Book Review: The Ice Merchant by Dr. Paul Boor

A Century Ago, When Dead Bodies Were In Demand For Medical Research, Scientists Called On The Ice Merchant

The Ice Merchant, the latest riveting thriller by Dr. Paul Boor, goes back in time to 1889 Galveston to explore the dark history of trafficking in corpses to be used in the medical schools that were popping up across America. In a tale that combines the perfect blend of intrigue, thrills, romance and human weakness, this plot makes for one heck of a page-turner!

Nicolas Van Horne, a shrewd Yankee ice merchant, is happy with his profitable side business. On this particular trip, his first delivery for Galveston’s new Medical School, he’s carrying human cadavers wedged between huge blocks of ice deep in his ship’s hold. When he becomes enthralled with Galveston’s lady scientist Rene Keiller, he makes the gruesome discovery that he’s been trafficking in murdered boys!

With Rene’s help, Nicolas eventually solves the puzzle behind his grisly cargo. But it’s not quite that simple; he must first overcome his addiction to morphine, even as he becomes completely enmeshed in Rene’s experiments on the most dreaded killer of their time…Yellow Fever.

Dr. Boor’s vast background as a scientist and professor at Galveston’s Medical School lends added realism to an already thrilling plot. Also home to the highest-level, infectious Bio-Lab in the nation, Dr. Boor put this experience to work in his first novel, The Blood Notes of Peter Mallow ― a modern biomedical thriller acclaimed as “real, raw and on the edge.”

Dr. Boor is a world-renowned, Harvard-trained pathologist and scientist whose contributions to science are highly respected. He was the recipient of both a Young Investigator and an Established Investigator Award from NIH’s (National Institutes of Health) Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. Passionate about writing, the credibility he brings to his riveting storytelling is making Dr. Boor a hot contender in the thriller and suspense genre.

For more information, please visit: www.theicemerchant.com.

The Ice Merchant
Publisher: Argo-Navis
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0786754931
ISBN-13: 978-0786754939

###

Excerpts from reviews on Amazon.com:

“This book is a true gem… Well written throughout …it is quite different from most books I have read and tells a haunting tale with the story happening in Galveston, TX, and upstate New York, written with great authority and historical insight. The story is realistic for the time (the end of the 19th century) and the language has the right tilt for the time. And last but not least, the book kept my interest from the first to the last page and offered a number of unexpected twists and turns.”

“Here’s a book to ‘sink your teeth into!’ I thoroughly enjoyed the story partly set in Galveston in 1899. Intriguing premise about procuring bodies for a medical school – very believable. The characters were believable and I cared about the welfare of the protagonist and others who were struggling to find the cause and cure of yellow fever. A ‘must read’ for Galvestonians and anyone interested in the history of the Gulf Coast prior to the devastating 1900 storm.”

“This book is extremely good. The plot is very intriguing and suspenseful. The subject is one that I have never read about …Be aware that once you start reading The Ice Merchant, you should be prepared to not get anything else accomplished. The book captures you. I highly recommend this book.”

“Great book. I hope there is a sequence in the making. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and didn’t want it to end.”

“A colorful story of the moral, legal, and scientific challenges of a century ago.”