Lifelines

Angels of Mercy

By: CJ Lyons

Narrated by: Lauren Ross

A gripping behind-the-scenes drama of four women who face life and death every day.

On her first day at Pittsburgh's Angels of Mercy Medical Center, L.A. - transplant Lydia Fiore, the new ER attending physician, loses a patient: the Chief of Surgery's son. Now, to save her career, Lydia must discover the truth behind her patient's death, even as it leads her into unfamiliar - and risky - territory.

At least she's not alone. There's med student Amanda, a sweet Southern belle with problems of her own; Gina, a resident with a chip on her shoulder; and Nora, the no-nonsense charge nurse with a cool head but a fiery temper. Not to mention the paramedic who'd like to try out his bedside manner on Lydia.

©2008 CJ Lyons, LLC (P)2013 CJ Lyons, LLC

Enjoyable, but ...

What did you like best about Lifelines? What did you like least?

The characters were well defined and real. None of the stereotypical stuff we often see. Here white Lydia is from the streets and black Gina is from an upper middle class family with multiple opportunities. Both are believable characters.

The major drawback to this book was the author's use of a couple of illogical premises as the building blocks of the story. I had a difficult time overcoming the serious and obvious conflicts of interest involving Dr. Weiss and Dr. Stewart (I won't say more because I don't want to be a spoiler). The story would have worked better if these two characters had been dialed back from an attitude of irrational conviction to one of sincere and aggressive questioning of why things happened.

What did you like best about this story?

When I was able to overlook the drawbacks, the story was captivating and entertaining. It mostly moved quickly and the four different stories (from the five main characters) came together at the end in a logical way. Also many of the sub-characters were developed without going over the top. I particularly enjoyed Tre's family.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Lauren Ross?

Orlagh Cassidy has the kind of strong voice and flow of presentation that Lauren Ross did not. Ross was too precise in some of her words. Unfortunately, she sounded like she was reading out loud rather than telling the story. She mispronounced many words (sometimes interrupting the flow of the story). But there were times when she overcame these problems and I became engrossed in the story, which is why she got 2 stars rather than 1 from me.

Could you see Lifelines being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

It has the kind of flash and bang that would make a decent movie

Any additional comments?

A couple of times, I wondered where the book editors heads were. For example, at one point, Lydia wadded up a paper and started to throw it away, thought better of it and then ripped it up. Not to minutes later, she took it out of the trash, smoothed it out, and read it again. Huh?

Angels of Mercy - not waiting for sequel

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

No I would not. Hopefully there will be an abridged version at some point. This book was far too long and neither the story or the undeveloped characters were able to hold my attention for any length of time. I found myself having to replay chapters to remember what was going on. The characters were so much alike at times I couldn't remember who was who. The concept of the story was ok, but when dealing with individuals in a medical environment, there needs to be more depth to the characters thus giving the reader a better opportunity to understand the characters, especially when the story is based on the interaction between these characters. Far too many doctors and nurses for me to keep track of. There were not even any deviations in the voice of the narrator to help you move between characters as quickly as the story moved at times.

What other book might you compare Lifelines to and why?

This book is like many other "medical thrillers". Individuals become ill outside the hospital, they are brought to the hospital, receive adequate care, yet eventually mysteriously die.

Which character – as performed by Joe Jung – was your favorite?

None of them were performed to the level of becoming a favorite.

Who was the most memorable character of Lifelines and why?

None were memorable.

Any additional comments?

It took me several attempts to finish the book, but I am unsure if I could actually describe to anyone the motive for the killings. There were so many individuals murdered and so many different theories, I do not have a clear vision as to why the murders took place. I think it was revenge for someone's mother or wife dying, but don't know how she died and why several different physicians are being held responsible for her death or how the individuals murdered were related to these physicians. Nor did I ever understand why this one new physician was trying to be murdered for her interaction with the victims. It is also extremely hard to imagine that a new doctor would arrive in a very large metropolitan hospital on July 1st and on the very first day of a new job with, her second patient, in a new city where she knows no one, she could walk into a situation where anyone could actually believe she was murdering individuals she has never set eyes on before. Harder to believe that one individual who doesn't have the appearance or intelligence of someone who could take care of himself could have the ability to perform the extremely well thought out murderous tasks. Just not believable. I won't be holding my breath for the next book in the series. Very disappointing

Fast paced Med-Thriller

I liked this story. It was fast paced and at no point boring! I was hooked from the very first chapter describing the most dangerous day of the year in a hospital.
The characters each had their own storylines within the major story which made you care about them all, not just the hero/heroine.
The narrator did a very good job of keeping up with the exciting tempo of the story.

Gripping

This is my first book by C. J. Lyons. The story is a medical thriller and it is apparently the first book in a series.

Lydia Fiores M.D. is a new ER attending physician at Pittsburg Angel of Mercy Medical Center a teaching facility. On her first day of work on a new job Fiore makes a miraculous life saving move on one case but on another case considered a routine mid-level emergency auto-accident patient she loses the patient. The problem is the patient is the son of the chief of surgery in the hospital. The autopsy suggests the man was murdered so Fiores begins her own investigation as another case occurs. The story is full of various characters as the teaching facility provides lots of interns, students, nurses etc. Lyons has a continuous pace of action in the emergency room going on as Fiores conducts her investigation. We have gangs, race violence, nut cases and at the end of the book riots. With so much action and suspense it will keep the reader reading to the end of the book.

The book is well written and very fast paced. There is lots of medical action but also intrigue, romance and other tangled relationships. The medical information and ER situations ring true as the author is a pediatric ER physician. I will probably read the next episode in the series as the book was hard to put down and made a great get away from it all book. Lauren Ross does a good job narrating the story. I did have a problem with the sound quality, it sounded as if the narrator was in a barrel or a large room.

spellbinding

Interesting from start to finish with intense drama throughout. Only issue was the narrators mispronounciation of medical terminology but it was mostly just in one section. it is a great book

Captivating

The story was captivating from the very beginning. What I thought was going to be a medical drama turned out to be quite an adventure of a story. Can't wait to read more by this author.

Good story

I enjoyed the story very much. However, I can only guess the author never actually listened to the Audible version since there were numerous mispronunciations.

trauma drama

great character development and fun plot twists... medical drama meets murder mystery with a small town feel.

Good first in a series

I enjoyed the character development. This book is a medical drama, steamy romance and mystery all rolled into one. I look forward to more development in future offerings

Medical Terminology ;- (

Would you listen to Lifelines again? Why?

Reader needs to know how to pronounce medical terminology!

Any additional comments?

Would be nice if the reader knew how to pronounce medical terminology!