NetGalley Top Reviewer

NetGalley Top Reviewer
NetGalley Top Reviewer

Tuesday, April 14, 2020

The Last High by Daniel Kalla

A new illegal opioid drug hits the streets of Vancouver leaving many dead as they experience the last high they will ever know. Composed of the ingredient carfentanil, the drug is ten thousand times as strong as heroin and kills users almost instantly.

Julie Rees, an ER physician and toxicologist at St. Michael's, is working when ambulances bring 6 teenagers into her department -- all but 2 are dead. When other users from all walks of society start falling victim to this deadly drug, Julie teams up with Detective Anson Chen of the VPD to track the source, the suppliers, and trace new overdoses. NO SPOILERS.

This was an excellent read and I really enjoyed it. The scourge of opioids in our society is well-documented and has proven very hard to control. The narrative is action-packed and quite interesting -- it's obvious that the author did a tremendous amount of research along with pulling from his own personal experiences as an ER physician. The dynamics of the gangs and cooks, the "plugs" and those that seek the high are quite well described. I loved the characters and found them sympathetic and believable for the most part. It's a very timely and scary read. Daniel Kalla writes, "I want you to enjoy the story, I hope it will also make you a little more aware of a terribly indiscriminate and potentially stoppable killer that is raving our communities."

I'm a sucker for any medical thriller; I have read other books by this author and can recommend them to any who enjoy this genre. Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster, Inc. for this e-book ARC to read and review.

This is a standalone and is not part of any series.
Genre -- Medical thriller -- drug abuse, opioid crisis

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