The Trauma ICU of a Level 1 trauma center is the setting for this
thought-provoking novel, which reveals the ruthlessness of medical
education and practice. James Fleming recounts a day in the life of a
resident in emergency medicine at an urban teaching hospital. The
novel's title, which translates loosely as I thirst, echoes the Christ
of St. John. Tengo Sed's protagonist, however, known only as
Hovercraft because he is always around, always feeling on edge, is not a
savior but a hapless resident with a tendency toward mysticism. Through
Hovercraft's sleep-deprived eyes we see patients and their families,
doctors, and nurses, and we share Hovercraft's increasingly nightmarish
perceptions of a world in which things are not going right.