Doing Harm by Kelly Parsons
Doing Harm by Kelly Parsons
May 2023
FIVE STARS!
Stephen King tweeted about this book as “The best damn medical thriller I’ve read in 25 years.” Thus I had to read it. I enjoyed an insider’s account of the hierarchy among medical students, residents and doctors. The challenges, expectations, competition and drama were the foundation for a good storyline. Who was framing the main character Dr. Steve Mitchell? I was collecting my clues and forming my theories, when suddenly the author reveals the source. With so much of the book left I questioned his decision to deflate the mystery. But no concerns there, a cat and mouse game to save lives still held mystery. I was concerned about Dr. Mitchell. He was brilliant, ambitious and a rising star, but after the drama unfolds he makes choices I felt were completely out of character. For a time I thought he was being drugged. That is my only small criticism of the book, because the storyline ramps up and my concerns evaporate. The plot builds and compounds with a few jaw dropping twists I didn’t see coming. The level of crazy by the villain is mind blowing and frightening. When Dr. Mitchell is at the end of his rope, ready to lose everything including his family he FINALLY drops his victim mentality and goes into action. It is then the reader sees the main character using his wit, brilliance and mental strength to save himself, his career and his family. Loved how Kelly Parsons wrote an exciting climax to the book!
Loved howwrote an exciting climax to the book! –Kim Luke
Book Blurb:
“It's amazing that there are so many different ways to die in a hospital that have nothing to do with being sick…”
Steve Mitchell, happily married with a wife and two kids, is in line for a coveted position at Boston's University Hospital when his world goes awry. His over-reaching ambition causes him to botch a major surgery, and another of his patients mysteriously dies. Steve’s nightmare goes from bad to worse when he learns that the mysterious death was no accident but the act of a sociopath. A sociopath he knows and who has information that could destroy Steve’s career and marriage. A sociopath for whom killing is more than a means to an end: it’s a game. Because he is under a cloud of suspicion and has no evidence, he knows that any accusations he makes won’t be believed. So he must struggle to turn the tables, even as the killer skillfully blocks his every move. Detailing the politics of hospitals, the hierarchy among doctors and the life and death decisions that are made by flawed human beings, Doing Harm marks the debut of a major fiction career.
