Publishers Weekly
05/25/2020
A rash of sudden deaths attributable to a potent new street drug plagues Vancouver, British Columbia, in this serviceable medical thriller from Kalla (We All Fall Down). Julie Rees, who has a checkered past, is holding down two vital jobs—senior physician in a hospital emergency room and at the city’s poison control center. Those responsibilities overlap after four unconscious teens are brought in after taking an unknown drug. Desperate to save the life of one brain-dead girl, Rees violates protocol by putting the patient on heart-lung bypass. That choice, influenced by her failure to save the life of a boyfriend years before, leads to an ethical review instigated by a doctor who happens to be the dead boyfriend’s uncle. Meanwhile, she and her lover, Det. Constable Anson Chen, attempt to identify the poison, which is much more toxic than fentanyl, and its source, even as the body count continues to grow. The authenticity that Kalla, himself a Vancouver ER physician, brings to the hospital scenes compensates only in part for the thinly drawn lead. The upbeat closing twist that results from Rees’s ill-advised decision will please some readers and strike others as too pat. Kalla has done better in the past. Agent: Henry Morrison, Henry Morrison Literary. (May)
From the Publisher
Praise for The Last High
“Kalla has long had his stethoscope on the heartbeat of his times. . . . In his latest, the focus is on Vancouver’s opioid crisis. . . . [A] lively story.”
— Toronto Star
“A thrilling, front-line drama about the opioid crisis.”
— KATHY REICHS, bestselling author of the Bones series
“If you want an engrossing, edge-of-your-seat thriller that combines good detective work, corruption, savage criminal practices, a dark, seamy portrait of a large Canadian city, and a hard-hitting lesson on the medical and emotional effects of opioid drugs, then The Last High certainly fills that prescription.”
— Montreal Times
“Kalla is terrific at building suspense as the case progresses, uncovering a web of dealers, sellers, and users.”
— The Globe and Mail
“A riveting thriller, The Last High features the most evil and insidious of villains: opioids. This important, must-read book is not only well-researched and entirely realistic, it gives a human face to a devastating epidemic.”
— ROBYN HARDING, #1 bestselling author of The Swap
“An exciting police/medical thriller that’s an even better sociological alarm bell . . . everything feels real.”
— Winnipeg Free Press
“A sobering glimpse into the drug overdose crisis. . . . An entertaining, if slightly eerie read.”
— Vancouver Sun
Praise for We All Fall Down
“A tightly plotted thriller, energetic and completely believable. Kalla knows how to build a suspenseful story that doesn’t stretch the bounds of plausibility. He also knows how to build realistic characters and put natural-sounding dialogue into their mouths, something many better-known medical-thriller authors often struggle to do. . . . [a] top-drawer thriller.”
— Booklist
“A fast-paced thriller with an historical overlay and a dash of romantic tension.”
— Vancouver Sun
“Kalla inherits the mantle of Michael Crichton. . . . Much more than a medical thriller, We All Fall Down is both a vivid history lesson and a heart-pounding warning, resulting in a page-turning obsession.”
— STEVEN HARTOV, New York Times bestselling author of The Soul of a Thief
Beverly Swerling
At last! A new thriller writer worthy to join the Ludlum, DeMille, le Carré club. Not just a great read, a real treat.
Douglas Preston
Pandemic is a totally compelling novel, one of those rare thrillers that lays out a scenario that is not only possible, but terrifyingly probable.
Don Winslow
Pandemic is fast, fierce, and frightening. Kalla delivers a shot of adrenaline in a medical thriller that really thrills.
Keith Ablow
Kalla is a rocket ship of a writer. He moves to the front of the pack with a thriller that will grab you from page one and never let you go.
Tess Gerritsen
Daniel Kalla expertly weaves real science and medicine into a fast-paced, nightmarish thriller—a thriller all the more frightening because it could really happen.
The Chronicle Herald
Michael Crichton ought to be looking over his shoulder. He has some serious competition in Kalla.
Edmonton Journal
Pandemic starts fast and never lets up on the suspense . . . Kalla juggles the many narrative balls easily, manages to insert a little romance, puts his protagonists in plenty of danger and drives his complex plot to a rousing climax.
The Seattle Post Intelligencer
[Kalla] continues his remarkable side career as the author of knowledgeable, but very scary medical thrillers.
Vancouver Province
Daniel Kalla’s prescription for a perfect thriller includes snappy characters, a pace that sweeps up a reader and not too much technical jargon . . . the kind of magnetic story you can't put down. And the twist at the end of the book is the flourish that caps a strong story.
January Magazine
Rage Therapy is a compelling story. It’s layered and nuanced. Kalla might well grow to be the James Patterson or John Grisham of the medical world.
Nelson DeMille
His first novel, Pandemic, was as fine a medical thriller as I've ever read; his newest, Rage Therapy, is a taut psychological thriller that will pull you into a world of sexual deviancy, murder, and mind games. A very good read.
Ottawa Citizen
[Kalla] is back with another gripper.
Seattle PI
Kalla continues his rapid rise in the thriller ranks with a gripping fourth novel.
Lee Child
Kalla strikes again with another perfect page-turner.
Entertainment Weekly
Praise for Blood Lies
“Kalla’s well paced medical thriller has twists that surprise us, but always make sense.
Winnipeg Free Press
Similar in many ways to Michael Crichton and even Dan Brown’s bestsellers, Cold Plague is testament to just how good commercial fiction can be: entertaining, informative, and downright fun.
The Globe and Mail
Praise for Resistance
“Kalla builds suspense and keeps the medical action moving.
DAVID LISS
Of Flesh And Blood is great story-telling. Daniel Kalla has written a remarkably compelling novel of vivid, driven characters and the hard choices they are forced to make.
EILEEN GOUDGE
Daniel Kalla, a worthy successor of Robin Cook, shows as deft a hand in penning this compelling tale as he no doubt does in the operating room.
SUSAN WIGGS
Daniel Kalla deftly portrays the triumph and heartbreak of life-or-death matters.
JUSTIN SCOTT
A great thriller hero never hesitates—despite, or perhaps because of, her checkered past and uncertain future. By that standard, Dr. Alana Vaughn is the woman readers will want on their side when stalked by the most terrible of all plagues in We All Fall Down.
STEVEN HARTOV
A superbly written suspense novel, completely believable in its frightening premise and masterful in execution. Kalla inherits the mantle of Michael Crichton, devising a plot in which an ancient pestilence meets a scourge of human egotism and misplaced faith, resulting in the potential for a worldwide cataclysm. Much more than a medical thriller, We All Fall Down is both a vivid history lesson and a heart-pounding warning, resulting in a page-turning obsession.
Vancouver Sun
Pandemic is an absorbing, compulsive thriller, the sort of book you could stay up too late reading.
Booklist
Fast-paced and smartly written . . . Kalla has quickly matured into a force to be reckoned with. . . . Blood Lies springs several fresh surprises on the reader (including one whopping great shocker).
