This is a novel about doctors: what they do to each other and to their patients. And what their patients do to them. The heroes are young doctors, fresh out of medical school and taking the blame for disease and random disaster. The central figure is William Ryan, pos- sessor of-a brand-new M.D. and defender of some old and precious illusions. Ryan is a romantic exlremist, obsessive in his work, in his play, and in matters o[ the heart. Every- thing has always come easily to Ryan. He is handsome, he is (harming, he is intelligent. He coasled through a brilliant academic and atldetic career at college. He gn aduated at the top ot" his chess at medical school. The only thing standing between Ryan and a distinguished scientific career is two years of on the-job training at New York s most pres- tigious teaching hospilal, the Tower. No sooner has Ryan begun his internship at the Tower when he embarks upon three separate emotional relationships, involving, respectiveIy, a beautiful Eurasian nurse; a yotmg patient dying of Hodgkin s disease; and Diana Hayes, an ambitious and calcu- lating female cardiologist. To further com- plicate his dual imernsbip in medicine and love is Ryan s nonstop battle with the Tower s hureaucracy and his bitter feud with