An emergency doctor with a past no physician is allowed to have. An experimental drug that treats spinal cord injury. A diabolical woman working in the shadows of the pharmaceutical industry who will stop at nothing to obtain the drug and the riches it will bring. A young attorney's startling death defies explanation - was she murdered? The doctor, his wife, and their two young children are swept into a firestorm of murder, greed, intrigue, and violence - can they survive? "Nerve Damage" mirrors the real world of emergency care with life or death action revealed with authenticity and emotion. A medical suspense-thriller written by a physician-author with more than 20 years experience in level one trauma/acute care ERs. ER physician and medical researcher, Drake Cody, has created an experimental drug that may help the paralyzed walk. A diabolical predator has learned of the priceless research and will stop at nothing-including murder- to obtain it. When Drake's helicopter rescue flight touches down poolside at a Lake Minnetonka estate, he finds the glamorous attorney representing his breakthrough dead of a suspicious drowning. Police suspect foul play and discover evidence of her hidden life of sexual obsession and criminal business dealings. Within hours, one of Drake's research colleagues is shot and arrives at the ER near death. Drake battles to save his dying friend while gripped by fear that a devastating secret from his past has resurfaced. The stakes ratchet ever-higher as Drake, his wife Rachelle and their two children are swept into an international firestorm of greed and violence. Together Drake and Rachelle struggle to try and save what matters most-their children, their love and their lives. Can they survive? "Nerve Damage," Tom Combs' debut thriller, explodes with suspense and true-to-life medical action as renegade agents of the trillion dollar pharmaceutical industry place a young Twin Cities doctor and his family in deadly peril. It is a tale of heart-pounding thrills, brilliant twists and gut-clenching emotion. "A scalpel-sharp medical thriller. Physician-author Tom Combs takes us right to the life or death heart of the ER. Utterly believable." Michael Stanley, author of the award-winning Detective Kubu mystery series "I loved it. Coming from an ER background I lived it. The descriptions of the events were spot on. I could not stop reading. Tom Combs is at the top of the game with this hometown thriller." Todd Joing, MD, FACEP "This medical mystery-thriller grabbed me on the first paragraph and kept me eagerly reading. The ending was a total surprise to me. Tom Combs has written a winner here." Jodie Renner, editor and author of craft of Fire Up Your Fiction and Writing the Killer Thriller