Deadly Harvest [Hardcover]

Leonard Goldberg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1997

Desperate forensic pathologist Joanna Blalock turns to a legal, for-profit company to find a liver for her dying sister, only to discover that the company finds its organ donors through less than scrupulous means. By the author of Deadly Care.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

With her younger sister dying from an Ebola-like virus, top forensic pathologist Joanna Blalock is under enough stress. Then she is called in for an opinion on the murder of wealthy William Arthur Warren. As Blalock and Los Angeles Homicide Lieutenant Jack Sinclair begin to investigate, they discover that Warren's newly transplanted liver was diseased. In due course, the skeleton of another murdered man is found in the hills above Donors International, which provided Warren's new liver. Joanna consults on this case, too, and soon attracts the attention of the killers. Goldberg (Deadly Care, LJ 3/1/96) has a solid story but fails to allow enough time for character development and abruptly catapults the reader into a shockingly stark climax. However, as a professor at UCLA's Medical Center, he certainly knows how to bring authenticity to his novels. The Joanna Blalock series is a good one to hand to readers of Patricia Cornwell; this new addition is recommended for most fiction collections.?Jo Ann Vicarel, Cleveland Heights-University Heights P.L., Ohio
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

In Goldberg's fourth medical thriller starring forensic pathologist Joanna Blalock, the devil is Donors International, a widespread organ-transplant company that harvests hearts, livers, and other organs from around the world to save the lives and health of those wealthy enough to pay its high prices. Memorial Hospital is the site of the unexplained deaths of two wealthy men who had received livers from DI. These livers become surrounded with cysts of unexplained origin, cysts that later serve as clues for the beautiful, quick-thinking Joanna. Jake Sinclair, a detective and Joanna's former lover, gets in the thick of the subsequent action, and a subplot involves Joanna's younger sister, Kate, an archaeologist brought back from a site in Guatemala with an almost fatal, unknown viral infection. Thanks to his clear style and storytelling ability, this is another bell ringer for Goldberg, who, teaching and practicing physician that he is, appends to his yarn a note pointing out how desperate the real organ-transplant situation currently is. William Beatty

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Dutton Adult; 1St Edition edition (May 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0525940936
• ISBN-13: 978-0525940937
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,849,094 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Implausibility abounds, March 8, 1999

By 

Gretchen (Berkeley, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Deadly Harvest (Paperback)

I am quite willing to suspend disbelief when reading mysteries/thrillers -- to a point. However, as I read through this book, I found myself saying "oh come ON" just too often. The silly ending was bad enough (is there *anything* lazier/lamer than deux ex machina?), but what really bothered me were the attempts at character development. The characters' behavior and reactions were consistently stilted and inauthentic. Worst of all, by the end of the novel I didn't give two hoots about any one of them. I am an avid mystery reader and am especially fond of medical thrillers and series, but I feel no desire to read anything else about Joanna Blalock and her pals. Definitely, a tale of intruigue that was less than intruiguing.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Horrors of Organ Transplantation, September 28, 2007

By 

L. Maynard (Dallas, Tx) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Deadly Harvest (Paperback)

This is a subject that has been done many times, but I enjoy reading other authors take on the horrors of organ donation and tranplantation gone wrong. Leonard Goldberg isn't writing about anything new, but he does create a good, solid medical thriller...something he is quite good at.

Joanna Blalock, a forensic pathologist and Jake Sinclair, a homicide detective are back together again in a tale that will chill your blood. Joanna's sister, Kate, becomes gravely ill and may need a liver transplant in order to survive. She and others are exposed to an Ebolia-like virus while participating in an archaelogical dig. Many of her collegues have already died. This sets off a chain of events that catapults Joanna and Jake into the world of organ donation, harvesting and transplanting that will make your blood run cold. Will Joanna and Jake be able to uncover the mysteries that lie within the deaths that are occuring around them, in time to save Kate? Well, crack the cover of this book and find out!

The story moves at a nice pace and has an effective mix of suspense, drama, and mystery to keep you reading as fast as you can. It does, unfortunately get jumbled and rushed in the end. Had Dr. Goldberg slowed down a bit and maybe added another 50 pages, the story could have reached a more logical conclusion and wouldn't have seemed so rushed and disjointed.

Overall, this was a fun read and another good addition to the Blalock series.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Could Have Been Better, April 8, 2004

By 

A. Vegan (Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Deadly Harvest (Hardcover)

When I began reading the Joanna Blalock series, I was instantly hooked. The first book dealt with a serial killer at the hospital and the story kept me on the edge throughout the entire book. But it seems that each book after that has gone downhill. They all start off as medical thrillers but end up more like a detetive novel. Deadly Harvest was no different. But the story has been done over and over by numerous authors. Goldberg also fails to allow enough time for character development and abruptly catapults you into a shockingly stark climax.