Editorial Praise for Victor E. Pricolo, a.k.a. Jack Spears
The book is a factual, accurate, and informed exploration of human resilience, the enduring strength of family love, and the power of belief in core human principles. It’s an intimate journey into the roots of a surgeon’s character, built not only by rigorous academic and medical training, but also by deep appreciation of historical events that tested his family’s will to survive the horrors of World War II. In an emergency where not one, but three lives in a single body are in grave danger, the surgical team will need to act quickly and accurately. The book’s tone and style prove very effective for both the historical and the throughline chapters. The prose is clear and incisive as it follows a patient’s uniquely compelling story, with skips back in time to give the reader informative context about the author’s personal and professional values. An emergency fight for survival becomes an inspiring testament to humanity’s inherent adaptability, generosity, and absolute need for trust.
In this gripping and singular thriller built around the culture, power relations, and technical prowess of the surgical profession, the narrative takes the reader through a stunning journey into the shrouded world of a university hospital. A narcissistic sociopathic doctor has been able to climb the leadership ladder, while getting away with murder, neglect, and inappropriate relationships at work. He has managed to survive frequent legal challenges while remaining in good standing on the hospital staff and cultivating his powerful connections at the local country club. The novel is deeply invested in themes of intimacy, self-preservation, and revenge, especially when one of the victims happens to be part of an Italian family, tied to the Mafia underworld. The book is a work of considerable craft, populated by characters of remarkable depth and complexity, with their own human strengths and frailties. Jack Spears’ writing style is distinctly original: sharp, vivid, and quite poetic at times. Trust Me with Your Life is a must-read book for fans of medical dramas, psychological thrillers, and Italian American heritage. This novel will keep readers wondering about the next turn of events, hoping for justice until its surprising end, begging for a sequel.
The sequel to “Trust Me with Your Life” displays a narrative that is both richly realistic and deeply absorbing in the psychological web it’s able to cast. The main characters, with their hopes and goals, human frailties, and private vices, are developed and presented with an insightful prose. They are drawn from diverse backgrounds, with rules to be bent, with vows made only to be broken, with promises turning into betrayals. The tackling of difficult contemporary societal issues comes across as frank, incisive, and delivered with effortless sophistication. The storytelling is generous and engaged, occasionally injecting sinister or humorous details in the scenes, while maintaining a sweeping vision of the narrative arc. As its plot unfolds, the novel explores a wide range of professional, socioeconomic, and cultural experiences through family connections and unexpected circumstances. The character speech is full of thoughtfulness, feeling, communicative potency, irony, and subtle humor. Perhaps most importantly, each character’s prose is imbued with unique phrases and patterns, such that a distinct “voice” for each emerges as the novel unfolds towards its astonishing epilogue.