It takes a lot for a book to make me squirm and this one did it. The blend of Medical Drama and witness protection Mafia hit man was thrilling and the wonderful, if somewhat blunt, narration by Pietro knocked my socks off.

This book is about revenge, being a doctor in the witness protection program and the mob. It is funny, fast paced and so good I read it in only a couple of days. I highly recommend this if you are looking for something light and entertaining.

I'm not sure how I stumbled across this title, or even why I read it. Mob hijinks and wiseguys are a far cry from my usual preferred subjects. And yet...I can't wait to read the next in the series! Pietro is charming, intelligent, and quite possibly the most brutally practical narrator I've ever encountered (witness the freezer scene toward the end of the story). Yeesh.

This tongue in cheek mobster page turner kept me chuckling all the way through.

Heir apparent to Chuck Palahniuk. Entertaining and original.

Great fun!

Jack Reacher meets (Dr.) House. Loved the footnotes and the medical info. (The author is a doctor.)

This is probably the first non-school fiction that I've ever read that has footnotes. The footnotes are sometimes informative and always humorous. Just like the rest of the book, may I add. The book is split between the past and the present. I thought it was a little weird that it alternated, but it turned out to work well, especially in the beginning, when I was more interested in Pietro's action filled past, as opposed to his seemingly half-a$$ed attempt at being a doctor. A warning to the squeamish (or not so, because I was quite disturbed as well), there is one VERY disturbing scene in this book. It should not deter you from reading this book, however, just a word of caution.

Falling somewhere on the continuum between Christopher Moore's absurdist dementia and Chuck Palahniuk's outright derangement, Beat the Reaper is the story of ex-mobster Pietro Brnwa, cleverly re-christened Peter Brown through his participation in the witness protection program. Brown ends up going to med school and working as an emergency room doctor, and a very disturbing and entertaining series of events is set in motion when one of his fellow criminals recognizes him. Full of graphic violence, peculiar sex episodes, and an assortment of possibly-true-possibly-not strange medical facts, the story is a quick read for those who like their humor dark and their heroes less-than-perfect. Bazell's storytelling is not quite as polished as Carl Hiassen, Elmore Leonard, or other twisted thriller writers in a similar vein (and far raunchier than either of these two). However, he has written a very impressive debut novel, and I look forward to whatever he publishes next.

Real page turner. Never a dull moment. Funny. I'll be looking for more from this author.