At age 52, Dr. Cal Boyd is the go to gastroenterologist in the West San Fernando Valley. At the top of his game his life unravels when he discovers that his friend Sheldon Weinberger’s pain clinic is a pill mill that diverts prescription medications to the drug trade. Sheldon’s falsified complaints to the hospital executive committee cost him his practice and his marriage. Carol Hendricks, the nursing director of the GI lab, a former flame, refuses to cooperate with the frame-up and is forced to quit. Despite his struggles Cal reconnects with her and helps pursue her runaway daughter in Northern California. The hospital’s attorney is murdered after he threatens to blow the whistle on Sheldon’s sweetheart deal to sell the hospital and CareBest Medical Group to a for profit chain for millions of dollars.
When Cal discovers the secret to Sheldon’s power his life spirals downwards, but he also faces the wrath of Sheldon’s nephew, Dr. Richie Comstock, a poly-pharmaceutical addict, who wants to destroy Cal and take away everything he loves. An attempted intervention on Richie’s addiction triggers the conflict. Ironically, Cal has been in recovery and understands Richie’s vicious behavior, the ugly side of addiction. He will stop at nothing to ruin Cal’s life. It is a story of deceit, greed, jealousy and spite. Can Cal restore his life? Will Sheldon’s greed or Richie’s craziness relent? Can he help Carol find her runaway daughter?
About the Author
Henry Rex Greene is a retired physician living in Florida with his wife Mary Jo and two Bichons. He practiced in Los Angeles for 25 years and was recognized as one of LA’s best doctors. He also was active in professional leadership roles in his career. He has written three novels of medicine during the tumultuous sixties-seventies: The Class of 1969, Thirteen Months a Year, and Stone Mother. His hobbies are writing, gardening, and politics.
