THE FOURTH DAY (Dr. Hoffman #4) by Christoph Spielberg


This Thriller Does Not Have Much Sizzle

 Originally published in Germany in 2002.

 Re-published by Amazon Crossing in 2013.

 Translated from German to English by the author (Christoph Spielberg) and Christina Henry de Tessan

Amazon.com's publishing house Amazon Crossing is designed to bring popular authors who do not write in English to an English-speaking audience. Award-winning German author Christoph Spielberg has brought his Dr. Hoffman series to this program. This series is quite popular in Germany, even spawning a series of made for TV movies.


The Fourth Day features Dr. Hoffman. a wise-cracking doctor in a down and out hospital. He has just got done with a very long shift and was planning to head home after one more consultation in the Intensive Care Unit when a blind gunman with a bunch of explosive charges comes in with a seeing eye dog and takes the room hostage, along with two doctors, two nurses and several patients.

 While this would certainly seem to be an exciting premise for a thriller, this thriller just is not all that thrilling after the first 20 pages or so. As the hostages and the hostage-taker settle into a routine the book does too and it just becomes a waiting game until the arrival of the "fourth day" indicated by the title of the book.

 There is a mildly interesting medical mystery that goes hand-in-hand with the story of the hostages but on the whole this book just sort of fizzles out.

 Note: I received this book for free as a part of the Amazon Vine program in exchange for an honest review.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: The Fourth Day by Christoph Spielberg.

 I rate this book 2 stars out of 5.

 Reviewed on March 18, 2014

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