Mr. Keech's latest novel operates flawlessly on two levels. The most obvious is the story itself. A completely unscrupulous Doctor engages in heinous medical malpractice with a number of highly impressionable young girls. Hartwicke Zeus thinks that women were put on this earth to pleasure him, and he delights in maneuvering them, usually by getting them hooked onto prescription drugs, into situations where he can have his way with them. His ego knows no bounds, he fears no repercussions from any of his lecherous actions. Diane is one such "woman", a teenager who has given birth out of wedlock and immediately surrenders her unnamed child to foster care. From the start, she is suspicious of his intentions and actions, but gradually explains everything away as he increases his lecherous affections for her. Drugs (which she wisely keeps to a minimum), jewelry, clothes, trips on his boat and to his condo, all designed to demonstrate the power he holds over her. And then there's David, who is a brand-new investigator (but not a real detective!) for the Board of Medicine, whose job it is to investigate claims of malpractice against individual doctors. Just learning the ropes, David is appalled that the Board has to follow so many rules to put together a case, and has to sometimes compromise on a decision in order to bring about any justice at all. The story is excellent, and unfolds rapidly. The characters are great, plot development is fluid, and the whole novel is simply well-written and top notch. Other reviews will give you more detail on the happenings, if you need that. But it's a GREAT read!
The second level of this novel is the overarching story of the proliferation of this kind of abuse, and the perspective that I think Mr. Keech brings to the dialogue. Nationwide in scope, these despicable practices are often hard to uncover because of the unwillingness of the victims, young and defenseless girls, to do legal battle with the rich and powerful doctors who abuse them. From what I have read of Mr. Keech's background, he seems perfectly situated to provide us with all of the facts, opinions, and emotions that ascribe to these cases. He has been a legal counsel to the Maryland State Board of Physicians, a Legal Aid attorney, and a juvenile counselor, and I can feel each of those influences in his excellent novel. I obviously can't be sure, but my hunch is that there's a little of Mr. Keech in the very well-intentioned but somewhat frustrated David, who strongly empathizes with each of the victims.
It's an excellent novel -- you'll enjoy it!
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