Beat the Reaper

By: Josh Bazell

Narrated by: Robert Petkoff

Length: 6 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's Summary

Meet Peter Brown, a young Manhattan emergency room doctor with an unusual past that is just about to catch up with him. His morning begins with the quick disarming of a would-be mugger, followed by a steamy elevator encounter with a sexy young pharmaceutical rep, topped off by a visit with a new patient - and from there Peter's day is going to get a whole lot worse and a whole lot weirder.

Because that patient knows Peter from his other life, when he had a different name and a very different job. The only reason he's a doctor now is thanks to the Witness Protection Program-and even they can't protect him from the long reach of the New Jersey mob. Now he's got to do whatever it takes to keep his patient alive so he can buy some time...and beat the reaper.

Beat the Reaper is not just the only work that will be compared to Quentin Tarantino's films, Grey's Anatomy, and Chuck Palahniuk - it's also the most original and entertaining debut thriller you'll listen to this year.

©2009 Josh Bazell (P)2009 Josh Bazell

Crazy Mix of Medicine and Mafia

Beat the Reaper is a crazy mix of medicine and Mafia. If you like medicine that it technically accurate and deservedly cynical, add in a Mafia hit man who becomes a doctor and you will be on track. Clearly, Josh Bazell used the on-call sleepless hours of his medical training letting his imagination run in a variety of misguided directions. Even when you know where he is taking you can’t really believe it. This is a book I couldn’t wait for friends to read so we could talk about the crazy ending. Catch the YouTube trailer and you will get the flavor of Beat the Reaper.

18 of 18 people found this review helpful

Fun, funny, fantastic!

If you like Don Winslow, if you like Lawrence Block, if you like Thomas Perry--even Jim Butcher, chances are you will love this novel as much as I do. Like others say, it's part Sopranos, part ER, part scary, part hilarious, part inventive, part ridiculous, a little bit sexy and completely entertaining.

Go Josh Bazell! Since I live in Oakland I want to go hunt him down in San Francisco and just stand there grinning at him.

And go Robert Petkoff--geez! What a terrific talent.

TWO THUMBS UP!!

17 of 17 people found this review helpful

Listen and You'll Love it

This book was short but packed with everything you can imagine: mafia hits, love story, revenge, betrayal…The list goes on and on. The writing is fantastic and very funny. The book description does not do this book justice. The main character Pietro/Peter goes on a roller coaster ride throughout his life and you would love to just tell him to stop and walk away from it all. By far the most surprising part of this book is about the last 15 minutes – WHAT AN ENDING! Out of all of the books that I have listened to, this by far has the best narration. You must LISTEN!!!!!!!! Download the book and I know you won’t regret it.

47 of 49 people found this review helpful

Awesome.

This was recommended to me by a fellow editor, and I’m thankful that it was. Bazell’s writing is reminiscent of Chuck Palahniuk, and Petkoff’s pacing and tone match perfectly. The narrator is also pretty skilled at accents. Our protagonist, Peter, introduces himself as a doctor in a Manhattan hospital, but we quickly learn about his past as a mob hitman, and how those two worlds collide. It was a great car listen, and a promising start from a new author.

43 of 45 people found this review helpful

Dude Lit?

Beat The Reaper is squarely aimed at men -- DUDES, actually -- with plenty of violence, sex, profanity, and assorted other "tough guy" stuff. It's a fun, different, and fast-paced thrill ride. Its narrator uses medical and scientific explanations of things that happen to him. These expositions provide a sense of medical credibility and realism that entertain and even educate. Where the story lacks is in realism of another sort, related to is its plot focus on the mafia, hit men, hit jobs, the Federal Witness Protection Program, and just about any way that these things connect to the physician narrator's life--even if he is supposed to have a checkered past. Beat The Reaper is not a taut medical thriller or even a suspenseful medical story. But it's a fun ride, set in a hospital, centered around a doctor, and chocked full of testosterone, blood, and bravado. If you can suspend your disbelief, you will enjoy the story; it moves at a refreshingly fast, and action-laden pace. Forget what you thought you knew about doctors and strap in for an adventure.

11 of 11 people found this review helpful

2009, What Happened?

When this came out in 2009, it was hot. A look at when the glowing reviews came out, show that most of the Bazell lovers listened in 2009 or 2010. Since than the overall rating has dropped to 3.9. Makes you wonder what happened.

From the beginning I felt this was a pretty cool story. It involved the mob, the holocaust, and doctors. After a couple of hours the mystery of who killed the main character's parents is solved and now the story is plotless. As a documentary it would be pretty cool. A documentary with attitude. I bought it though thinking it was a suspense novel. Josh could not make up his mind if he wanted his documentary to be about the mob, Jews or medicine, so he threw a bunch of stats and descriptions at us peppered with the F bomb constantly. I prefer, to read Puzo, when getting my mafia fix, or Elie Wiesel to learn about the holocaust and if you catch me reading Gray's Anatomy take my temperature.

Narrator is excellent

135 of 147 people found this review helpful

Strap in to a rocket ride

This novel blasts off in the first minutes, and never slows down. And even though it's "only" 6+ hours long, it's so intense, and so funny, you will feel like it's a much longer book. I loved every minute of it.

The novel "takes place" over the course of the narrator's shift in a hospital, with flashbacks into his past. The non-sequential structure is easy to follow, and makes for a more compelling story, building suspense from two directions. It is an R-rated novel, for obvious sex and violence aspects, but what may make listeners squirm the most are some graphic medical scenes.

The narration is spot on, with a fast pace that matches the novel, bringing both intensity and humor. After listening to this book, you will never think of hospitals the same again.

19 of 20 people found this review helpful

A Entertaining Listen!

I this book was great. After reading a few negative reviews I guess it's for a specific audience. But I LOVED it. The narrator was great, the story was fast, and I gasped out loud more than once. I found the hardcover at B&N and got it just so I could lend it to a friend and talk about it.

8 of 8 people found this review helpful

Great, enjoyable read!

I will admit that at first, I thought this book was weird. But what a weird, exhilarating ride it turned out to be! This book covers all genres and becomes unique; it's a suspense medical thriller with a dash of romance and dark humor. And I was able to enjoy all these elements by the great narration, done by Robert Petkoff. Four stars and two big thumbs up!

8 of 8 people found this review helpful

The Action is Non-Stop

This book starts with action and it just keeps coming. The writer's medical knowledge enhances the descriptions of the fight "scenes". Character development is excellent. The ending leaves an opening for a sequel - I hope one is on the way!
This is my first audio book in about a year and it was a great way to get back into listening. It will be a tough act to follow.

15 of 16 people found this review helpful