In her suspenseful new thriller, Do No Harm, Christina McDonald brings a controversial topic right out of the real-world headlines and displays a fantastic ability to truly examine it from all sides. The opioid epidemic is certainly not exclusive to the United States, but that is my personal frame of reference, and that is where McDonald’s book is set. It is an issue that does not have a pro/con side or a yes/no answer and McDonald deftly examines the various roles and issues that surround this crisis.
Emma is a doctor and her husband Nate is a second generation detective, and they have a 5-year-old son named Josh. Josh is diagnosed with a rare form of cancer (I promise that is not a spoiler, it is in the summary on the book jacket) and this naturally turns this little family’s life upside down. Emma is a young doctor, not yet making the kind of money some of us imagine when we think “doctor” and still working through her medical school debts. Nate, working for the police department makes a decent salary, but not the kind that has allowed them to have much savings, or to be prepared for a life-altering crisis such as this.
Emma ultimately believes that there is no other way to make the kind of money they need for Josh’s treatment, in the short amount of time they have available, other than to sell opioids that, as a doctor, she has access to. Obviously, this immediately sets up a conflict with her husband, as she can not let him know what she is doing in an effort not to jeopardise his job. But the stakes quickly get much higher as the reader watches to see who outwits who in a relationship that up to this point has seemed deep, and loving, and genuine.
Most impressive is McDonald’s inclusion of characters across the entire spectrum, from hardline detective to uncaring drug dealer. She shows the motivations of, and effects on, casual users, addicts, doctors afraid of DEA red flags, doctors not caring about regulations, cartels, and patients dealing with genuine pain that are caught in the middle of all of it. Rather than addressing the opioid crisis as a whole, she has brought us a cog in a giant wheel, allowing us to look at one specific (fictional) situation where a person does “this” because of “this” and faced “these” risks, but we get to look at that from many different angles.
But do not for one second think this is a dry, dull examination of societal problems because there is so much more to this story. Do No Harm is an absolute page turner! McDonald has once again perfectly balanced little twists that the reader can feel clever for figuring out with big, sudden gasp-out-loud moments. Fans of the author’s previous books, Behind Every Lie and The Night Olivia Fell, should be ready to jump right in to this intense new thriller!
Do No Harm is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of February 16th 2021.
Will you be picking up Do No Harm? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis | Goodreads
Emma loves her life. She’s the mother of a precocious kindergartener, married to her soulmate—a loyal and loving police detective—and has a rewarding career as a doctor at the local hospital.
But everything comes crashing down when her son, Josh, is diagnosed with a rare form of cancer.
Determined to save him, Emma makes the risky decision to sell opioids to fund the life-saving treatment he needs. But when somebody ends up dead, a lethal game of cat and mouse ensues, her own husband leading the chase. With her son’s life hanging in the balance, Emma is dragged into the dark world of drugs, lies, and murder. Will the truth catch up to her before she can save Josh?
