Code Blue

Oddly, I think I prefer vintage nurse fiction over medical suspense. Somehow, the relationships and inner-workings of a medical group or hospital appeal to me. I've read and enjoyed a few vintage nurse books over the years from the likes of Peggy Gaddis, Alice Brennan, and Steve Fisher. Yet medical suspense continues to dull my reading experience. 

Hoping for a change, I recently found a paperback copy of Code Blue. This was authored by Charlotte White, an 80s/90s writer who specialized in the romance genre (Deadly Medicine, Head Over Heels). On a recent book haul video, Bryan at Bad Taste Books displayed Code Blue and read the synopsis – basically like Die Hard at a hospital. The novel was published by Pinnacle in 1992 and has a rather fiery cover. Why not roll the dice? 

The action takes place at fictional St. Paul's Hospital in Bainbridge, New York. The facility is nearing its life cycle and is about an hour from New York City. A couple is rushed into the hospital after assaulting each other in a domestic dispute. The wife, a woman named Marianne, is kept under care, and her children are placed into foster care. The husband, psycho Chet, is stabbed a half-dozen times superficially and is released. 

Psycho Chet goes home, partners up with his lunatic brother Mick, and prepares to lay siege to St. Paul's Hospital. He wants to destroy his wife and the entire medical staff, using a variety of firearms and bombs (all ordered from an ad in Soldier of Fortune magazine). Casually, Chet and Mick enter the hospital one evening and place bombs in strategic places. They then announce on the intercom that if anyone comes or goes, the building goes boom. Needless to say, the paperback police are left helpless to counter this insane workplace invasion.

The author focuses on a dozen characters within the hospital who are simply performing business as usual. With her romance resume, White focuses on budding flirtation between some of these coworkers, mostly centered around widower Dr. Neil Dvorak. My misconception that this was some sort of high-intensity action yarn rivaling Die Hard was foolhardy. 

This was a boring, infuriating 300-hundred-pager that goes absolutely nowhere. Further, readers know from the first chapter that both invaders were killed in the book's finale. So any mystery or reveal is completely void throughout the entirety of the narrative. While White could have focused on an exciting cat-and-mouse game (similar to Dean Koontz's Face of Fear) or some type of survivalist intensity, she spends her time waddling around the halls with dull, lifeless dialogue and a lethargic sense of pacing. 

Code Blue is a miserable reading experience, and I can't recommend it. If you just have to own this book, get it HERE so I can gain a few cents.