Being a doctor trained to diagnose and treat neurological problems put me at a bit of a disadvantage: I feel like I know too much and found myself trying to 'subtype' her symptoms (an annoying feature of doctors...). That being said, even when I had some difficulty with the plausibility of the story I would still find it compelling. The author was 'true' to surgeon 'jargon' and medical-speak when she needed to be so there was not a credibility-leak. This was important not to 'lose me in the details' of a subject I know well but I realize I am overly-critical when it comes to medical portrayals. In spite of a few lapses, the bottom line is that this gruesome tale is intensely believable in an absurd way and for that I thought it excelled.