Imagine a doctor driven mad with the desire for recognition and grant money, to the point where innocent lives are merely the cost of what he sees as the greater good of his research. When you pick up D.M. Annechino's Resuscitation, you will meet one of the most peculiar serial killers with the strangest of motives and methods to his madness.
Julian, a highly skilled cardiac surgeon, is seeking a prestigious grant from the Global A-Fib Foundation, which would bestow a large sum of money and significant fame for his research on atrial fibrillation. This heart arrhythmia arises from the heart beating irregularly and too quickly, causing blood to pool as the heart does not coordinate proper contractions to effective pump the blood. The Foundation turns Julian down after he spends two years painstakingly collecting data to support his project, asking for more data before making a decision. Annechino dives right into Julian's next step, which involves unsuspecting strangers who wind up becoming his unfortunate victims.
Julian's first subject falls for his facade of a handsome and seductive man in the bar scene. The unfortunate reality is that Julian subjects her to an artificially induced atrial fibrillation and his experimental methods of resuscitating her. Of course, he would not be much of a serial killer if his resuscitation methods succeeded on his first try.
To rationalize his work, which seems to fly in the face of medical and research ethics, Julian reminds himself and his subjects that "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few." Julian also maintains a relatively strong moral composure through his work on his first live subject, shrugging off any temptations that a drugged victim likely doomed to die would present.
Further adding to this challenge to the paradigm of what constitutes a serial killer's mentality, Annechino describes Julian's wife and two loving daughters at great length. However, Annechino also reveals details of some dark chapters in Julian's past, presenting them in easily digested pieces that make sense of Julain's eventual mental degeneracy.
Although much of Resuscitation focuses on Julian, the story also centers on San Diego homicide detective Sami Rizzo. Many of Rizzo's struggles stem from her experiences in They Never Die Quickly,but Annechino does a great job of reintroducing the detective as she faces a crossroads in her personal and professional life.
While struggling to recover from the pain inflicted by Simon, the serial killer of Annechino's first novel, Rizzo is tasked with taking up the case of a new serial killer. As the chapter involving Simon closes in on her life, she faces a new struggle with an ailing mother, a daughter from a divorced and deceased ex-husband and challenges with her boyfriend.
Annehino writes in the omniscient, leaving little for speculation. With all the viewpoints given, the reader doesn't need to guess. Though this might spoil the fun for those who enjoy being in the dark until the end of a crime novel, Annechino frames every chapter in a way that begs the reader to keep on reading.
Depending on what you look for in an ending, Resuscitation either ties everything nicely or leaves some facets starved for details. There is decent closure to a story filled with unexpected turns and revelations. Certain characters will remind you that they are human when you least expect it. With Annechino's excellent skill of developing characters, we are reminded that people of any greatness are capable of making mistakes.
If you have an eye for the most intimate of medical details and the stomach for a fairly comprehensive crime novel, then Resuscitation is one story you should definitely pick up once finals are over.
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