Dr. Felix Hoffmann is about to head home after a grueling night shift when he hears the words “This gun is loaded!” Hoffmann, long accustomed to helping others on the verge of death, suddenly finds himself—along with several colleagues and patients—at the mercy of a deranged blind kidnapper in the ICU. Deploying his own distinctive brand of diplomacy—and his characteristic acerbic wit—Hoffmann tries to convince the man to end the standoff while he still can. As the hot summer days tick by and the tension builds toward the shocking climax, Hoffmann is forced to reconsider who is friend and who is foe. The question becomes not only whether he can save the lives of all involved, but what this crisis reveals about the people he thought he knew best.

This fourth novel in Christoph Spielberg’s acclaimed Dr. Hoffmann series offers searing yet humorous commentary on modern medicine, globalization, the media, and simple human kindness.