Code Blue: Prescription for Trouble Series #1 [Kindle Edition]

Richard Mabry (Author)

Book Description

For Dr. Cathy Sewell, Code Blue means more than just the cardiac emergencies she faces—it’s the state of her life when the return to her hometown doesn’t bring the peace she so desperately needs. The town doctors resent the fact that she’s not only a newcomer but also a woman, and the devastating results from one of her prescriptions may mean the end of her practice. As two men compete for her affection, an enemy wants her out of town—or possibly even dead.

 

Cathy returns to her hometown seeking healing after a broken relationship, but discovers that among her friends and acquaintances is someone who wants her out of town…or dead. Lawyer Will Kennedy, her high school sweetheart, offers help, but does it carry a price tag? Is hospital chief of staff, Dr. Marcus Bell, really on her side in her fight to get hospital privileges? Is Will’s father, Pastor Matthew Kennedy, interested in advising her or just trying to get her back to the church she left years ago? When one of Cathy’s prescriptions almost kills the town banker, it sets the stage for a malpractice suit that could end her time in town, if not her career. It’s soon clear that this return home was a prescription for trouble.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Combining medical expertise, solid suspense and a fledgling romance, Richard has all the essential elements at work in the first of his Prescription for Trouble series.   --Relz Reviewz (Rel Mollet)

Medical scenes that were technical enough to be authentic, but still understandable by laymen readers. Suspense with plenty of red herrings to throw the reader off the right track. I fell in love with the characters.  --Lena Nelson Dooley

About the Author

Richard L. Mabry, MD, is a retired physician and medical school professor who achieved worldwide recognition as a writer, speaker, and teacher before turning his talents to non-medical writing after his retirement. He is the author of one non-fiction book, and his inspirational pieces have appeared in numerous periodicals. This is his debut novel. He and his wife Kay live in Frisco, Texas.

Product Details

• File Size: 495 KB
• Print Length: 288 pages
• Publisher: Abingdon Press (December 1, 2009)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B004CRT7SI
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #72,925 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

87 of 96 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect dose of Medical, Suspense and Romance!!! May 14, 2010

By ReviewsByMolly

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

When I think Christian fiction, I always automatically think female authors, and very rarely do I associate a male author. I think female authors because they create characters that are unforgettable and with whom I can undoubtedly relate to in some way or another. But I must confess and say that I am super pleased with Richard Mabry's work. CODE BLUE is a terrific start to a new medical series written by a highly talented male author.

In CODE BLUE,book 1 in the Prescription for Trouble series, we get a healthy dose of crisis, suspense, faith tested and of course, romance! Inject that with a bit of humor and mix it up for the perfect drug! It will cure any ailment! The characters in this particular story blend well with the plot of suspense. This plot is one that grips your soul and puts you right in the middle of the medical action! I loved the thrill of not knowing what was gonna happen next to Dr. Sewell, and I also loved the feeling that Mabry created by those perfect injections of God's love and faith. It certainly made for better entertainment than those TV medical dramas!

My advice to you? Read CODE BLUE. It's 5 star worthy, like Candace Calvert's Mercy Hospital Series....BETTER than any Grey's Anatomy, ER, or House episode could ever be. I can't wait for a second dose of medical mystery and fast paced thrills with this amazing series! And we'll get that with Prescription for Trouble's book 2: MEDICAL ERRORcoming in September of 2010!

131 of 152 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Not really a medical thriller... December 9, 2010

By J. Easton

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book involves a doctor who is being harassed and that's about as "thriller" as it gets. Mabry's book is really a book about re-finding one's faith in God and learning to trust fellow humans and the church in times of crisis. I would not have downloaded the book if I had known that in advance as I thought I was getting a true medical suspense/thriller book. Also, the writing is not as good as it could be although it's a decent first effort. I won't be reading any more books in this series--I read the synopsis for the second book and it sounds exactly like this book with a different set of characters. It would be nice to see Mabry put his obvious wealth of medical knowledge to use in a different plot formula.

68 of 78 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars A reader of both Christian and mainstream fiction chimes in here ... April 16, 2011

By A. Grace VINE™ VOICE

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I am writing this review purely to balance the scales between the CBA (Christian lit) readers' five-star reviews and the one-star reviews that simply rant about the book's religious content. I read both CBA and ABA (mainstream) fiction. I read most genres. What I want from a book: characters to care about, a plot that puts them at risk, and readable prose. This book fails on all counts. I never cared one bit whether Cathy got run over by that ubiquitous, black (of course) SUV (of course). I never believed for a second that she really might get run over. And the telling-not-showing prose is utterly voiceless, reading more like a police report than a novel.

The narration isn't the only voiceless part of the novel, either. The dialogue is no better. From p. 100-101 (I have removed beats and just typed the dialogue):

"'...I'm sorry. I don't mean to be disrespectful. But I have to confess--God and I haven't exactly been on speaking terms for the past few years.'
'You mean, since your parents were killed?'
'Yes. I guess it was no secret that my mother had--She had emotional problems. And as a result, she and Dad had some difficulties in their marriage. But he told me she was better. He thought they'd worked things out. My family would be together again. Then God let them get killed!' ...
'You know, God didn't "let" your parents get killed, anymore than He "lets" murders happen or children die in their cribs. Since Adam and Even, this has been a fallen world. It's not perfect like God intended it to be. ...'
'Please, I don't want to talk theology. My experience has been that I can't depend on God. Just like I couldn't depend on Rob-- Just like I've learned not to depend on any man.'"

One more example from p.... 103:

"'So you decided men couldn't be trusted?'
'For awhile, I hoped that maybe there was a man out there who was trustworthy. But my fiance Robert topped them all. That's when I decided that maybe it was a mistake to trust any man. I don't know who I can trust anymore.'
'Cathy, I can see where you might think you can't trust anyone again. But, believe me, you can trust me. You can depend on me. After all these years, my feelings for you have never changed.'
'Thank you, Will. I hope you'll be patient with me.'"

Every character speaks in this wooden, clinical fashion, throughout the entire book. In addition, the Christians have all the answers, are nauseatingly nice and downright flawless (other than, as quoted above, tactless preaching at the heroine--but the author doesn't seem to find this a flaw). The "romance" is sanitized and without a spark. And yes, the villain's identity is a "shock," but (as another review has noted) with characters this shallow, the reader has no idea who might have motive for villainy until he/she confesses all in a flood of exposition.

I tried to give this book more than one star, but it doesn't possess a single compelling element. If you want artful writing, look elsewhere. If you want a cast of deep, flawed characters, look elsewhere. If you want a subtle treating of themes that organically thread themselves throughout a complex story, look elsewhere. And please, don't judge Christian fiction by this book. Read more ›

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Code Blue: Good medicine for readers of medical thrillers May 8, 2010

By Mark Young

Format:Paperback

Do you like to settle in at night with a great book? Get ready to lose some sleep if you pick up Code Blue. Each twist and turn of this debut novel is bound to keep readers turning pages as retired doctor-turn-novelist Richard Mabry ratchets up tension chapter after chapter.

Main character Dr. Cathy Sewell returns to her hometown in Texas to start all over, only to face unyielding opposition. People she grew up with seem to hold grudges. And someone might even want her dead. The cast of potential villains is staggering as Dr. Mabry does a great job of casting suspicion upon just about everyone who crosses Cathy's path. Even the man she once loved. She must fight for economic and physical survival as one mishap after another begins to tear her world apart. She begins to question everything--even her relationship with God.

This novelist has taken a lifetime of experiences in the medical field and created a page-turning medical thriller that is hard to put down. This novel is just what the doctor ordered.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Fair book - too many issues November 10, 2011

By SQLBill

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I have two main issues with the book Code Blue. The first half of the book was well-written and edited, but the second half had lots of distracting typos - words were run together, words that should have been one word were split into two. I didn't notice any of this in the first half of the book, but it was very noticeable in the second half. Since I do editing for my wife's books, I notice typos very easily.

The other issue I had was with the overly-Christian theme. Now I'm a Christian and have no problem with religion being a part of a story. However, I want the religion to be an important, needed part that supports the story...not something thrown in just to add the author's religious point of view. In this case, the Christianity had little to nothing to do with the story line. The first part of the book had very little of the Christian theme, it wasn't until the latter part of the book that the religious theme took over the story (interestingly enough, that is also when the typos started to happen and be annoyingly obvious). When religion/race etc becomes 'the story' I ask myself is this really necessary for the progression of the tale? In this case the answer is no. If the religion had been removed, the story would still have been an enjoyable read and no detail would have been missing.

Basically, this story looks like it was written by two different people. The first half by someone who had a clear idea of the storyline and did a great job of editing their work. The second half written by someone who really didn't care about the storyline and used it to promote Christianity; and the second writer didn't care about checking their work for typos/grammatical errors....

This is the second story I've read by this author and his writing is the same in both books...write a good storyline, hook people into it, and then for the rest of the book emphasis Christianity over the story line. Unfortunately, this will be the last book I read by this author. Read more ›

More About the Author

I'm a retired physician, who got into non-medical writing after the death of my first wife with my book, THE TENDER SCAR: LIFE AFTER THE DEATH OF A SPOUSE. I'm gratified that it continues to help those who have lost a loved one.

From that point, I moved into writing fiction. Thus far I've had four novels of medical suspense published: CODE BLUE, MEDICAL ERROR, DIAGNOSIS DEATH, and LETHAL REMEDY. The second and third books listed were named finalists for the ACFW Carol Award and Romantic Times' Best Inspirational Novel respectively.

My last book, released in April, 2013 by Thomas Nelson Publishers, is STRESS TEST. The next will be HEART FAILURE, due for release in October, 2013.

I recently completed a term as Vice-President of the American Christian Fiction Writers and am a proud member of the International Thriller Writers and the International Crime Writers Association.

When I'm not writing, I'm busy being a husband and grandfather, working on my golf game, and doing the hundred-and-one other things that retired people do. I'm busier now than I ever was while in practice--and loving it.