Book review
Silent Fear—A Medical
Thriller
Author: Barbara Ebel, MD
Published by the author: barbaraebel.weebly.com, March 2014
Reviewed by
M. Saleem Seyal, MD, FACC, FACP
D
r. Barbara Ebel is a retired anesthesiologist who practiced
in and has an abiding professional connection to Louisville,
Ky. She is a physician-turned-writer who currently resides
in a Tennessee wildlife corridor with her husband and pets. “Silent
Fear” is the second in her “Dr. Danny Tilson Novel” series—the
first one was called “Operation Neurosurgeon, ” although both are
stand-alone fictional accounts.
Dr. Danny Tilson is recovering from some personal mishaps
including re-instatement of his surgical privileges at the hospital
and membership with his very well-respected neurosurgery practice group. He is the father of two teenage daughters, Nancy and
Annabel, and is, at the beginning of the tale, estranged from his
wife, Sara, primarily because of his torrid extra-marital affair with
a stunning surgical scrub tech, Rachel, that resulted in the birth of
a baby girl, Julia. He is living in his deceased parents’ home with
his sister Mary and her fiancé, Casey, who is Danny’s friend as well,
and is a paramedic. His dog, Dakota, is a Chesapeake Bay Retriever,
a very loving dog with however copious amounts of slobber, who
eventually plays a seminal role in this interesting story. Danny Tilson
is very well trained, loves the thrill of neurosurgical trauma, and
is an astute diagnostician. He is back in the game after his debacle
with a malpractice lawsuit, a temporary suspension from the group
for a few months, and legal matters with the gorgeous gold digger,
Rachel, pertaining to child support and joint custody and postdivorce matters with his wife of many years.
8
LOUISVILLE MEDICINE
Danny performs the usual neurosurgery procedures including
evacuation of subdural hematomas, drainage of brain abscesses,
and laminectomies. Surgeries go smoothly but then all hell breaks
loose. The hospital is gripped by the silent fear of a menacing disease
- meningoencephalitis – which affects some patients and then staff,
including one of his partners, an internist, and a nurse who was in
contact with these patients. Patients afflicted with this mysterious
meningoencephalitis are critically ill with sepsis - respiratory failure, hemodynamic collapse and coma. Extensive workup ensues,
biopsies of appropriate tissues are performed, cultures are done and
big-gun antibiotics are administered along with massive dosages of
intravenous vasopressors. The devastating epidemic is spreading
like wildfire, and the administrator is extremely worried about the
negative publicity. The media asks probing questions. CDC has
been notified and a smooth-talking but very experienced and capable CDC operative from Atlanta arrives at the hospital promptly.
Through meticulous investigative work, Joelle, the pathologist,
recovers the offending organism, but it is a rather unusual creature
resistant to all available antibiotics.
There are interesting subplots. Rachel, the conniving scrub tech is
living with her boyfriend, Leo, the pharmacist who does not much
care for baby Julia. When Danny takes the baby home for his first
court-sanctioned visitation, the family is horrified to see the tell-tale
signs of child abuse and everyone immediately concludes – but are
they right? - that Rachel is the perpetrator. A marriage ceremony is