Tainted: A Dr. Zol Szabo Medical Mystery [Hardcover]

Ross Pennie (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2009

When incidents of food supply contamination dominate the news media, two investigators—Zol Szabo, a public health doctor, and Hamish Wakefield, a young infectious diseases specialist—come under immense pressure to find the cause of a mysterious epidemic before more victims show up on the autopsy table. In a race against the clock, the two doctors must navigate the treacherous political minefields of the medical community and the media while the disease spreads. The situation soon spins wildly out of control and more lives are threatened after a government-appointed investigator hijacks the investigation and allows his inflated ego to supersede common sense. Speaking to contemporary concerns about food safety, this fast-paced medical thriller illustrates the potential for disastrous consequences when total responsibility for food safety is placed in the hands of manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Canadian physician Pennie's mystery debut introduces a winning protagonist, an Ontario public health doctor and former chef. When Zol Szabo, a devoted single father to his disabled son, Max, gets word that his jurisdiction, which covers the province's Niagara Escarpment, may be facing an outbreak of mad cow disease, Zol and his team must race to find the truth behind the mysterious deaths of three locals in order to avoid a public panic. Fans of the TV show House will find much of the plot familiar—the detailed medical detection that attempts to identify connections between the victims as well as the false or confusing leads in the hunt to locate a tainted food source. The appealing supporting cast includes a gorgeous female PI. Pennie, an infectious-disease specialist, makes the medical jargon accessible, though he throws in a few melodramatic touches, such as his hero's fear that Max may also fall victim to deadly prions. (Apr.)
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From Booklist

First in a new medical mystery series starring Canadian public-health doctor Zol Szabo, Pennie’s novel is a taut and timely work of suspense. After a variant of mad-cow disease is found in several recent autopsies, Zol has only a few days to track down the source of the contamination before a media storm breaks and sends the public into a panic. With the help of assistant epidemiologist Natasha, medical professor Hamish, and private investigator Colleen, Zol tracks back the germs. Pennie builds tension perfectly, grabbing readers from the first page and keeping them entranced, both with the story itself and with nagging worries about the safety of the food they eat. All the characters, including such secondary figures as Natasha’s Indian mother, obsessed with finding her a husband, and Zol’s young son, Max, are realistically portrayed, their actions and emotions well matched with both their persoalities and the plot. Must reading for fans of Robin Cook and Peter Clement. --Jessica Moyer

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: ECW Press (April 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1550228609
• ISBN-13: 978-1550228601
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,254,157 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This one's a winner!, April 1, 2009

By 

E. Hamer - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Tainted: A Dr. Zol Szabo Medical Mystery (Hardcover)

This book turned me from an asleep-by-ten reader to a gotta-finish-this-before-I-go-to-sleep bleary-eyed wreck. Pennie's Dr. Zol Szabo is an improbable hero, a public health bureaucrat. Ho-hum, I thought, another Yuppie doctor story. I'll just read fifty pages or so and toss it. But Zol turned out to be far more than I expected. He's quirky, multi-dimensional, courageous, adventurous, vulnerable and smart. And a single father with a decent kid. The story, a satisfyingly detailed, fast-moving hunt for the sources of a deadly mad-cow variant, takes the investigators from gourmet groceries to a sleazy mink farm to bureaucratic hideouts, all set in a Canadian landscape.

Some things I liked:

--the names. No Brads, Haleys, Justins, or Stephanies here--instead there are names with heft and texture: Zol and Max Szabo, Dr. Hamish Wakefield, Ermalinda the housekeeper, his assistant Natasha Sharma, and so on.

--the places, including my all-time favorite place name,Moose Testicles, the place unsuccessful bureaucrats fear to go. And the grisley mink farm and meat-processing plant. And Canada in the late fall. I'm so tired of New York and L.A.

Fast-paced story,interesting settings, complex and interesting cast, what'snot to like. I bought an extra copy for my book club.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fast, pertinent, great characters!, June 8, 2009

By 

Dorothyanne Brown "Dabble" (Dartmouth, NS) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Tainted: A Dr. Zol Szabo Medical Mystery (Hardcover)

Ross Pennie's first Dr. Sol Szabo book is a tightly written mystery thriller populated by unforgettable characters, believable threats, and a quick pace that never seems rushed. Dr. Szabo battles the believable bureaucracy of public health while dealing with some very real closer to home threats.

Best thing about the story (without giving anything away, and other than the believable storyline) are the characters. Pennie makes us care about them all, even the secondary characters, and I'm eager to see how their relationships develop in his next book in the series.

4.0 out of 5 stars Tainted start, pure delight afterwards., January 28, 2011

By 

Bernie Bourdeau "author" (Lakeland, Florida) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Tainted: A Dr. Zol Szabo Medical Mystery (Hardcover)

Hard to believe this is a debut novel. Pennie's mystery sizzles with suspense and incredibly believable plot. Having spent my career involved with government, I can attest to the insights about the political motivations of those sworn to 'protect' us. There are plenty of plausible misdirects and red herrings in this story to keep the mystery alive until the very end. The writing is very good. The plotting is great. I give it four stars instead of five because it takes several chapters for me to care about Dr. Zol. Pennie is a Doc and is clearly enthralled with the scientific aspect of his story. But lesson one in writing is that readers care about people first and story only second (my own writer weakness too). When the woman showed up in the story and I saw another dimension of Zol, the entire book came to life for me. That's an interesting observation because Pennie shows the human side of Zol from the outset with his display of the relationship with his son. But for me, the son was never a fully developed character until the very end. Perhaps if the threat to the son had come earlier...whereas his new love interest was very real and very imminent from her first appearance. Sure I wanted to know what was killing the residents of the Province. Almost as much as I wanted to know if Zol and his new love interest would connect. I'm definitely reading the next in the series. Because now it's about Zol, not science.