SIDE EFFECTS

Kate Bennet, Boston pathologist, tries to discover why seemingly healthy women are dying and runs afoul of a medical conspiracy with its roots in Nazi Germany. She must also soothe her estranged husband and decide if she really wants to be a mother or the next department head. Heather McLennan's naturally low-pitched voice is earnest and easy to take but ultimately gets tedious as not much is done to differentiate a plethora of doctors, pharmaceutical execs, and other medical types. Dramatic scenes are not as exciting as they could be. This is a reading, rather than a performance. The abridgment shortchanges some subplots but leaves in a lot of medical detail which, since the book was published in 1985, may not be cutting-edge. J.B.G.
(c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB/ MAR 04]