Neil McMahon. To the Bone (2003) 250 pp.
Eden Hale is a young beautiful woman who went from being a porn star to an actress getting good parts in daytime drama. She has just had breast augmentation surgery and the boyfriend who was supposed to be staying with her left her alone and in pain. As time goes on the pain becomes unbearable and Eden is barely able to make the 911 call for an ambulance before losing consciousness. By the time the she arrives at Mercy Hospital in San Francisco, she is barely breathing. Dr. Carroll Monks works on Eden but nothing he does is helping and he has no idea what is wrong with her until he sees bruising spreading across her skin. He administers a drug in hopes of stopping the blood from clotting but she dies before the drug can take affect. His peers criticize him for his treatment protocol, but when the pathologist finds a toxin in Eden’s blood Carroll thinks she has been murdered. He starts asking too many questions and winds up almost getting killed by someone who wants attention deflected from the plastic surgeon and those who work for him.

H.K.