Of Flesh and Blood … a review
May 11, 2010
I’ve always been a fan of a good medical drama. Long ago, Arthur Hailey’s “Strong Medicine” was a favourite as was Nina Hermann’s “Go Out in Joy”, a hospital chaplain’s memoir. As those were classics of the ’80s it’s clearly been a while! Were it not for a Grey’s Anatomy habit I might find myself seriously in withdrawal.
Fear not! I have just enjoyed a healthy dose of great hospital-based drama and entertainment in the novel “Of Flesh and Blood” by Daniel Kalla. Not only did this story bring me back to a world of enticing patient and practitioner tales but it also reminded me of those great “long-weekender” family sagas of yore like Master of the Game by Sidney Sheldon, Kane and Abel by Jeffrey Archer, or A Woman of Substance by Barbara Taylor Bradford. I spent the days I had Of Flesh and Blood in tow behaving quite graciously, gratefully even, when the kids dawdled coming out of school or the dentist was unreasonably off his schedule. I was engrossed in the timely issues and traumas and frankly, having fun with intriguing characters engaged in angst, sabotage, naughtiness, pain, and euphoria. There was even a little sass too in the form of the perpetually pickled senior, “Dot”, in her leopard skin leggings. There’s a long weekend ahead and I’ll be here when you feel compelled to stage whisper to a stranger, “Did you know “Blank” was “blank”?!”
Learn more about author Dan Kalla, a fellow Vancouverite, here.
If you are more of a thriller fan than saga lover turn to Dan’s previous books: Pandemic, Rage Therapy, Blood Lies, Resistance and Cold Plague.
You might remember the gorgeous cover from a previous post.
May 12, 2010 at 6:59 am
Wathced the live interview on your link…what an amazing wild ride for Danny! Hard to believe we knew him when……great review Sue, will pick it up and save for the long weekend!