Customer Reviews

Final Diagnosis

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

...to write from a woman's perspective. Erin's character is written in the third person, but she is the central figure, and the reader views most events through her eyes. Her behavior, clothing choices, career, relationship with the studly young surgeon, and most of all her conversations with her best friend all resound with the dull clunk of inauthenticity. (sample: Erin to her hospitalized best friend Claire "you're a good person. Bad things don't happen to good people." um,HUH?!) Aside from that howler, most of their conversation is clearly intended to do nothing but deliver as much background information to the reader as possible in three pages. This "high-powered" (already, at the age of 30, after spending years as a nurse) tube-top&sparkly-bustier-wearing RN/reporter is fortunate enough to apparently have an unlimited expense account and ludicrously long story deadlines. As I read, I found myself thinking that the author's notion of how a woman in her situation might behave could be described as the "medical suspense" version of how women behave in porn videos; i.e., as a woman, I just laugh, knowing that it is nothing but an adolescent male fantasy. This might be forgivable if the book were indeed suspenseful, but alas, it is not. I'm still not even sure what the whole medical cover-up was about. And rather than making our spines tingle with real tension, the author informs us that Erin's spine is tingling, which I guess is our clue to be nervous too. Note to the publisher, Berkley: GET A PROOFREADER. At first the typos and errors were just unintentionally humorous ("oh, I don't think I could bare it without him" sic) but after the fourth or fifth incorrect use of an apostrophe, my patience wore thin. Speaking of patience, I think from now on Dr. Birken should stick with his day job working with "patients."

I almost wanted to give this book less than one star. The basic plot is okay, but certainly not as thrilling as the blurb on the cover leads one to believe (and who exactly is Don Donaldson?) I'm a nurse and I think some of the medical jargon and details might be a little too technical for the average lay person to understand. Besides that, the author could have eliminated at least 100 pages of boring trivia that have nothing to do with the story line--he describes in excruciating detail exactly what each character is wearing--entire paragraphs are devoted to how someone is lining up pages of a report, or adjusting the air conditioning in the hotel room, or drawing a bath--was this done to increase the length of the book, or are we supposed to be riveted by every action of every character? Dr. Birken means well and certainly this is a nice try, but he could use a new editor, or take another writing course and remember to keep things simple and streamlined so that his readers are not so paralyzed with boredom in his next book that they're struggling to finish it.

I was looking forward to Dr. Birken's book since I love mysteries and medical thrillers and as a thirty year resident of Miami, love reading about my home town. I only hope Dr. Birken's medical references are more accurate than his portrayal of Miami. He sets his fictional hospital on Key Biscayne, an island connected by the Rickenbacker Causeway to Miami. He uses the Julia Tuttle and Macarthur Causeways to get to Key Biscayne. Both causeways exist but they connect Miami to Miami Beach, not Key Biscayne. At one point in the book the heroince travels on a causeway bordered by a canal. There is only one of these, the Macarthur. Dr. Birken makes it a 4 lane road with olive trees on the verge by the canal. Actually it's a 6 lane divided highway with concrete barriers blocking the verge. Unless you hit it with extraordinary force and speed, you aren't going in the water like his heroine does. If it was a superior thriller I would forgive
Dr. Birken his sloppiness but it's pedestrian and dull, and I'm having a hard time finishing it. Too many good medical thriller writers and so many good mystery writers based in South Florida. Too bad since he is based in Hollywood, FL, just up the road a bit. Dr. Birken needs to research his locales

It is evident that this is the first book from a man with another profession. He seems to follow some obvious and tiresome formulas. Every character, upon each new meeting, has his clothing described in detail.

Also, though this book is from the "perspective" of Erin, the female protagonist, it is clearly written by a man with a titillating fascination for how a woman behaves alone in her own hotel room, or how a sexually aggressive woman would seduce a hesitant man.

I do admit, though, that the story flowed well enough, and I was curious enough to keep reading. I'm not sorry I read it, but it's clearly not any great literature. There is clearly better medical fiction out there.

What lurks in the mind of a doc who can only seem to write novels about medical people killing patients, mostly little kids, and breaking every moral law imaginable to hide what they did?

I don't know, but in this case it certainly isn't a commanding knowledge of how to write a believable, or even interesting, mystery thriller.

Looking at his other novels' subject matter just gives me the creeps. I think I'll pass.

I think Dr. Birken should stick to the medical job, unless of course he puts as much effort into his cases as he does his novels. He could have at least made his characters a bit more believable. I think I'll give my copy of this one away.

I gave this two stars because it took some gutts to actually publish this book so that other people could read it.

Most of the characters seemed to act irrationally and implausibly. One amusing exchange was when the the reporter, Erin, was told about "Leigh Sierra", and immediately assumed it was a woman. I'd have made that assumption, too, if I saw the name in writing. Hearing it, I would have assumed it was a man named "Lee."

This is a story written by a male doctor that has a female reporter (for the AMA News) as the main character, and she is totally unbelievable except as a male fantasy. I admit as I got near the end of this book I couldn't continue, so I looked ahead to see who the bad guys (or gals) were, finally convinced that the book had no message, just a ridiculous plot.

I like a good medical thriller, but since I'm a writer/reporter myself, I know that no reporter has the absurd amount of time and money that Erin (the reporter in this story) spent looking into the affairs of the Fetal Institute. She stays at a fancy hotel for weeks on end, rents an expensive car, and never writes a word! I can tell you that if I were doing the story, I'd stay at the Day's Inn and spend two days at most onsite, doing much of the research and interviews long distance, using phone, email and internet.

Erin seemed to have a never-ending supply of clothing on this trip, including such inappropriate items like a beaded bustier, leather pants and a tube top. While Dr. Galagher may have found her fascinating, I thought she was a poor reporter (her so-called tough questions were nothing more than obvious things to ask) and her suspicions were actually based on very little ...although we, the readers, knew something was wrong because the author gave us glimpses of what the bad guys were up to. But why Erin's editor didn't insist she finish the story and stop the outflow of money is beyond me. Instead he spends more money by sending a detective to protect poor little Erin. Of course, Erin is also looking out for her friend Claire who is a patient at the Institute, but Claire is just as unbelievable as a character as Erin. While Erin parades around in her tube top, Claire spends weeks at this "boutique hospital" having all kinds of expensive tests with nary a word about cost, even though we learn her husband may be losing his job soon. She must have the most fabulous health insurance imaginable.

And Erin works for the AMA News? The AMA has shown itself to be little more than an organization working to protect doctors' big incomes, specializing in cozying up to the other players in the big bucks business of medical care. If there is such a thing as the AMA News, I'm sure they publish nothing but puff pieces that please their sponsors (the very people doing all the evil stuff in this story!). I was hoping there was a message somewhere about health care and what's wrong with it, but instead Final Diagnosis is just a silly story that doesn't hang together very well. The author apparently created a woman with the qualities he would find fascinating, but I could not find her believable as either a nurse or a reporter. And the doctor in the story, who is so taken with this airhead in a tube top, was too lame to make the move, so Erin has to seduce him, apparently part of the author's fantasy (he writes that there's a saying that "If he's good in the operating room, he's also good in the bedroom" -- I guess Erin must have heard that old saying).

All in all, Final Diagnosis was a big disappointment and waste of time. To the author, I say this: You're no Michael Crichton, so don't quit your day job.

When Claire is admitted to a state-of-the-art medical institute in Miami, she has every reason to trust its brilliant staff-until the inquiries of her friend, a medical reporter, spring an inescapable trap of corporate greed and deadly corruption.
For a first time author, this guy has a great start. After reading all of Robin Cook & Michael Palmer's books I wanted someone new. I happened to come across Final Diagnosis. This book was a thrill ride right to the very end. The plot was well thought out and developed. Birken does a great job of setting the plot and keeping you in suspense until the end. Can't wait to read the next book.

excellent mystery. fascinating plot.very well written

I enjoyed Birken's book Final Diagnosis. I recently have moved from South Florida and enjoyed reading a book in my hometown setting. The thorough description of the area brought back memories. The story line was also extremely addicting. I enjoyed seeing the characters develop through the stressful, medical situations. I would definitely recommend this book to readers interested in medicine, mystery, or suspense. Good Job! I look forward and anticipate more books!