Maria Santos

Healthcare worker for 15 years, currently working nights at a Level 1 trauma center in Phoenix. I've seen things that would make most thriller authors blush and then ask for details. Audiobooks keep me sane during 3 AM charting sessions when the unit is quiet (knock on wood, always knock on wood). Filipina-American, eldest of five, first in my family to go to college. My mom wanted me to be a doctor. Nursing school was my rebellion - turns out I like being the one who actually talks to patients. Now I'm the nurse doctors call when they've run out of ideas. Mom's finally proud. Only took 15 years. Fifteen years in means I orient the new grads now - I'm the one saying "breathe, the monitor alarms are just noise" during their first codes. I bring lumpia to every unit potluck and the night shift would riot if I stopped. Phoenix summers mean my post-shift decompression drive happens at sunrise, AC blasting, windows down anyway. I listen on my drive home from night shift - 45 minutes of audiobook helps me decompress before I wake my husband Carlos and the kids with breakfast smells. My favorite thing is when a medical thriller gets something wrong and I can yell at my dashboard. "THAT'S NOT HOW DEFIBRILLATORS WORK!" My car has heard things. When a book gets medicine right, I notice. When it gets it wrong, I notice more. There is no in-between.