Wendy the Super Librarian‘s review of Lifelines by C.J. Lyons
Romantic suspense released by Berkley 04 March 2008
Every once in a while a book comes along that just doesn’t work for me, and I can’t seem to put my finger on why. It’s competently written. It’s got an interesting storyline. The characters seem like intriguing people. But it doesn’t grab me. That’s usually when I fall back on clichés. Such is the case with C.J. Lyons’ debut novel. By the final 100 pages, the appropriate cliché finally came to me: Too much of a good thing.
July 1 is the most dangerous day of the year at Pittsburgh’s Angels of Mercy Medical Center. It’s the day that the new interns arrive to start their rotations, and anything that can go wrong usually does. It’s also the day that new ER attending physician, Dr. Lydia Fiore begins work. Leaving bad memories, and Los Angeles behind, Lydia is looking for a fresh start in Pittsburgh. Instead she immediately lands in hot water, her very first day on the job.
It’s a busy day, with all going well, until Lydia loses a patient. A young man, who began behaving erratically outside a bar, wandered into the street and was hit by a car. Lydia does everything in her power to save his life, only to lose him. That’s when all hell breaks loose. The young man she couldn’t save was the chief of surgery’s son, and he’s personally blaming Lydia for his son’s death. She’s immediately persona non grata, and her career is going up in flames right before her eyes. Lydia knows she did everything in her power to save the young man, and is determined to get some answers.
Besides the suspense thread there is also Lydia’s budding romance with a hunky EMT, her personal baggage concerning her horrible childhood, and a very large cast of secondary characters. The main players are three other female characters destined for their own books – Nora, the ER charge nurse, Gina, a doctor and third year resident, and Amanda, a medical student. Not only do these three crowd the landscape but there are also other doctors, police officers, EMTs, and bad guys to keep track of. It makes for a crowded menagerie of characters and kept this reader at arm’s length. There was too much “set up” going on for the series, and not enough delving into the character’s lives and personalities.
I never felt invested in Lydia’s life. Far too often she seemed like a “type” as opposed to a flesh-and-blood character. I also found the timetable to be extremely problematic. I understand that people can be drawn together during times of stress and struggle, but this story takes place over the course of one week. One week, and prickly, fiery Dr. Fiore is becoming best friends with three women and falling in love with a man? Given her horrible childhood, her haunted past, I found it all a bit hard to swallow.
Despite the fact that I never truly connected with this story or characters, I would still recommend it to people who love medical dramas, and those who enjoy sagas. There’s a lot going on in Lifelines, some of which I found to be a hindrance, but that other readers, those hungry for big, meaty stories with a large cast of characters, will very likely devour.
Grade: C
Summary:
Growing up in LA, tough as nails ER doc Lydia Fiore thought she’d seen everything. When she arrives in Pittsburgh, eager for her first shift as a newly fledged attending physician, she realizes how wrong she is.
During her first days at work, Lydia finds herself embroiled in the murder of a gay-rights activist, targeted by a right-wing militia, stalked by an unknown assailant, and racing to stop a plot to ignite a race riot.
At first Lydia yearns for the mean streets of L.A, but, with the help of her new colleagues and hunky paramedic Trey Garrison, she overcomes her doubts and embraces her new life at Angels of Mercy’s ER.
Read an excerpt.
