The concept is ripe for a novel: doctor uses his access to patients, and trends, in the emergency room to carry out a war on the male criminal elements in the big apple.<\/p>\n
The inherent tension in the idea would, seemingly, be enough fodder for a brilliant story. After all, it\u2019s about a doctor who hurts people, and then proceeds to treat the people he\u2019s intentionally harmed. A doctor violating his oath.
\nDr. Vigilante does not live up to the lofty concept. It lives up to the pretension of a rich, hunky doctor living in New York City, who is written as a toned-down version of Batman.
\nThe pretension, along with the terrible stereotypes and blatant sexism built into the plot, into the characters, even into the setting, helps drive this book down, down, down.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Plot<\/strong> Too many steps too far<\/strong> \u201cHe chose an all-black outfit and secured a SIG Saur P226 on his calf and a Glock 17 around his shoulder.\u201d<\/p>\n Personally, not being a gun person, I have no idea what type of gun a P226 is. I know the manufacturer Glock, but a Glock 17? I have no idea, let alone what caliber of bullet it fires. \u201cYou can\u2019t go after that gang any more.\u201d (Sharon, the social worker, to Robert McKenzie, the vigilante doctor.) A hint of sexism<\/strong> \u201cA woman is assaulted every nine seconds in the United States If one were to point out these statistics single out women as victims, I think one would All things aside<\/strong>
\nSo, there\u2019s the jerk doctor who\u2019s smarter than everybody else, has been around the block and has enough free time to do research on the people he\u2019s going to maim in his personal capacity as a vigilante. He\u2019s Dr. Robert McKenzie. He drives a Ducati, he has a penthouse, he has a private garage, presumably in Manhattan. He fought against genocide in Columbia. His body is marked by the scars of the war, of his vigilante efforts and, most importantly, his childhood abuse.
\nThen there\u2019s the super-smart social worker who moved from the rural town in the mid-west to the Big City, New York, and is not-really living her dream in the emergency room. But she\u2019s super hot and Dr. McKenzie, aka, Dr. Vigilante of the book\u2019s title, well, he\u2019s totally into her. But he can\u2019t get too close, because he\u2019s the Vigilante!
\nAnd, two thirds of the way through, there are some neo-Nazis in Manhattan who are beating up the gays, the Hispanics and the Chinese late at night. I guess that\u2019s supposed to be the over-arching plot development: a badly-organized hate group.<\/p>\n
\nDetails are great. Details make stories real. As a journalist, I live for little details. The details in this book might, to the author, tell all the right things. To any of the readers who do not come from multi-million dollar families, the details become pretentious.
\nRecently, I went with a co-worker to a county commission meeting. I was helping him learn the ropes and we had been assigned to cover a permit being requested for a woman who wanted to run an eight-to-12-dog shelter out of her house in semi-rural New Mexico. One of her neighbors spoke against the shelter. The neighbor mentioned an incredible detail, which both my co-worker and I picked up on instantly, as did the rest of the crowd. The neighbor said she feared for her $150,000 horses, that they might be attacked by the dogs. That is a telling detail.
\nAlas, the details in this book become one facet of what is tiresome about it.
\nThe doctor drives his Ducati motorcycle at speeds in excess of 120 mph on New York City streets. (Not while being chased. Just because. As if that were possible.)<\/p>\n
\nA .45-caliber six-shooter? That\u2019s fine. A .45-caliber semi-automatic pistol? That\u2019s fine too. I know what it is. It\u2019s descriptive. But the brand name? Might as well mention the designer who made his all-black outfit. Did he buy it at Eddi Bauer? Or Cabela\u2019s?
\nThen, there\u2019s the classic New Yorker jerk (a man) talks to dumb social worker liberal (a woman). Spoiler alert: she acquiesces.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cI can\u2019t sit back and allow them (neo-Nazi gang) to fill the ER with victims.\u201d
\n\u201cYou can\u2019t stop all the crime in the city, Robert! The problem\u2019s too big, and you can\u2019t pull out its roots with weapons and spy equipment\u201d (sic)
\n\u201cWhat roots?\u201d
\n\u201cPoverty, access to guns, crappy education, violence in the media, drugs\u2014\u201d
\n\u201cThose aren\u2019t the roots, Sharon. That\u2019s the worst kind of sloppy liberal thinking I\u2019ve ever heard.\u201d
\n\u2026
\n\u201cAll I\u2019m saying is that you shouldn\u2019t hold yourself personally accountable for getting rid of every wife beater and child molester in Manhattan.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nWriting of stereotypes, the premise and statistics pushed one little pet peeve of mine. The premise is, men are monsters. (A further premise is, only a man can stop the male monsters.)
\nMen are pedophiles. Men are rapists. Men are child-and-wife beaters.
\nMen come into the emergency room trying to bilk to system, as incorrigible homeless drunks who turn out to be violent attempted rapists. Men come into the emergency room begging for a note to get out of work because they\u2019re 20-something alcoholics who just want a handout.
\nWhen men are victims, it is because they are either gay, Hispanic, or Chinese.
\n(Neo-Nazis are proliferating in Manhattan. Oh no!)
\nThis, and the men-are-the-only-perpetrators statistics, really bother me as someone who both knows better and who writes about crime for a living. I\u2019m a cops and courts reporter in a small town and I can attest: domestic violence runs both ways. Sometimes she stabs him. Sometimes he stabs her. Sometimes she attempts to stab her son, his wife, and their children. Child abuse is (allegedly) perpetrated on children by abusers of both genders.
\nMen are even raped! (Catholic church scandals, or Penn State, anyone?) It\u2019s ridiculous, I know, to try to break through the stereotypes and paradigms that make women the powerless victims and men the horrible aggressors. It\u2019s easy that way. It\u2019s a lot harder to write about the real violence in the communities, which does not discriminate between the sexes.
\nTo be fair, as a child, Dr. Vigilante himself is sexually abused. But, this is done to him as a child, one of the two non-entities the author perpetuates in the book.
\nAt the beginning of the book, the author, a doctor himself, quotes these statistics from the National Center on Domestic and Sexual Violence. Please, see if anything might be missing:<\/p>\n
\n\u201cAround the world, one in every three women is beaten or raped during her lifetime.
\n\u201cDomestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women \u2013 more than car accidents, muggings, and other forms of trauma combined.
\n\u201cEach day in the United States, more than three women are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nhave a point. Although it certainly points out issues, it also creates them. It sets up a paradigm.
\nWomen are the victims. Men are perpetrators and men are the saviors.
\nThe protagonist, the doctor-slash-vigilante of the book\u2019s title, is a man. He is the knight, and he wears armor and he saves his love interest, a social worker, from being raped by an angry drunk. If we were playing clich\u00e9 bingo, I\u2019m pretty sure we\u2019d have a winner.
\nIt\u2019s a dangerous form of sexism and it cuts both ways.<\/p>\n
\nPersonally, I didn\u2019t like the book, for many of the reasons listed above. Bad execution. Stock, one-dimensional characters, stereotyped characters. Hackneyed dialogue spewed by the aforementioned characters. Pretentious details. Boring plot and ridiculous love story.<\/p>\n