Product Description
Unexplainable death under anesthesia occurs almost daily in American Operating Rooms. TERRO.R. is a contemporary maze of intrigue and frightful medical investigative discoveries in such cases of cardiac arrests on the O.R. table. Hopefully, this timely novel is fiction...

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.0 based on 46 reviews)

Read and Shiver

TERRO.R. is something you need to learn about. Place it near the top of your reading list! Read it and shiver, but read it now!

Traditionally we have been taught to classify "going under the knife" as major surgery or minor surgery. From the patient's point of view, all surgery is major. From the anesthesiologist's point of view, all anesthesia is major. The person who can keep a person experiencing surgery alive is the anesthesiologist. While most people can remember who their surgeons were twenty years ago, few notice who their their anesthesiologists are. These dedicated, highly skilled physicians with the ability to make split-second decisions, maintain airways in challenging circumstances, and secure intravenous lines without fail, spend their work days and nights alternating between putting out fires and standing around watching surgeons do their work. Anesthesiologists, who call themselves "gas passers," are on the front line of health caregivers.

Anyone seriously interested in the practice of medicine realizes that the top priority is maintaining an airway - keeping an opening that will allow uninterrupted breathing. While it may appear that an anesthesiologist's main priority is to "put people to sleep" to make surgery possible, his (or her) main goal is to make sure that his patients are able to breathe while he anesthetizes them. One of the most interesting aspects of TERRO.R. is the use of details about securing airways. In layman's terms he explains precisely how to pass a tube between the vocal cords and check to be sure that the tube is appropriately placed. With skilled explanations, Dr. NoShots leads his readers to see through his observant eyes and to feel with his educated fingers. He works the experience of endotracheal intubation into the events of the novel.

The doctor in the novel, who must be like our own Dr. Joe Neuschatz, once saved a man's life and knocked out a bad tooth during the intubation process. The patient's family emitted threats of lawsuits over the missing tooth. The reader of this book will wonder why anyone goes into medicine as a physician or as a nurse; yet I know the lure of the medical profession - the desire and the call to help sick people and to fix things that people need fixing. The doctor in the novel seems to be determined to practice medicine as long as he can no matter how many problems he faces.

Don't be put off by a slight language problem. Not a native speaker, sometimes the good doctor slips into charming verb tenses that speak of conventions from other languages. Other grammatical gaffes are laughable. For example, his characters enjoy a "buffer" breakfast. (They are eating a "buffet" meal.) "Lead" is used when "led" is needed. "Had wrote" is used for "had written." The problem interferes with my reading pleasure because it jolts me out of the mood. Part of the pleasure of reading a novel is to suspend reality for a few moments in order to enter the fictional world of the characters. When any author is struggling to write in English, there's a need for help. Before he publishes his next book, I urge him to employ a grammar cop. Despite his struggles with our language because he became facile in three other languages before he learned English, he is still able to use clever nuances and provide amusing turns of phrase. This book has a message too large to let a little problem with English usage prevent reading.

The book has shades of Robin Cook with its medical-legal suspense. Dr. NoShots explains medical procedures so that intelligent readers without the benefit of medical backgrounds can learn valuable information about patient care. He kicks open the door of the operating room. Neuschatz does not belabor his explanations or dumb down the information until he insults his readers. He does not layer his information to create a tome of repeated explanations. Instead he carefully selects what he includes.
He builds suspense and provides a unique plot. The subject of this novel is related to what is going on in the world NOW.

Since the book is a mystery, the emphasis is not on character development; however the author thoroughly develops the main character so that we enter his mind and enjoy seeing what he thinks. Dr. Newman applies his resources, including a brilliant mind trained in logical processes, to solve the mystery.

Dr. NoShots is a naturally funny person. His humor pops up occasionally but not so often that he belittles the patients in the story.

The dialogue is portrayed realistically. The voices of the leading character and the people with whom he interacts provide echoes of conversations I heard when I worked as a hospital nurse.

I highly recommend TERRO.R. to anyone who works in a hospital, who will ever be a patient, or who has a family member requiring medical care. I recommend this book to anyone who has heard about terror in the United States. Read this book now!

September 24, 2008

A Riveting Medical Thriller!

As a retired OR nurse with 34 years of experience I can say that the author portrays the operating room environment in a totally realistic and feasable manner. I respectfully disagree with other reviewers stating that the dialogue wasn't believeable. One has only to work in an OR for as long as I have to know that, in fact, the exchange of words between the characters are oh so credible.

The plot to this book just blew me away. All I could think was OMG could this really happen?? Suffice it to say when I thought about it for some time I came to the horrifying conclusion that indeed it could potentially happen, especially in this time of political terrorism.

Hopefully Dr. Neuschatz will continue to write many more of these "page turner" novels to excite those of us in the medical profession.

Good Luck, Dr Joe.
September 20, 2008

An interesting mystery, but the writing needs work

NOTE: The author informs me that his book has been re-written and re-edited, and that the version of the book currently available is thus slightly longer than and otherwise changed from the version that I review here.
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TerrO.R. is a brief, self-published novel by Joseph Neuschatz, a doctor, whose medical expertise is apparent on every page of the book. The book's protagonist is Dr. Philip Newman, an anesthesiologist at Soundedge Hospital, whose troubles begin when a 19-year-old patient, otherwise in good health, inexplicably dies during routine surgery. The case is strange at the outset: despite his age, the patient is being forced by his dominating father to have his tattoos removed. And when the operation goes awry, the father is unusually quick to sue. Neuschatz takes us through the operation and other day-to-day experiences in the life of a busy anesthesiologist. And he turns Newman into an armchair amateur sleuth insofar as Newman figures out--from a pattern of such cases--the complicated story behind the tragic tattoo operation.

TerrO.R. is a sort of didactic novel, a lightly fictionalized vehicle for delivering information about medical care as well as Neuschatz's opinions about the health care industry. Neuschatz talks readers through procedures in passages that are authoritative but rather dull for the layman:

"The side about to be operated on received an intravenous cannula (attached to a syringe extension) and a deflated tourniquet. After most of the venous blood was ejected by the rolling of a tight elastic bandage (on the vertically elevated arm) from the finger tips down, the tourniquet was inflated and the bandage removed. The veins of the now pale and anemic looking arm were ready to be filled with a diluted Lidocaine solution."

There are a great many such descriptions in the book. In the non-medical parts of the book--the narrative holding the medical sections together--the writing is bland and the dialogue very stiff:

"'You never stop making me laugh, Arthur! I always know I can count on your good advice.'

"Any time, Dr. Newman! Give my love to Mrs. Newman.'

"'Only if you give my love to Mrs. Ross.'

"With pleasure! But I will be able to do that only if she decides to talk to me tonight. By tomorrow, I will probably forget!'

"'Tell her that I insist she be nice to you. You are my hero!'

"'I will tell her what you just said, for sure! Have a nice Sunday!'

"'You too...'"

There is also a loose end I would have liked tied up. (Or was that car accident really just a car accident?)

All that said, the mystery behind the failed operation is an interesting one, and its solution perhaps not so far-fetched. I can imagine the book's plot being translated successfully into an episode of a medical show such as House.

-- Debra Hamel
September 02, 2008

Brilliantly Conceived Secret Ending

Dr. Neuschatz has written a very intriguing novel about the the life of an anethesiologist Dr. Phillip Newman and his wife Kyra who is a pediatric nurse. Due to a serious unexpected death in the Operating Room, the story takes some unusual twists and turns which no reader can anticipate. There is a major surprise ending that will satisfy any reader of medical mystery thrillers. Dr. Robin Cook may be the more experienced novelist and best selling author but Dr. Neuschatz provides an equally thrilling reading experience. His book contains a highly contemporary theme which will leave a huge impact on the reader at the end. Furthermore, while the book explores a serious subject, there is much humor in the book, making it quite fun to read.

Unfortunately and unexpectedly, one of Dr. Phillip Newman's patients codes during surgery while he is being administered anesthesia and subsequently dies. It is a young man who is 19 years old who elects to have surgery to remove some tattoos. He had no allergies, no significant medical history and of note, no previous surgeries (therefore never had general anesthesia either). Suddenly, Dr. Newman is faced with a huge lawsuit for malpractice ... The hospital wants him to settle out of court. Although, Dr. Newman is reassured by his colleagues that this is how it is in modern medicine, it bothers him and he begins to research possibly causes for this most unfortunate death. Despite being reassured, that any physician can expect this in a highly litigious society (such as ours), he does not accept this explanation. Dr. Newman starts asking probing questions, what could have gone wrong? What special factors were over-looked? He arrives at some startling conclusions after he takes on the role of scientist and epidemiolgist. He realizes, some of the dyes used in the tattoo *could* have caused a reaction with the anesthesia. He does an internet search and asks some questions on an anesthesiolgist specialty site, looking for similar cases.

He knows the response of his team to the code was textbook perfect based on the current guidelines for ACLS (advanced cardiac life support) as taught by the American Heart Association. A 19 year old male died ... when it was an *elective* surgery to remove some tattoos. It should *not* have become life-threatening. It turns out news about the Code Blue which was unsuccessful in the OR passed through the hospital grapevine ... and the news spread even to a some other physician colleagues. Through some odd circumstances, Dr. Newman learned that his 19 year old patient *had* indeed had surgery at the age of 17 for a type of testicular cancer. Oddly enough, Dr. Newman also discovered, a life insurance policy had been taken out for this 19 year old exactly 3 months prior to this surgery. Strange, it seems as if it was known something would happen. In the meantime, Dr. Phillip Newman also discovered other cases similar to his, where tattoos were removed and the patients had sudden death while under anesthesia. The reader will be left hanging at this point to wonder what could have been the similarities in all these cases and it is NOT what you think. Dr. Neuschatz provides a real cliff-hanger to this question and then with a very sharp curve - the answer arrives and is much more sinister and threatening than anyone could imagine. This is a most highly recommended book. It baffles me why this book was not accepted by a publishing company and why the author had to 'self-publish' it. It has an outstanding plot and brilliant ending. It has highly accurate medical and surgical descriptions used within proper context. What more can any reader desire? Erika Borsos [pepper flower]
April 29, 2008

terrO.R. , possibly the best title conceivable for a well-conceived book.

terrO.R. This is a brilliant book by an obvously brilliant author. Apparently I am not the only one who thinks this because it did win an award. I am not a stranger to medical personnel and medical establishments; I found the characters and the settings realistic. It should be both intersting and reassuring for the reader to learn what happens on the other side of the surgical drape. While this is a genuinely scary book as indicated by the title, it also does a great job of allowing us to get inside an anesthesiologist's head (Dr. Newman and Dr. Neushatz). This is a timely book that will leave a lasting impression. Yes,it is short, but then you also will not be able to put it down once you start it, so its brevity is not a negative. Actually I was sorry when the book was over and plan to re-read it to see how the clues fall in place.

This book has been reviewed a number of times; some of the reviews have criticized writing style or pointed to editing mistakes. Granted this book is not Shakespearean, but for most it will be a lot more entertaining and we are sure of the author.

Lastly, I think this would make a great scary movie and wonder if the author has considered this. Given the popularity of crime and medical series on TV, there should be a big audience for this book in print, on the big screen or the TV screen.

April 06, 2008

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