A Major Case

About the Book

What do a Lakota Sioux medicine man, a crazed ER nurse, a thoroughly intoxicated but ruthless orthopedic surgeon and a dismembered member have in common? They are all characters in the first novel by Pete Deer, ´A Major Case.´ It’s the story of one very strange 12 hour night shift in the busy Emergency Room of a mid sized community hospital in Manassas, Virginia, during the summer of 1993. This particular shift follows the arrival much earlier that morning of the participants in a somewhat infamous episode of matrimonial acrimony, specifically that of “The Guy Who Had His Johnson Cut Off.”

Toss in an incompetent hospital administrator, a media feeding frenzy, along with a host of medical emergencies, and ´A Major Case´ becomes a very unusual, but highly entertaining read. Fast paced, with compelling characters and sharp edged dialogue, it’s both a primer on emergency medicine as well as an intense roller coaster ride of story.

Compressed into a short 12 hours, the action ranges from the ER, to the Battle of Manassas, the liberation of Buchenwald during the spring of 1945, the office of a sleazy ambulance service executive and to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. At times extremely funny, at others bitterly sad, it’s a combination of Joseph Campbell and The Power Of Myth, Little Big Man, Saving Private Ryan, and an episode of ´ER´ if it were cast with the Marx Brothers.

About the Author

Although currently of no fixed address, Pete Deer was raised in Arlington, Virginia, just across the Potomac from Washington, D.C. (frequently referred to by Mr Deer as “Freak Show Central”). An EMT-Paramedic since 1980, and an Emergency Room RN since 1992, he remains held in high regard by many of his colleagues, who nonetheless all pretty much agree that “There’s something not quite right about that boy.” This is his first novel.