"The insiders medical knowledge is the novel's biggest strength; for those strong stomach, the hospital scenes are gripping and effective."

"The prose otherwise has remarkable range, at times playfully descriptive, at times, spare and haunting."

"In the book's frenzied emergency room and bedside scenes, he feels the weight of his own work."

"Blue fire is a wild, searching historical novel in which a yearning Doctor traverses landscapes to find his true self."