Reviews with content warning for Medical content - Do No Harm

Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Do No Harm by Christina McDonald

3 reviews

ktrecs's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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happiestwhenreading's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This was my first book by Christina McDonald so I can’t compare this to her other work. All of my thoughts are my first impressions of her and her writing. I want to start by saying that this book has A LOT going on in it – parent loss, sick child, addiction, an opioid crisis, and several murder investigations. It kind of felt like she threw a whole bunch of things into one story – and it was just kind of a lot. I didn’t love it. It felt like McDonald couldn’t really focus on a cohesive plot because she had so many plot lines to connect and tie together.

Having said that, I was compelled to read it in a day. I wanted to know what was happening and who was responsible! McDonald actually did a pretty good job keeping it all together and I think I only remember one thing that kind of didn’t make sense and got overlooked. But just because she did a good job keeping it all together doesn’t mean it worked well for me. Some of the twists irritated me and frustrated me. I didn’t love how it ended and it felt sort of like a cop out.

This book did remind me why thrillers work for me – they’re generally quick reads, and because it’s not my favorite genre, I feel like I am able to just throw myself into the story regardless of it’s overall impact. I’m in the middle of five different books right now – none of which are quick or easy – so this was a great escape for me right now.

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apuckingbibliophile's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Wowie!! I was super excited to dive into this one, but little did I know how much it would exceed my expectations!

•

You have Emma- orphaned as a young teen after witnessing her parents’ death and made something of herself by becoming a doctor and having a wonderful family. Her young son is diagnosed with a rare cancer and as a mother she’s set to do anything she can to save him. And that means using her position as a doctor to help illegally sell drugs so she can have enough money for her son’s treatments. Then there’s Emma’s husband, Nate- a police detective looking to support his son and family by earning a promotion from solving a case dealing with the growing opioid crisis in their Seattle suburb. Of course, this basically means Nate is trying to crack the drug ring Emma has just became a part of it. Crazy, right? Oh, I also teared up at the end which does NOT happen a lot to me reading thrillers.

•

How this book tackled the opioid crisis was also very intriguing because it made me seriously think about our system when it comes to those in chronic pain and the accessibility (or lack of) to the drugs to relieve that pain and help them live a comfortable life. The conversation on ethics and what is morally right and wrong also stood out to me. The book makes you question the lengths you would go to save your family, even if that meant doing incomprehensible actions. There’s even one saying that was brought up a few times towards the end that stuck with me: Do the means justify the end?

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