Anatomy of Deception - Book Review

Anatomy of Deception
by Lawrence Goldstone
Bantam Dell 2008

I grabbed this book of the shelf at the library because Lawrence Goldstone and his wife Nancy have written a number of books about books.


I was most disappointed to find that this story was not about books, but about medicine. This is the story of a young wannabe surgeon, Ephraim Caroll, who was just starting out as a medical student in Philadelphia in 1889. It involves real surgeons who were at the front of medical history in USA. Names like William Stewart Halsted, William Osler and Samuel Gross.

This story uses Halsted's supposed drug addiction to cocaine and heroin as the background to comitting murder. Ephraim Carroll's role is to investigate and find out what his friend George Turk was poisoned, What George was doing when he was not at medical school, why Rebecca Lachtmann's body was in the mortuary, and what was Thomas Eakins involvement in all of this. Lots of questions which Ephraim attempts to answer.

To me this story was good. I did read and finish it. A book must hold my interest for me to finish it. BUT as I said earlier, I was disappointed that it was not about books.