At first, the deaths at Eastern Medical are considered routine. "Gomers" -- old people, forgotten people -- do, at times, die on the operating table for no apparent reason. It's a fact of life -- sometimes even a blessing.

Then there's the unexplained demise of Esther Goldstein, a cardiac patient scheduled for an angiogram. Of course, that happens sometimes with heart patients.

But when a young, healthy woman dies unexpectedly in the middle of surgery, it's clear that something has gone terribly wrong at Eastern.

Peter Cross is a brilliant young doctor, a protégé of the chief of anesthesiology. He's the kind of doctor who never seems too busy to sit and talk with patients -- even make calls at odd hours...

Indeed, Peter's intelligence, his efficiency, his compassion, and the fact that he's Dr. Beauregard's favorite, make him an object of envy for the rest of the staff.

But there's another side to Peter Cross, one that he has kept well hidden until now. Cross is a doctor who sees himself as an angel of mercy, anxious to "deliver" even healthy patients to the other side, a killer with a genius for using hospital facilities and procedures to aid him in his mission and keep suspicion away from himself.

The Sandman is a terrifying suspense story about a hospital caught in the grips of a madman with a medical license to kill.