Intensive Scare Unit [Hardcover]

J. S. Borthwick (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 19, 2004

During an especially cold, rainy May, three families move to the recently opened Ocean Tide community on the coast of Maine. Not long after their arrival, a decaying corpse is found lying in the rough of their beautifully manicured golf course-disrupting the idyllic community.

When a second body is discovered in a fertilizer shed, just yards away from the seventeenth green, the local authorities are puzzled over the sudden rash of dead bodies and their link to Ocean Tide's newest arrivals.

Despite her own misgivings and her husband Alex's warnings, Sarah Deane, an English professor and sometime amateur sleuth, becomes entangled in the investigation. What she uncovers promises to rock the very foundation of the Ocean Tide community.

J. S. Borthwick keeps us guessing with another sharp and literate Sarah Deane mystery.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In Borthwick's appealing 12th outing to feature English professor and amateur sleuth Sarah Deane (after 2002's Murder in the Rough), Sarah's 74-year-old cantankerous aunt, Julia Clancy, proprietor of the High Hope horse farm, suffers a heart attack and has to have open heart surgery at the hospital in nearby Bowmouth, Maine. If that weren't enough, the recovering Julia's the last person to see a patient alive before he's found strangled in the lavatory, and then a shadowy figure in hospital garb slips into her room and tries to strangle her. Some believe the attack is merely Julia's post-operative delusion, but Sarah is convinced that her aunt is telling the truth and agrees to do some research. When another patient is murdered, even the police no longer doubt Aunt Julia's claim. The many suspects-doctors, nurses and volunteers, all of whom have access to the patients and dress pretty much alike-complicate Sarah's task. Like brewing a proper pot of tea, Borthwick takes her time putting the puzzle together, developing each character and unraveling their motives and relationships. The dramatic conclusion adds some spice, as does a dose of horse lore. Cozy fans who relish a nice cup of tea and a good book to go with it will be completely satisfied.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

One would hardly think of the Mary Starbox Hospital in Bowmouth, Maine, as a hotbed of murder and mayhem. But when Julia Clancy, independent, no-nonsense horsewoman on the shady side of 70, has a heart attack, almost the first thing she witnesses is the murder of an elderly and deeply hated doctor. When that doctor's son, head of the hospital, is also murdered, and an attempt is made on Julia's life, her niece Sarah, whose husband is Julia's doctor, takes some time out from teaching English literature at the local college to assist in untangling local gossip and hospital lore. There is a great deal here about interrelationships in a small town: who is related to whom; how the local cafe and the police department and the hospital all interconnect. There is also rather more than one might want to know about just what happens to a heart-attack victim at all stages, from diagnosis to surgery to recovery. Borthwick has a sharp eye and a good ear, and her characters are lively if not deep. GraceAnne DeCandido
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books; 1st edition (February 19, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312324944
• ISBN-13: 978-0312324940
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,416,091 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not this writer's best, September 21, 2004

By 

Lorraine Talbot (Winsted,, CT USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Intensive Scare Unit (Hardcover)

It's been a while since I last read a Borthwick mystery, but I have read all in this series but one. This one was a disappointment. The story started off interestingly enough with a hospital setting and Aunt Julia having to be taken there because of a heart attack. Julia is an interesting and likeable character who has appeared in many of the earlier books. But then the story started to drag -- there'd be long sections with no plot progress, and the relationship between Sarah and her doctor husband, Alex, was nearly non existant or strained, unlike in prior books where they frequently worked together. It was fairly obvious who the villians were a good hundred pages before the end, so a very slow finish. I won't abandon Borthwick because she's a fine writer, will just hope her next book measures up to the earlier ones.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Slowly Developing Mystery of Hospital Mayhem, September 20, 2004

By 

Donald Mitchell "Jesus Loves You!" (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 109,000 Helpful Votes Globally) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Intensive Scare Unit (Hardcover)

If you find it frightening to go into the hospital, you might want to avoid this book. It will make anyone paranoid.

The premise is pretty simple. What if someone starts harming people in the hospital rather than helping them?

In the case of Intensive Scare Unit, Sarah Dean's aunt, the independent and irascible Julia Clancy, faints and finds herself unwillingly in the hospital. While there, she becomes an unwitting witness to the preparations for a violent murder. Telling all and sundry about the experience, she manages to alert those who want to silence her . . . but not too many others. In the meantime, the cardiologists insist on a cardiac bypass operation, so she's now a target. Sarah realizes that and tries to intercede, but doesn't always succeed. Soon, Sarah has drawn the attention of the evildoers.

For those who like stories about hospital life, procedures and relationships, this book works pretty well. The story develops nicely and slowly in a way that allows these elements to be highlighted.

But the mystery only receives a little attention every 30-40 pages. In between, there's a lot of hand-wringing but not much plot progress. I wouldn't have minded that but before the book is half done it's very clear who the villains are. All that remains is to find out what their motives are. So the second half dragged for me, even though it has some extended action sequences. I finished the book, but didn't really feel rewarded for doing so.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Mild medical mystery, October 2, 2004

By 

Beverley Strong (Australia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Intensive Scare Unit (Hardcover)

When feisty riding school owner Julia Clancy is rushed to hospital with a suspected heart attack, she is prepared for surgery, sedated and parked in a cubible. Through a chink in the curtains surrounding the cubicle, she sees a battered old man propped on a stool. The curtains are then closed but shortly after, she sees a body with its head covered being wheeled past on a gurney.
She voices her concerns to her niece Sarah Dean, an English professor at a nearby college, and wife to Julias' doctor Alex. Her observations are heard by many of the hospital staff and when, shortly after her surgery, she again raises the subject of dead bodies being trundled around the corridors, her worries are passed off as the ramblings of an old lady suffering post operational delusions, brought on by the effects of anesthesia and shock. When two more murders occurr in the hospital, Julia and Sarah resort to their hobby of amatuer sleuthing, even though both of them become uncomfortably close to the events. M/s Borthwicks' novels in this series are set in Maine, USA and are of the friendly, homesy-folkesy style..pleasant, but very easy to work out.