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Dr Benjamin Dafoe practices ER medicine at a hospital in Seattle. Because of his experience with trauma cases, he also works as a part-time crime scene consultant with the Seattle Police Department. Serving in this latter role, Dafoe is called to an apartment house where a murder has taken place. The young doctor is shocked to discover that his ex-fiancé is the victim in the investigation. Emily Kenmore has been brutally knifed to death. Found next to her in the apartment bedroom is the body of a man whom Ben recognizes as a local drug dealer. Ben is too stunned to think clearly, and does not divulge to the police his connection to Emily or his knowledge of the dead man’s occupation. His silence lands Ben in trouble with the investigating detectives when blood found smeared on the bedroom wall is identified as his. He has no explanation for the presence of the blood except to wonder if it belongs to Aaron, his identical twin who disappeared and was presumed dead two years before. Ben is feeling trapped by circumstantial evidence and convinced that Emily’s death is linked to his drug addict brother, he disregards the advice of his lawyer and escapes Seattle to pursue his own investigation. With the police hot on his trail, a disguised Ben searches for answers on both sides of the US-Canadian border. Medical thrillers sometimes wander too far from reality to be believable. That can’t be said of Daniel Kalla’s superb new novel, BLOOD LIES. The science of DNA analysis in identical twins is indisputable, and that fact alone lends credence to the story. Further enumeration of the scientific evidence at work in the book would give away too much of the plot. Let me say, though, that the twist ending is so well done that readers will forget the science and be captivated simply by the sheer brilliance of the denouement. What really makes this novel memorable is the pacing of the story. Chapter by chapter, the reader is exposed to past secrets concerning Ben, Emily and Aaron. With each little exposure comes a heightening of tension and a growing need on the reader’s part to know whodunit. As engrossing a medical thriller as any written by Cook or Crichton, BLOOD LIES is one of those rare books were everything is just right, including the characters. Ben’s addictive personality, although geared to a less harmful activity than his brother’s, makes him Aaron’s equal when it comes to relying on external rather than internal means of gratification. Kalla describes both addictions with a sensitivity that allows readers to feel sympathy not only for Ben, but also for Aaron and Emily. Kalla’s compelling style of writing coupled with a fresh approach to characterization makes this a must-read for fans of the medical mystery.
Reviewed by Mary V. Welk, August 2007
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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