Review: Doctor Lucifer by Anthony Lee

Medical malpractice takes on a whole new meaning in Doctor Lucifer by Anthony Lee, a disturbing and dark peek into the vulnerabilities of the medical system and the quiet heroes who keep it safe.

A nightmarish and deadly shift in the hospital for Dr. Mark Lin leaves his confidence shaken and his credibility in question, but the string of near-deadly patient crises feels suspicious, particularly in the midst of a malware attack that has destabilized internet protocols across the hospital. When he finds inexplicable discrepancies in the medication orders he placed, he knows that he’ll be held responsible for the harm to his patients.

The doctor’s sober-minded assessment tells him that something else is going on, but what he could never imagine is the influence of a sinister hacker breaking into medical records and shifting treatment protocols with potentially fatal results. As this psychopathic killer begins to toy with Dr. Lin, challenging him to a battle of murderous wits, it becomes clear that this attack is anything but random.

Facing down a new kind of terror in a post-Covid world, Dr. Lin teams up with a skilled group of tech investigators before the devilish villain crushes his career and puts more innocent bodies in the morgue. Like a digital cat-and-mouse game where losing the game means losing a patient, this tense novel spins into high-speed investigation mode, with characters pulling out all the cyber-tricks and medical heroics they need to outwit a madman. Dissecting this cruel mystery of riddles and secrets will resurrect the painful past, as the mastermind is closer than anyone could have ever expected.

There is a remarkable level of detail in this novel about hospital and emergency response procedures, as well as a gritty intimacy when it comes to suffering patients and infuriated relatives. Real-world concerns about the declining state of American medicine and the lack of trust people have for the profession are exemplified through a variety of characters – from grieving widows and jaded administrators to sociopathic revenge-seekers and commiserating colleagues. The overburdening of doctors, the lack of accountability for mistakes, and the over-reliance on computers to ensure patient health are underlying themes in the plot that deserve more attention in popular discourse.

From an editorial view, the writing can occasionally be overexcited in its narration, and declarative about the significance of key plot points that could be done more subtly and organically within the flow of a scene. There are also sections that feel rushed or unpolished; the author’s enthusiasm for the scene comes through, but he leaves little to the reader’s imagination, often dragging the pace of scenes with poorly placed exposition or detailed tangents. The dialogue is generally believable, but there is significant suspension of disbelief required when it comes to Dr. Lin’s casual sleuthing and risk-taking, knowing the potential cost to his patients.

Those issues aside, this novel boldly introduces a new class of modern medical thriller where diagnostic puzzles and well-crafted tension mix together with trenchant social commentary, for a gripping story that is at once page-turning and thought-provoking.

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