Double take

The Double Life. By Lee Goldberg.
Lee Goldberg had me going there for awhile in "The Double Life".

I knew that the "Diagnosis Murder" series of novel tie-ins was running out of time, so when doctor/investigator Mark Sloan wakes up in the hospital after an attempt on his life, losing two years of his life and gaining a wife he doesn't remember, I thought it was a great way to shake up the series. After all, as Lee has pointed out on his Web site, writing a novel gives you freedom you don't have on a TV series. As executive producer on the series, he had to deal with budget limitations, actor limitations, plot limitations and the requirement that you write a four-act structure with a climax before the commercial break every 12 minutes or so. As the writer, he was nearly free to do whatever he wanted, so why not shake things up?

It's my fault. I should have known better. By page 79, we're back on familiar ground. I won't say how it happens, except that there's a reason behind the story, and Mark is back on the case, trying to tease out the cause of a sudden spike in the death of elderly patients in the greater Los Angeles area.

Fans of the "DM" series will know exactly what to expect: fast-paced storytelling, some humor, and a nicely observed interaction between Mark and his son, a homicide detective struggling to establish himself away from his father's accomplishments. It's to Lee's credit that, in a genre that demands neat and tidy solutions, the personal conflicts never get truly resolved, just as in real life.

Score: 79

Genre: 12
Realism: 10 C'mon, a doctor who spends more time investigating cases than shuffling paper?
Character: 14
Setting: 13
Theme: 11 None to speak off, which is not really necessary in a tie-in mystery novel, but not deserving of a higher score.
Style: 12 Goldberg's fast-paced style seems to be supercharged here. Or, after spending 80 pages in Dr. Sloan's alternative life, leaving 160 pages for the mystery proper may have been too little.
Bonus: 7 Fans of the series will get more of the same here, and I mean that as a compliment.

What do these numbers mean?

Links to "The Double Life"

• Lee Goldberg's Official Website
• SciFiChick calls Goldberg "a master of writing whodunits."
• Chadwick H. Saxelid, who is name-checked in the book, found it both "satisfies and leaves the reader hungry for more."
• The "Diagnosis: Murder" TV show has an entry on Wikipedia. And so does Lee Goldberg.