COULD I HAVE THIS DANCE?

Dr. Claire McCall is on a mission to discover the truth behind the Stoney Creek curse in Kraus's sixth book, a well-written medical thriller with romantic and inspirational overtones. Claire puts the backwards town of Stoney Creek, Va., and her "cursed" alcoholic father, Wally, behind her as she begins a grueling medical internship at Lafayette University Hospital near Boston. Yet as her father exhibits classic signs of Huntington's disease (or "the dance" in medical slang, from which the title is gleaned), Claire wonders whether the legendary curse might be due to genetics, rather than superstition or alcoholism. Fearing for her future, she turns up information that leads to puzzlement over her and her twin brother Clay's paternity. As her world crashes around her, Claire becomes confused about her faith and ponders how a loving God could orchestrate her disastrous circumstances. Claire is fallible and multidimensional, and the narrative palatably combines suspense, medical instruction, romance, humor and faith. However, like many recent CBA novels, this one is too long, and a little judicious editing might have smoothed the pacing in spots. Reader credibility will also be stretched when Claire shares a great deal of personal information with hunky intern Brett Daniels, or a little too conveniently keeps stumbling over her undergraduate genetics project, which holds clues to her present dilemma. However, Kraus's experience as a general surgeon lends authenticity to his medical descriptions, and the curveball conclusion makes the long read worthwhile. (Mar.)