Assumed Dead
by Eleanor Sullivan
Published by Hilliard Harris
Click on book
cover to order
at Amazon.com
Reviewed by Kim Reis
Monika Everhardt is the head nurse in the ICU at a metropolitan hospital in St Louis. Two patients with head injuries enter the ward on the same day. One was an unidentified man who went through the windshield of his car after hitting a tree while being chased by the police, and the other was a woman who was beaten in the head in a bank parking lot.
Each provide the opportunity for the author to show us what it is like to work in a high-stress department of a hospital. We learn about how the nursing staff provides comfort to the families as much as they provide care to the patient.
While Monika helps search for the John Doe's identity, she is also trying to find out why her husband's name doesn't appear on the Vietnam War Memorial among the others who died. In addition, she has also been assigned supervisory duties for another department where she is unfamiliar with the daily workload and needs to mediate staff concerns and work up a budget.
I enjoyed this book very much even though I was way ahead of Monika. It was very interesting to see the inner workings of intensive care. Despite the multiple stories going on, and several side trips that seemed extraneous at the time, Sullivan managed to tie it all together in the end.
Armchair Interviews says: A recommended read.