Josh Bazell’s Beat The Reaper

In Beat The Reaper, Bazell presents us with Peter Brown, a medical resident who years ago, entered into the witness protection program; as he used to be a contract killer for the mob. In exchange for his cooperation with the police some time ago, Brown was given a new life – that was until one night when he was discovered by a mob associate who had been assigned to him as a patient. There’s more to this story then what I have written here but I’d like to keep it short and vague; it’s probably best if you know as little as possible. 

I liked this book; didn’t love it. Bazell has an interesting writing style – there’s a lot of humor in this book and while it does work, I never found myself laughing out loud (not like with Paul Neilan’s Apathy and Other Small Victories). There’s a review contained within that states it’s almost a crossover between House & The Bourne Identity – I never quite got that. It does seem like he tries a little hard at times but he does succeed on a level. 

There are points where I was really involved in the build up – where I was anticipating the payoff to a lot of the confrontational scenes but I felt that a lot of it fell flat. That being said; I really don’t want to give off the vibe that I disliked this book – Bazell shows a lot of promise. I’d like to see what he has planned next.