Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye is by D. Bruce Foster, a doctor known for his textbooks and his experience as a chief of ER’s in Pennsylvania. This is his first novel, and it’s a winner on many levels. Dr. Alex Randolph is the main character, the chief of an ER department in a small hospital in rural Maryland. The intricate workings of an ER are quite interesting and Foster has a wonderful ability of taking complicated medical issues and explaining them so that readers with no medical background (like me!) can understand them. Beyond that, the conditions are fascinating to read about. The people who work in the ER are drawn as real people. Foster gives us enough background on them to make each one stand out. I found myself caring about the peripheral characters and how they relate to the story. Alex changes in this book, from a somewhat selfish, immature man into a man ready for life on a new level. This transformation is made skillfully and throughout the novel, and so is completely believable. I did find myself waiting for the “climax” of the novel, which does not occur until very late in the book, but this novel is a great read and the climax of the book is a doozy! I hope Foster is working on his second novel. I will be waiting to read it.
