This book turned me from an asleep-by-ten reader to a
gotta-finish-this-before-I-go-to-sleep, bleary-eyed wreck. Pennie's
Dr. Zol Szabo is an improbable hero, a public health bureaucrat.
Ho-hum, I thought, another yuppie doctor story. I'll just read
fifty pages or so and toss it. But Zol turned out to be far more
than I expected. He's quirky, multi-dimensional, courageous,
adventurous, vulnerable and smart. And a single father with a
decent kid. The story, a satisfyingly detailed, fast-moving hunt
for the sources of a deadly mad-cow variant, takes the
investigators from gourmet groceries to a sleazy farm to
bureaucratic hideouts, all set in a Canadian landscape.
Some things I liked:
-- The names. No Brads, Haleys, Justins, or Stephanies here.
Instead, there are names with heft and texture: Zol and Max Szabo,
Dr. Hamish Wakefield, Ermalinda the housekeeper, Zol's assistant
Natasha Sharma, and so on.
-- The places, including my all-time favorite place name, Moose's
Testicle, the place unsuccessful bureaucrats fear to go. And the
grisly farm and meat-processing plant. And Canada in the late fall.
I'm an American living in the Midwest, and so, so tired of books
set in New York and L.A.
Fast-paced story, interesting settings, complex and interesting
cast - what's not to like?
I bought an extra copy for my book club.