On the track of the Polish medical thriller. Reflection on the margins of Polish novels beginning of the 21st century

Abstract

A Polish medical thriller is a response to the American prototype. It seems that the native authors are trying to work out new determinants of the species, which will stand up to Polish reality. However, writers do not overlook topics that are important from a medical thriller point of view, such as the moral choices of doctors, the uncontrolled progress of science and technology. The new species on Polish soil did not manage to be protected by literary themes taken from American medical thrillers. Polish medical thrillers are forms of hybrids. Writers scooping out elements of the crime, psychological novels, teenage novels, or folklore literature are woven into the American medical thriller convention.
Not all the novels discussed here can be called medical thrillers. Doktor śmierć of Jacek Caba appears closest to the American prototype. The writer, like American medical thriller authors, is a doctor and more credible in his narrative, based on his knowledge and experience.