Official Review: Scapel by Joel Berman
Posted: 25 Jan 2019, 11:09
[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Scapel" by Joel Berman.]
3 out of 4 stars
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A nameless surgeon is plotting the murder of a malpractice attorney. For more than twenty years, the medical community has been targeted by those money-hungry vultures who use the flimsiest excuses and employ the dirtiest tactics to sue good doctors, driving them to leave their jobs, end up in humiliation, or even blow their brains out to preserve their dignity. The surgeon whose beloved used to be a victim of the practice now resolves to execute his vengeance. This results in a cold corpse delivered with the intestine neatly cut out and a witty souvenir gift. Detective Septimus McClymonds has to catch this man before he turns New York into a graveyard of malpractice attorneys. This is a fight between two shrewd men, but who having the final words of justice may prove to be a tricky question.
As a long-term fan of crime fiction, I am really happy that Joel Berman understands the genre’s classic elements and how to weave them into the story without making it stale or stereotypical. Scalpel is not a simple cat-and-mouse game but a battle of wits between two men of equal caliber and intelligence. It also has believable psychological deductions, traps, and a few clever plot twists. As a result, I couldn’t put the novel down, giddily anticipating what would happen next.
The story displays the intriguing dynamics between the detective and the surgeon. I can’t help noticing how these two gentlemen mirror each other. They are both dedicated professionals with unsatisfying personal relationships, jaded attitudes towards life, and conceivable motives for their relentless pursuit. They scarcely interact but have mutual respect and somehow understand each other. Their characters are not overly complicated or deep, but they are believable and embody two opposing ideals which we can sympathize with and root for.
Scalpel can be interpreted as an origin of a vigilante. It features some thought-provoking questions: How far a man would go to endorse his own brand of justice? When would he go from a self-appointed judge to a distasteful criminal? Would he sacrifice an innocent’s life for the greater good? The author, with the help of some philosophical experts from the past, answers these questions to a certain degree.
On the downside, the story has some details that do not quite hit the mark. First and foremost, the author never does much to evoke sympathy for the victims, which irks me a lot. It’s almost as if he were implicitly saying that these people deserve to be murdered. If he had allowed the victims to express some complexity and humanity, the story would have had more nuances and maintained the delicate balance between the justification of the legal system and the necessity to acknowledge its shortcomings. Besides, the story could have used a little more suspension in critical moments instead of cutting off the tension too quickly. The novel has many punctuation mistakes, thereby requiring another round of editing.
I rate the book 3 out of 4 stars. Scalpel is highly recommended to fans of psychological or crime fiction. It should be noted that the novel has a few mildly gory scenes. Also, I discourage immature readers from reading the book since it contains some ideas about the legal system that can be perceived in the wrong light.
******
Scapel
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3 out of 4 stars
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So, when a surgeon needs to practice vigilantism, does that make the scalpel a murderer’s butcher knife or a judge’s gavel?The scalpel sees no evil deeds,
It only does what the surgeon needs.
A nameless surgeon is plotting the murder of a malpractice attorney. For more than twenty years, the medical community has been targeted by those money-hungry vultures who use the flimsiest excuses and employ the dirtiest tactics to sue good doctors, driving them to leave their jobs, end up in humiliation, or even blow their brains out to preserve their dignity. The surgeon whose beloved used to be a victim of the practice now resolves to execute his vengeance. This results in a cold corpse delivered with the intestine neatly cut out and a witty souvenir gift. Detective Septimus McClymonds has to catch this man before he turns New York into a graveyard of malpractice attorneys. This is a fight between two shrewd men, but who having the final words of justice may prove to be a tricky question.
As a long-term fan of crime fiction, I am really happy that Joel Berman understands the genre’s classic elements and how to weave them into the story without making it stale or stereotypical. Scalpel is not a simple cat-and-mouse game but a battle of wits between two men of equal caliber and intelligence. It also has believable psychological deductions, traps, and a few clever plot twists. As a result, I couldn’t put the novel down, giddily anticipating what would happen next.
The story displays the intriguing dynamics between the detective and the surgeon. I can’t help noticing how these two gentlemen mirror each other. They are both dedicated professionals with unsatisfying personal relationships, jaded attitudes towards life, and conceivable motives for their relentless pursuit. They scarcely interact but have mutual respect and somehow understand each other. Their characters are not overly complicated or deep, but they are believable and embody two opposing ideals which we can sympathize with and root for.
Scalpel can be interpreted as an origin of a vigilante. It features some thought-provoking questions: How far a man would go to endorse his own brand of justice? When would he go from a self-appointed judge to a distasteful criminal? Would he sacrifice an innocent’s life for the greater good? The author, with the help of some philosophical experts from the past, answers these questions to a certain degree.
On the downside, the story has some details that do not quite hit the mark. First and foremost, the author never does much to evoke sympathy for the victims, which irks me a lot. It’s almost as if he were implicitly saying that these people deserve to be murdered. If he had allowed the victims to express some complexity and humanity, the story would have had more nuances and maintained the delicate balance between the justification of the legal system and the necessity to acknowledge its shortcomings. Besides, the story could have used a little more suspension in critical moments instead of cutting off the tension too quickly. The novel has many punctuation mistakes, thereby requiring another round of editing.
I rate the book 3 out of 4 stars. Scalpel is highly recommended to fans of psychological or crime fiction. It should be noted that the novel has a few mildly gory scenes. Also, I discourage immature readers from reading the book since it contains some ideas about the legal system that can be perceived in the wrong light.
******
Scapel
View: on Bookshelves
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