Unforeseen
by Deven Greene

Pediatrician Erica Rosen is stymied when two of her patients don’t respond to medicine as expected. When other patients later develop strange, unexpected illnesses, she is determined to get to the bottom of it.

Meanwhile, the department’s newest pediatrician, Dr. Nilsen, appears to be trying to steal her patients. Erica suspects he is after her job as the clinic director. She also discovers Dr. Nilsen has become romantically involved with her trusted assistant, Martha. One evening, while looking for patient information on Martha’s desk, Erica comes across a list with the names of some of her patients. A boy who recently became ill with a mysterious malady is on the list and has an asterisk by his name. What does that mean?

Erica is convinced something nefarious is underfoot, and Dr. Nilsen, rather than simply being after her job, is engaged in a dangerous scheme involving her patients. Unable to recruit the help of law enforcement in a timely manner, she realizes she must take matters into her own hands. As she proceeds with her investigation, she is unaware of the dangers she is about to encounter.

5 out of 5

I can’t believe it’s book three already! I’ve fallen in love with Dr Rosen over the course of the other two books, and I was excited to see what this installment had in store for her. The mystery in this one is both captivating and heartbreaking – young patients put at risk, and Dr Rosen left trying to figure out why – and who’s behind it. It was so easy to get wrapped up in the story that I was halfway through before I paused, and even then I was reluctant to take a break from reading it. I loved the humanizing aspect of Dr Rosen’s personal life that’s woven in with the main story. Highly recommend the series as a whole!

Work the next day was uneventful until I received a call on my cell phone from California Analytics, the laboratory I’d sent the cephalexin capsules to. Luckily, I was between patients, so I ducked into an empty room and answered. The caller identified himself as one of the company scientists.

“I wanted to call you myself to explain my results. I tested all three of the Umbroz capsules, as well as the proprietary Keflex capsule.”

“And?” I felt myself getting impatient, a quality of mine I was constantly trying to rein in, with varying success.

“The Keflex capsule had the antibiotic cephalexin in the amount expected. Each of the three Umbroz capsules, however, was deficient. None had more than twenty percent of the expected dose. They also had a small amount of a contaminant, N-nitrosodimethylamine or NDMA. It’s a breakdown product, and has been loosely associated with cancer.”

“Damn,” I said. “That’s terrible. One of my patients was taking that, so in addition to not getting the medication he needed, he was exposed to something dangerous.”

“Since this is an antibiotic, I suspect he didn’t take the medication for long.”

“Only a few days.”

“I wouldn’t worry about the cancer risk, but, of course, he will need a different prescription.”

“I already switched him, and he’s doing fine. What do you think happened? Do you think this was a one-time event when something happened during the manufacture, ruining this batch of medication?”

“Doubt it. The discrepancy is so large, I think this company has some big issues. They may be taking shortcuts, maybe even faking some of the quality control reports. It’s happened before with a few generic manufacturing companies, especially foreign ones, although it’s been several years now since I’ve heard of any such incidents.”

Amazon | Black Rose Writing | Goodreads

Deven Greene is giving away autographed copies of the whole Erica Rosen MD Trilogy to one lucky person!

Terms & Conditions:

  • By entering the giveaway, you are confirming you are at least 18 years old.
  • One winner will be chosen via Rafflecopter to receive the set of books
  • This giveaway ends midnight December 30.
  • Winner will be contacted via email on December 31.
  • Winner has 48 hours to reply.

Good luck everyone!

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Fiction writer Deven Greene lives in the San Francisco Bay area. Ever since childhood, Deven has been interested in science.  After receiving a doctorate in biochemistry, she went to medical school and trained as a pathologist. She worked for several decades in that field before starting to write fiction. Deven incorporates elements of medicine or science in most of her writing. She has published several short stories. Her debut novel, Unnatural, is the first book of the Erica Rosen MD Trilogy, and was released in January 2021. Unwitting, released in October 2021, is the second Erica Rosen MD novel. Unforeseen is the final book in the Trilogy.

Visit her website at www.devengreene.com or connect with her on Twitter and Instagram.