Beat the reaper

Dr. Peter Brown or Pietro "Bearclaw" Brnwa, doctor/ex mafia hit man, is a pretty original amoral hero doing his unconscious best at worldly redemption. That's the gist of Beat the Reaper, Josh Bazell's both tantalizing and gag inducing debut novel, with great cover art and even little Grim Reaper paragraph breakers to scythe you along the way. (Sometimes the little reaper is running; sometimes he is riding a tractor. That's the kind of wink & write style that this novel flirts with at every gasp along the way). The plot revolves around Dr. Brown's issue of being recognized by a former mob acquaintance and deciding if he's going to stick around to try to save lives even as he knows a contract has been put on his own. Bazell mixes in bits of flashback to get the back story on "Bearclaw," why he became a killer, why he became a doctor. He also includes funny anecdotes with residents, juicy bits of grizzle and scary bouts of drug-induced adrenaline and medically-induced exhaustion that may make you more afraid of going to the hospital than meeting the mafia on the street.