at the request of a local police officer to investigate the murder of the officer's sister, an employee of that firm. A first novel.