Customer Reviews

Delayed Diagnosis

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4 star:		(6)
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Dawkins County Emergency Room physician, Rhea Lynch, never expected to find her oldest and dearest friend, Marisa Braswell, near death when she got home from a two week camping trip. The diagnosis, a catastrophic stroke. Talk around the hospital says Marisa is dying. After only a couple of days in the ICU, her husband, Dr Steven Braswell, took her home, and has forbidden any visitors, including friends and family. This course of treatment, or non-treatment makes absolutely no sense, medically, so Rhea sneaks into the Braswell house and conducts her own examination. The results tell her two things...Marisa didn't have a stroke, and whatever happened to her, happened on purpose..... Gwen Hunter's debut thriller is a fast paced, roller coaster ride, with a suspenseful and compelling story line and strong, well drawn characters. Her hospital scenes are intense, vivid and riveting, and her medical knowledge and attention to detail adds real credibility to the story. This is the beginning of a promising new series, and with the few loose ends left hanging, readers will look forward to Ms Hunter's next installment, and Dr Lynch's return.

I *like* plucky female heroines. I am especially fond of Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone because any woman who has the cujones to cut her hair with cuticle scissors is my kind of gal!

After reading DELAYED DIAGNOSIS by new writer Gwen Hunter, I have found another favorite fictional female! Rhea Lynch, M.D., works in the emergency room of a small South Carolina hospital. She is independent, feisty, very, very tough, although she's still smarting from a relationship gone bad.

When Rhea comes home from a much needed two-week vacation to find her best friend Marisa in the hospital fighting for her life, Rhea is devastated, but she has another shocker coming: Marisa's husband, Dr. Steven Braswell, will not let Rhea near Marisa.

Might as well have put a red flag right in front of the bull.

Once Rhea starts digging into the reasons behind Marisa's sudden 'stroke,' the bodies begin piling up. Rhea is not deterred and gets to the bottom of the mystery, with some pretty surprising results.

Gwen Hunter's new series is replete with hospital guts and gore, but her characterization of Dr. Lynch and her surroundings is so right-on that writing the stories any other way would seem the sissy's way out....and Dr. Rhea is no sissy!

I look for more from Gwen Hunter. She'll be on the NYTimes list soon! Trust me on this one.

Enjoy!

After being on vacation for a week, ER Doctor Rhea Lynch returns home to learn her best friend Marisa Braswell suffered a sever stroke. However, instead of being at the hospital, Marisa's husband, Dr. Stephen Braswell, head of ER, has kept her at their home and will not allow any visitors. Rhea cannot fathom why Stephen is keeping his spouse out of the hospital and how such a healthy young woman like Marisa could have suffered such a debilitating illness.

Rhea is unable to ignore her friend's plight. She sneaks into the Braswell home, but what she sees horrifies her as a comatose Marisa drips a strange liquid from her nasal passages. Her quick exam fails to verify Stephen's diagnosis. Later that same day, a patient enters ER with similar if not the identical symptoms as Marisa has. Rhea begins to investigate what is happening to her adopted small South Carolina town though someone will go to any lengths to insure she fails including murder.

DELAYED DIAGNOSIS is an exciting medical thriller that centers on the theme of friendship and how far a person will go in the name of that friendship. The heroine is a person will risk everything for a friend. The intrepid Rhea is a flawed person whose weaknesses turn into strengths. She goes the extra mile to help her best friend over the objection of Marisa's spouse, who is the patient's doctor and Rheaís boss. Though the reason for the conspiracy seems thin, readers will fully enjoy this action-packed medical drama because Rhea, who tells much of the tale, hooks the audience.

Harriet Klausner

I bought this book because I had read its sequel (Prescribed Danger) without realizing it was the second book in a series. I was intrigued enough by the characters and the backstory that I went back and got this book, even though I already knew 'who done it.'

As the blurb describes, Rhea Lynch is a doctor who has not much in the way of biological family, but she is fiercely loyal to her informally adopted family. That's why, when Rhea comes home to find her life-long friend Marisa all but dead and oddly isolated, there's nothing that can stop Rhea from finding out the truth about what's happened to Marisa.

Delayed Diagnosis was published by Mira Books, which is a division of Harlequin Romance, so it should come as no surprise to anyone that Rhea has a love interest or two in her life. However, affairs of the heart are not the focus of the story. Instead, the mystery and the medicine and the bonds of friendship and family come to the fore. And the dogs. Don't forget the dogs.

I found the Hunter's characters to be brash, colorful, and charming, often all at the same time. Granted, there is a certain level of cliche, but I don't know of many books with Southern characters who don't suffer from that sort of thing. Hunter conveys the concern and the anger and the fear of a close-knit family and community when faced with such personal horror fairly well.

Like I said, I already knew who the culprit (or culprits) was before I read this book, but I still felt that the denouement was well handled, though it was possible for a careful reader to have ascertained the ending well before the book ended.

All in all, I found this to be a fairly good medical mystery of the bookrack variety.

<Body>When Dr. Rhea Lynch returned to South Carolina as an ER doctor in a small hospital, she had to be prepared for anything. Marisa Braswell, Rhea's friend since childhood, had become unable to move or to communicate. Her initial diagnosis was a paralyzing stroke, but when two other patients appear in the ER with similar symptoms, Rhea is forced to investigate. Gwen Hunter's first in a series featuring Dr. Rhea Lynch is a tight, gripping suspense. The medical details may be graphic in spots, but the grit and realism only contribute to a fine story rather than detracting from it. If this book is well crafted, we can only hope for more and better from Gwen Hunter.

When she left Charleston, and a life that was threatening to drown her, Dr. Rhea Lynch ran to Dawkins County, South Carolina, and the only real family she knew. She'd hardly settled in to her new life when her best friend, Marisa, suffers a mysterious and brutal injury that leaves her paralyzed and incapable of speech. According to the doctors, it was a stroke, but when Rhea finds out that she's been barred from even seeing her best friend, she begins to suspect the initial diagnosis. With the assistance of Miss Essie, Marisa's housekeeper, Rhea manages to sneak into the house and examine her friend secretly, discovering a clue that was apparently missed by both the attending physician and the emergency room doctor, a clue that tells her Marisa did not suffer a stroke. Rhea begins her own investigation into what happened, but when one and then another patient appears in her emergency room displaying identical symptoms, Rhea puts the pieces of the puzzle together, coming to a terrifying conclusion that threatens to tear apart not only the lifelong friendships Rhea treasures, but perhaps the very fabric of Dawkins County as well.

Gwen Hunter, a Rock Hill resident and medical professional, draws on her extensive experience to invest a sense of reality into this many layered conspiracy whose ultimate solution will surprise even the most jaded reader. Her prose possesses an easy, fluid clarity that captures her readers and keeps them glued to every page. Her characterizations are dead-on, making even the least important character in the book as real as the people we encounter in real life all the time: Mark, the handsome police captain who wants Rhea but is too hard-headed to admit it; Cam, a college buddy who may be more interested in the charming doctor than she ever knew; Miss DeeDee, matriarch, dressed to kill in blue jeans and pearls, who knows all the secrets the county has tried to keep hidden. But it is Rhea who leaps off the page. Fiercely independent and loyal to her childhood friend, Rhea's innate curiosity and attention to even the smallest details open up a wild tangle of deception, infidelity and attempted murder.

"Delayed Diagnosis" is a well-crafted tale, filled with suspense and intrigue enough to keep readers turning the pages until we reach the end, closing the cover first with a sigh of satisfaction, followed by an impatient groan at having to wait until the next tale falls into our hands.

Dr. Rhea Lynch returned from a two week vacation to find out her best friend, Marisa, was almost dead. The official diagnosis was a paralyzing stroke. Rhea disagreed. However, Marisa's husband, Dr. Steven Braswell, refused to let anyone near his wife, especially close friends and family! So Rhea did her own, illegal, examinations and her diagnosis was totally different ... and horrifying!

Then two more men show up in Rhea's ER with the same symptoms and the same diagnosis. All three were unable to communicate what happened to them and who did it. Rhea's findings put he in danger. The more she discovered, the more someone wanted her dead!

***** Move over Robin Cook and Echo Heron! I had to stop reading a few times to calm myself down! My mother would call this exciting novel "A WOO-WOO!" (Her version of "Wow" and "Lu-Lu" mixed.) You will not be able to turn the pages fast enough. (I probably left skid marks!) Here is a novel that I highly recommend to everyone! A KEEPER! *****

Delayed Diagnosis was a great book. I has all the things a great novel should have, mystery, romance, suspense, and an interesting set of characters. I especially liked the main character. This book takes wild twists and turns that will leave you wanting to read more to find out what happens, guarenteed!!

Well, I could not put this book down. It rolled along like a freight train. Very well written. The medical terms were well explained and I really enjoyed it. Rhea is a great heroine and Mark is meant to be her guy.

I didn't see any medical credits attached to the author's name, so she must have had had some very good assistance from the sources she listed in the forward. I have read medical thrillers written by MD's that were not as believable and realistic as this story was. In addition to the excellent medical text, the characters spring effortlessly to life under Hunter's skillful descriptions. Dr. Rhea Lynch is a strong and resourceful character. But it was the dog in the story that captivated me. I just happen to have a large black dog named Belle too. Hunter writes about this dog as only a true dog lover can. The pace is fast and the action is non-stop. I look forward to reading future stories about Dr. Rhea Lynch and Belle.