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Pestilence
Le Dr James Saracen travaille aux urgences de l'hôpital de Skelmore, petite ville anglaise frappée par la crise industrielle. Entre deux interventions, il remarque que le département médico-légal et la morgue sont le théâtre de dysfonctionnements difficilement explicables : des rapports d'autopsie sont falsifiés, des cadavres disparaissent... Il mène son enquête et soupçonne le Dr Garten...
302 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1991
24 people are currently reading
177 people want to read
About the author
Ken McClure
71 books124 followersKen McClure is the internationally bestselling author of over twenty medical thrillers such as The Lazarus Strain, The Gulf Conspiracy, White Death and Dust to Dust. His books have been translated into twenty-five languages and he has earned a reputation for the accuracy of his predicitions. McClure's work is informed by his background as an award-winning research scientist with the UK's Medical Research Council. He lives in a small village in the Lammermuir Hills of Scotland.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
June 21, 2012
This is a refreshing medical thriller from an author whom I had not heard of before. I was not sure what to expect, but I am glad I devoted my two days to reading this. The basic story revolves around a suspected contagion infecting citizens of a small town. Initially the deaths are shrouded in mystery, and the main character, Saracen, who is a doctor at a local hospital, gets drawn into that mystery due to his sense of self-righteousness and inquisitiveness. It is he, through his untiring efforts, who first discovers the cause of the deaths, and then untiringly and selflessly puts his own life in danger to identify the source of the killer contagion. In the process, Saracen rediscovers love and longing in his otherwise lonely life. I cannot explain any further lest I divulge the suspense!
This novel is therefore a two-in-one. The first half of it reads like a great mystery, and the second half is a full blown medical thriller, what with a medieval contagion stalking residents of a town. The initial 50 pages or so were rather slow, but once it picked up pace from thereon, it was gripping! One of the most refreshing element was the language used for the narrative - it is refined yet simple. No usage of brash or crass lingo, no slangs, rich vocabulary and hardly any use of expletives. This made it a worthwhile read.
Highly recommended for those who like thrillers revolving around contagious epidemic.
This novel is therefore a two-in-one. The first half of it reads like a great mystery, and the second half is a full blown medical thriller, what with a medieval contagion stalking residents of a town. The initial 50 pages or so were rather slow, but once it picked up pace from thereon, it was gripping! One of the most refreshing element was the language used for the narrative - it is refined yet simple. No usage of brash or crass lingo, no slangs, rich vocabulary and hardly any use of expletives. This made it a worthwhile read.
Highly recommended for those who like thrillers revolving around contagious epidemic.
June 17, 2012
A familiar concept presented with frightening credibility!
The story grabs the reader right from the start. The characters are all very well developed. You find yourself rooting for the main character. A young doctor who has a strong sense of right and wrong. Believes that the truth must always be told.. even if it costs him his career. The protagonist in the story.. uses this flaw to his advantage to promote his OWN career. (naturally)
The first half of the book deals mainly with developing the characters.. and embroiling them in a mystery that they know they MUST find out the truth. Once the truth is finally found and revealed.. the story picks up the pace.. and the reader finds themselves on the "Wheeeeeee" part of the roller coaster!
Ken McClure certainly understands bureaucrats. He writes them so well! How something that COULD easily be contained.. is NOT .. due to their ineptitude. That's what makes this story so believable. One can easily deduce what SHOULD be done.. and due to some government officials needing to cover their backsides.. many will die or be severely impacted.
If you have an interest in the black plague.. this book needs to be on your reading list! You WILL learn a few new things about the plague.
The story grabs the reader right from the start. The characters are all very well developed. You find yourself rooting for the main character. A young doctor who has a strong sense of right and wrong. Believes that the truth must always be told.. even if it costs him his career. The protagonist in the story.. uses this flaw to his advantage to promote his OWN career. (naturally)
The first half of the book deals mainly with developing the characters.. and embroiling them in a mystery that they know they MUST find out the truth. Once the truth is finally found and revealed.. the story picks up the pace.. and the reader finds themselves on the "Wheeeeeee" part of the roller coaster!
Ken McClure certainly understands bureaucrats. He writes them so well! How something that COULD easily be contained.. is NOT .. due to their ineptitude. That's what makes this story so believable. One can easily deduce what SHOULD be done.. and due to some government officials needing to cover their backsides.. many will die or be severely impacted.
If you have an interest in the black plague.. this book needs to be on your reading list! You WILL learn a few new things about the plague.
June 12, 2012
it started off as a medical thriller - and then got so much more exciting!! i really enjoyed it although the end could have been a bit better. Read it in 2 days so it must have been easy to read :)
July 16, 2019
I very much enjoyed this novel. It was a refreshing medical mystery with quite a bit of drama involved with it too. The way Ken McClure writes is new and innovative. The only thing I can say negatively about this book, and the reason it was difficult for me to get through, is because it hasn't been updated since 1991. This makes the book feel aged and outdated, and the person who converted it to kindle format made quite a few typos. The actual novel, though, was very goo
January 3, 2021
I rembember this book from my childhood and I had fond memories of it. Reading it again, I discover that the story is still good, altough a little bit far-fetched. But the style and prose are terrible, amateurish and a lot of passages and important events are cut short by this. Wish someone would rewrite it to match the quality of the story.
July 30, 2024
Even though this genre isn't typically my cup of tea, I finished the book in just a few days. It's suspenseful and very well-written, making it an engaging read.
December 16, 2025
Interesante...
November 15, 2012
This book was published in 1991 and it hasn't aged well in a number of ways. For many readers I can imagine they'd be thinking "Where's his mobile phone", others will be wondering what a choke is on a car. Some will wonder why there wasn't a SABRE investigation when a patient suddenly developed hepatitis from a blood transfusion.
At the very least this book could do with a major update and edit. Within the text there are many typos (which may be due to whoever transcribed it for ebook). Continuity jumps were also a problem for me. At one point he is at the flat of a nurse, with another nurse who is flat sitting for the former, he's in the shower with her.... Then the phone rings and it's for him.... but that's because he's suddenly back at his own place. There was also far too much use of "for" on the descriptions in the context of 'he couldn't do this for x,y, or z'. That actually put me off reading, but I persevered.
Just when I thought it was about to get exciting the main antagonists both killed off. For me, the story ended there as the main character became complicit with those who were set to destroy his career earlier.
Ken McClure has obviously gone on from strength to strength, so this may be a poor introduction to his work. But it was a free Kindle title.
Sorry for the 1 star review.
At the very least this book could do with a major update and edit. Within the text there are many typos (which may be due to whoever transcribed it for ebook). Continuity jumps were also a problem for me. At one point he is at the flat of a nurse, with another nurse who is flat sitting for the former, he's in the shower with her.... Then the phone rings and it's for him.... but that's because he's suddenly back at his own place. There was also far too much use of "for" on the descriptions in the context of 'he couldn't do this for x,y, or z'. That actually put me off reading, but I persevered.
Just when I thought it was about to get exciting the main antagonists both killed off. For me, the story ended there as the main character became complicit with those who were set to destroy his career earlier.
Ken McClure has obviously gone on from strength to strength, so this may be a poor introduction to his work. But it was a free Kindle title.
Sorry for the 1 star review.
March 23, 2016
A gripping thriller with a scientific medical twist combined with the nightmare of evil which man overlooks at his peril. We see
Doctor James Saracen is a thirty-something Registrar working in an Accident and Emergency department of a local hospital who stumbles across an anomaly regarding the case of a woman whose body and medical records go missing after her death. James finds other similar cases and sets out to solve them. This gripping thriller will make it impossible for you to put down. It may also be that you can imagine the possibility of this occurring at one of your local hospitals with the same threatened outcomes.
Like other novels by Ken McClure, I was held captive by the intense drama and sense of foreboding which Dr Saracens and.his colleagues experience through the narrative. Ken McClure's novels have recently become favourites of mine and I thoroughly recommend them - Pestilence in particular.
Doctor James Saracen is a thirty-something Registrar working in an Accident and Emergency department of a local hospital who stumbles across an anomaly regarding the case of a woman whose body and medical records go missing after her death. James finds other similar cases and sets out to solve them. This gripping thriller will make it impossible for you to put down. It may also be that you can imagine the possibility of this occurring at one of your local hospitals with the same threatened outcomes.
Like other novels by Ken McClure, I was held captive by the intense drama and sense of foreboding which Dr Saracens and.his colleagues experience through the narrative. Ken McClure's novels have recently become favourites of mine and I thoroughly recommend them - Pestilence in particular.
November 19, 2012
The second of his books that I've read. It probably comes under the category "not my sort of thing". All the more surprising that I enjoyed it so much. I started to have a genuine concern for the main character (what's that all about). I even looked up articles on the plague (and was surprised it still exists). The ending had the feel of ".... And then I woke up and it was only a dream". And no he didn't, and it wasn't..... So no spoiler there. I liked the initial alienation and loneliness of the main character.... Maybe I would have liked him to be a little more alienated and lonely... That's probably just me. Anyway, I will read more of his books (including the ones that, unlike this, are not free on Kindle).
January 5, 2013
Many typos leads me to wonder if this was a novel I acquired free from the author. Probably wouldn't have bothered anyone who hadn't done years of editing for a living, and none of them complicated my understanding of the story, but they did take me out of it for a few seconds. The protagonist's background seemed a little more melodramatic than necessary to explain why he was working below his abilities. Perhaps for this reason, it started a little slowly, then resolved a little too quickly at the end. All in all, though, a heart-pounding adventure involving history, archeology, and medicine with a little romance thrown in. Enough to keep me up until 2 a.m. to finish and to find more of the author's books to read. Would love to see this as a movie.
November 19, 2012
I have the feeling that 'Resurrection' basically used this same set-up although more added to the story and better told. This is an early work and it shows. I do believe Ken's writing gets much better than this.
There are many faults but it is an easy light read without expecting too much or putting in any effort. Now and again you're going to have to ignore something a little outlandish and the editor should take a little slapping for not sharpening it up but it isn't meant to be Nobel Prize stuff, it's just a pot boiler. Enjoy it as such.
There are many faults but it is an easy light read without expecting too much or putting in any effort. Now and again you're going to have to ignore something a little outlandish and the editor should take a little slapping for not sharpening it up but it isn't meant to be Nobel Prize stuff, it's just a pot boiler. Enjoy it as such.
January 17, 2015
Decent suspense although it's obvious from the beginning how the story will develop: doctor with credibility issues gets in trouble during his investigation, falls for his "girl Friday" but still sleeps with the femme fatale, and everything ends at the doomed abbey. The only truly surprising part is how many people who die (not from the plague) just to make the protagonist's life that much more difficult.
July 16, 2014
I very much enjoyed this novel. It was a refreshing medical mystery with quite a bit of drama involved with it too. The way Ken McClure writes is new and innovative. The only thing I can say negatively about this book, and the reason it was difficult for me to get through, is because it hasn't been updated since 1991. This makes the book feel aged and outdated, and the person who converted it to kindle format made quite a few typos. The actual novel, though, was very good.
June 9, 2010
This was about a doctor who discovers a cover up for a cure to a bubonic and pneumonic plague epidemic. It was a good medical thriller. He had a love interest and the mystery was solved. Nothing too remarkable, but fine.
July 12, 2014
Definitivamente leeria mas novelas de esta autor...a mitad del libro todo era algo predecible pero despues tomo un giro inesperado, y el final me gusto, algo tipico pero entre divertido y esperanzador
May 11, 2015
First 2/3 is gripping,last 1/3 got too unbelievable IMO.Well written great character development.Could have done without the scattered strong cursing and the two thankfully mostly non graphic sex scenes.
November 6, 2016
Another interesting medical thriller by McClure. Going back and reading some of his other books that he's written and I've really enjoyed them. McClure really does a good job of bringing in scary scenarios that at least seem realistic to me and makes for an interesting read.
December 2, 2014
Scary medical thriller in which a young doctor battles against powerful interests to avert disaster.
June 22, 2012
Easy read - but no so gripping. Ended abruptly.
May 1, 2013
Good story, horrendous and gripping.
September 11, 2016
Scared the hell out of me!
November 10, 2012
Can't get into this. Characters are all very one dimensional.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews