The Universal Donor - Hardcover

In his ninth novel, The Universal Donor, Craig Nova mixes elements of the thriller into a thoughtful story of ethics, both professional and personal. His protagonist is Dr. Terry McKechnie, the son and grandson of physicians who finds himself questioning his vocation after working the graveyard shift at a Los Angeles hospital emergency room. Faced with gunshot wounds, stabbings, drug overdoses, and the myriad other hopeless conditions that flood the ER night after night, he soon begins to wonder if it's possible to stem the tide of death in a populace bristling with weaponry. Just as McKechnie begins to grow numb to humanity, he meets Virginia Lee, a scientist engaged to his best friend. When the two fall in love, The Universal Donor begins an exploration of moral choices that heats up considerably when Virginia is injured in a freak accident and requires a blood transfusion--no simple matter, since she has an extremely rare blood type.

Soon McKechnie is embroiled in a dark hunt for a potential donor for his beloved Virginia, a search that takes him into an urban jungle where the rules he grew up with no longer apply. How far is he willing to go to get what he needs? This is the question Nova's novel asks--and answers. Craig Nova is one of the most underrated writers in America; let's hope that The Universal Donor will make more readers aware of his talent.

Craig Nova's previous novels include THE GOOD SON, TROMBONE, THE BOOK OF DREAMS, and THE UNIVERSAL DONOR. He lives and works in rural Vermont.