Book Review: 15 Seconds by Andrew Gross
Published in 2012. Amanda is driving her car on her way to her cosmetology class, but she’s higher than a kite. She’s having trouble keeping her car on the road and runs over a young mother and her baby, killing both. Amanda is arrested and tried for manslaughter, getting 20 years in prison. Amanda’s father decides to take on the drug dealers who supplied his daughter and begins a vigilante offensive. He’s led to the clinic where a doctor has prescribed the Oxy and he goes in for a consult. He decides to take a different route and make the doctor suffer.
Dr. Henry Steadman owns a series of pain clinics in Florida, but in his spare time, volunteers for Doctors Without Borders. He arrived in Jacksonville to make a presentation and heads to the hotel. However, on the way, he’s stopped by a local deputy and hassled. After some time, the deputy releases him and decides to give him a warning. As the doctor waits in his own car, he sees a blue car drive up and the driver shoots the deputy. The doctor runs over to check on him, but the deputy is dead. The doctor chases the getaway car but loses him. Convinced he’ll be arrested, he flees and seeks help from his lawyer friend. However, he finds his friend dead. He runs again, certain he will now be accused of two murders.
At first, I thought the two stories happened at the same time, but they don’t until sometime later in the story. Amanda’s story happens first and then the doctor’s story picks up about three weeks later. It was an exciting story and I could barely put it down. The title refers to the time it took for Amanda’s accident to occur and didn’t have anything to do with the main character.
However, I did find a major discrepancy. The doctor was a plastic surgeon who worked on breasts and eyes, but the clinics he owned and worked in were pain clinics. Two different specialties. At least for the pain clinics in my locale. They work on pain caused by back issues or other injuries, not plastic surgery.
Dr. Henry Steadman owns a series of pain clinics in Florida, but in his spare time, volunteers for Doctors Without Borders. He arrived in Jacksonville to make a presentation and heads to the hotel. However, on the way, he’s stopped by a local deputy and hassled. After some time, the deputy releases him and decides to give him a warning. As the doctor waits in his own car, he sees a blue car drive up and the driver shoots the deputy. The doctor runs over to check on him, but the deputy is dead. The doctor chases the getaway car but loses him. Convinced he’ll be arrested, he flees and seeks help from his lawyer friend. However, he finds his friend dead. He runs again, certain he will now be accused of two murders.
At first, I thought the two stories happened at the same time, but they don’t until sometime later in the story. Amanda’s story happens first and then the doctor’s story picks up about three weeks later. It was an exciting story and I could barely put it down. The title refers to the time it took for Amanda’s accident to occur and didn’t have anything to do with the main character.
However, I did find a major discrepancy. The doctor was a plastic surgeon who worked on breasts and eyes, but the clinics he owned and worked in were pain clinics. Two different specialties. At least for the pain clinics in my locale. They work on pain caused by back issues or other injuries, not plastic surgery.
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