My Rating
“Murder Stalks Ward 8!”
It’s late December and the weather has been nothing but awful. Linda Carter has one hour left on her shift in Metro-General’s emergency room, and her mind has shifted to the late Christmas shopping on her docket. As she speaks with a family waiting for their son to return from triage, the double-sets of sliding glass doors open at the front entrance, and two heavy looking men storm in dragging a third. A few snarky comments about an “early Christmas present” are made by the burly men.
Linda notices the one thug wearing a raincoat is armed with a .38 caliber revolver. The two men drop the unconscious body on the white tiled floor, turn, and walk out. Linda rushes over to the slumped body. He is most likely an overdose victim as it is common this time of year. With a closer inspection Linda realizes the man has been shot!
The next day as Linda arrives to work she finds the ER filled with a heavy police presence. Linda had identified one of the men at the station earlier that day. The trench coat man was none other than Maggia enforcer Joe “the scar” Bronson. The police have been trying to nail him on everything from gambling, to vice, and even murder. To make things even more dangerous, the shooting victim was identified as the head of one of the major crime families, Victor J. Sloan. A head of the Maggia crime syndicate here? Welcome to the jungle, Linda!
Will the NYPD be able to protect Victor Sloan as he recovers from the Mob hit? Can Georgia Jenkins handle both the high stress job as a ER nurse and the court case against her brother Ben? Is that Miss Brundage returning to head Nurse duties? Collect the series to find out!
Reviewer Notes
Things start to heat up for Linda at the Metropolitan General Hospital. Last month it was pill popping doctors, now the Maggia are making themselves known in respectable establishments. Welcome to 1970’s New York City, baby! I was kind of bummed that Stan Lee didn’t insist on Kingpin being in the story.
There wasn’t as much personal drama with the nurses in issue three. I’m wondering if the editor, Roy Thomas, was trying to steer the ship away from the female market by slowly introducing more gritty crime elements. In any case this story was a whole lot like the hospital scene from the Godfather movie released the same year. If you can find a copy it’s definitely worth the read. I’m giving this one 4 out of 5 stars.
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