your heart would look like chopped beef.

As the tension mounts to the conclusion, things involve…well, more tension. Thomas becomes more and more reliant on drugs due to lack of sleep and excuses for stress. He continues to sleep with his assistant, Doris, and spends extended hours at the hospital to ‘try to get work done’.
He’s not fooling anybody.
Several of his medical assistants are remarking his increasing irritability and tremor…making surgery questionable. I mean, if a guy with really shaky hands did a cardiac bypass on you, your heart would look like chopped beef. Okay, maybe not that extreme. But the point is that the drug addiction is not only affecting Thomas’ love life, but also his career.
As for Cassi, she continues to struggle with depression and concern of her husband spiraling behavior. But, when Robert excitedly finds another SSD case, Cassi is eager to find out more about it with him. This growing epidemic of unidentified deaths following surgery is becoming more and more of a suspicion…
We also get a clue (as if we didn’t already know) that George and Ballantine are behind these deaths : at two in the morning, George’s car is in the hospital parking garage and the light is on in Ballantine’s office…at two in the morning…hmm…
so the whole development of this story’s plot has pretty much run its course if I already know who the culprits are. I mean, is there anything left to say? Or can they just catch the guys and get it over with. Well, I’m sure some justice will come out of the last chapter that’s left. Otherwise I will be thoroughly disappointed.

okay. now growing up is really scaring me…

Exiting Thomas’ office, Cassi returns to her own desk and sees a few psych patients of hers. The feeling that is repeated by her patients is that they feel ‘hopeless’. Hopeless in the sense that they’ve lived what they could live through and they’ve tried everything to be happy, but its just never clicked for them. Then Cassi’s friend Joan walks in and Cassi breaks down, weeping about her failing marriage and her feelings of ‘hopelessness’…hmm…sound familiar? This freaks Cassi out that she feels the same way as her patients. I mean, I think we all would be a bit concerned if we could relate to psych patients…
Anyhow, Cassi returns home alone after a long day at work…slash dealing with emotion…and relaxes and eats dinner, feeling all teared-out, like all emotion and excitement had been flushed from her system when she opened up to Joan that afternoon. Nonetheless, she still has the strength to search Thomas’ study for more pills and behold: two more kinds of pills. great. Thomas really does have a problem. But so does Cassi when Patricia bursts into Thomas’ study demanding why she’s creeping around her son’s room…

Back at the hospital, Thomas sleeps with another woman to ‘relieve stress’…with the daughter of one of his former patients.

eew.

Thomas is becoming more and more corrupted and disturbing as the book continues…and it kind of reminds me of a very severe case of mid-life crisis…
although if it wasn’t severe…and this is and example of a normal mid-life crisis…
okay.
Now growing up is really scaring me…

Doris is creepy that way…

…and the drama increases along with the marital tension! Thomas is perpetually enraged at this point in the novel. His wife has been snooping on him, and it doesn’t help that Robert, Cassi’s friend from pathology showed up to the surgical meeting and started talking about the patients he’s been finding that seem to have no cause of death…personally, I think Thomas’ anger towards Robert is more of a “my wife tells you everything” deal instead of actual resentment for Robert’s work.

*Pop!*

The plot jumps to Cassi who is at an ophthalmologist appointment about her eye. Her condition has worsened and the doctor strongly encourages Cassi to get the surgery. Cassi agrees, but says she has to talk to Thomas, who has been giving her the silent treatment very effectively since the incident involving Patricia...
So before confirming the surgery, Cassi takes a deep breath and confronts Thomas about the issue at the hospital. He, still being angry, tells her that its an inappropriate time to talk about personal issues when they’re both on call... a.k.a Thomas is just a fed-up guy who exerts his anger on his wife, forcing him to rely on more pills while simultaneously forcing Cassi to rely on herself for comfort. That’s just wrong. Ugh. Yet another reason why drugs are bad!!
Cassi then leaves for home, obviously upset, alone, and afraid of losing her life partner’s care at a time concerning her life-altering condition. As Cassi walks out, Doris pretends to type…as if she really wasn’t eavesdropping on their conversation through the door. I bet she loves it. Taking in information about the wife of the guy she’s sleeping with.
Doris is creepy that way…

‘tragedy’ as in Shakespeare terms.

Since Cassi found out about Thomas’ addiction, she decides to talk to Patricia (Thomas’ mother) about it. For some reason she thinks Thomas would listen to his mother rather than his wife…
Anyhow, Patricia initially rejects the idea of her perfect little self-motivated boy being drug reliant, and immediately spits back information about the couple’s love life. This bothers Cassi that Thomas would share these things with his mother, but Cassi continues with her story. Patricia then loosens up a bit and listens to Cassi’s concerns. After a while in Patricia’s part of the house…the garage…Cassi then leaves. Fed up with her mother-in-law. The most excellent part is that as soon as Cassi leaves, Patricia calls Thomas and tells him about Cassi’s visit and her new suspicions.
Back at the hospital, George and Thomas ‘make up’ after their little outburst-fest…and then Thomas gets the call from his mother and is once again, very livid. He goes into a rage and is upset and insecure, then we get an inside glimpse into his life: Thomas drives to Doris’ (his secretary) house and…they…yeah. Denial then envelops Thomas because apparently this affair confirms that his relationship with Cassi isn’t his fault, but hers. And Thomas spirals downward…
This reminds me of ‘tragedy’ as in Shakespeare terms. Because we already have a tragic flaw in the main character, and a ‘fool’ (Cassi) who knows the answers to the problems which makes sense because she’s the psychiatrist. Yay! So maybe this medical thriller is going to end with the death of everybody in the hospital. Except for George.