Happy Thriller Thursday! I’m a huge *HUGE* thriller fan. I like a variety of thrillers, but ones with a medical theme are extra creepy. Doc Doc Zeus by Thomas Keech has been on my book radar for a while now, and I’m so happy to be participating in the blog tour today! Book info including an author Q&A is included below. I hope you pick this book up soon!
Dr. Hardwicke Zeus is a successful physician, who cheats on his wife, degrades his mistress, stiffs his medical partners and defrauds insurance companies. Most problematic of all is his deep-seated misogyny, which he takes out on his female patients. The medical board knows he drugged and raped Katherine two years before, but is helpless to do anything about it. His current victim is sixteen-year-old Diane. Diane is intelligent and strong-willed, but she is also an unwed mother who at fourteen has given her baby away for adoption, has lost faith in her church, and is having trouble reconnecting with her only two friends. Even as she cherishes her relationship with Dr. Zeus, Diane resists some of his sexual demands and finds it necessary as a matter of survival to lie to him about taking the drugs he prescribes for her. With a little help from a new friend, she gradually figures out that she is being used, and what to do about it.
Author Q&A with Thomas Keech
1. Doc Doc Zeus is all about medical crime. Has there ever been a fictional story like this one written before?
This book might be unique in that it focuses not only on the predator doctor but also on the victim – how she got caught up in the doctor’s evil trap, how she was affected, and how she eventually learns to trust and learn from the people around her.
2. Without giving too much away, what would you say is the main conflict in Doc Doc Zeus?
Dr. Zeus’s evil manipulation of all the levers of power to indulge his sexual and financial fantasies is challenged by the dedication of a novice investigator – and the surprising inner strength of his teenage victim.
3. Most books that really connect with readers speak to some universal truths. What universal truths are illustrated or discussed in your book?
The sociopaths we will always have among us, but the rest of us can limit their damage if we forge ahead, forgive ourselves for our own mistakes and do the same for those who are truly our friends.
4. Can you tell readers how your personal background and experience informed your writing of Doc Doc Zeus?
As counsel to the Maryland State Board of Physicians for sixteen years I assisted the Board as they heard charges against physicians. My work required me to have an intimate knowledge of the case, including the witness interviews, the testimony, and the hearings, as well as the procedures and trial tactics of both the prosecution and the defense.
5. Why did you choose the predator, Dr. Zeus, to be a male?
The great majority of physician sexual predators that I dealt with were male, the great majority of victims female. My guess is that either male patients are not reporting assaults by female physicians or it isn’t happening that often.
6. What do you want readers to remember about your story or characters long after they have finished reading?
Diane trusted her friends and kept a fingerhold on reality even as she was being swept away by Dr. Zeus and his drugs. Maybe that happened because he parents never abandoned her. There are people even in high levels of our society whose only concept of truth is whatever is best for them at the present moment; these people are dangerous and must be watched carefully.
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