Author: Christina McDonald
Publication Date: February 16, 2021
Book Description
From the USA TODAY bestselling author of Behind Every Lie and The Night Olivia Fell comes an unforgettable and heart-wrenching novel about the lengths one woman will go to save her son.
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?
A timely and moving exploration of a town gripped by the opioid epidemic, and featuring Christina McDonald’s signature “complex, emotionally intense” (Publishers Weekly) prose, Do No Harm examines whether the ends ever justify the means…even for a desperate mother.
Book Review
Do No Harm is an excellent story about how far a mother will go to save her son and the power of addiction.
Emma’s son is diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. His best option for survival is a treatment that her insurance doesn’t cover so she needs to find a way to make money fast. Emma is a doctor and her husband is a police detective. Emma starts selling opiods, but she quickly runs into unexpected hurdles.
Do No Harm is very intense in a good way. There are so many lies and manipulations throughout the book. Do No Harm shows how easy it is to start an addiction and the effects of addiction. Emma will do anything to save her son which makes her no longer worry about right and wrong. Emma reconnects with people from her past in order to sell opiods. Do No Harm is emotional, thrilling, and thought provoking. Not only was Do No Harm an enjoyable read, I also feel like I learned about human nature and addiction. Many of the characters lie and manipulate each other. Emma makes many bad decisions, but everything is to save her son. Do No Harm shows how many people can be effected by one wrong decision.
Thank you Gallery Books, Kathleen Carter Communications, and NetGalley for Do No Harm.
About the Author
Christina McDonald is the USA Today bestselling author of Do No Harm, Behind Every Lie and The Night Olivia Fell (Simon & Schuster/Gallery Books), which has been optioned for television by a major Hollywood studio.
Her writing has been featured in The Sunday Times, Dublin, USAToday.com, and Expedia. Originally from Seattle, WA, she has a BA in Communications from the University of Washington and an MA in Journalism from the National University of Ireland Galway. She now lives in London, England with her husband, two sons, and their dog, Tango. She’s currently working on her next novel.
Christina enjoys reading, hiking and lifting weights at the gym. She always wanted to be a writer, and told her earliest stories to her two younger sisters, who were her first audience, cheerleaders and sounding board. She has a BA in Communications from the University of Washington, Seattle and an MA in Journalism from the National University of Ireland, Galway.
Going to college in Ireland wasn’t part of the master plan, but happened randomly when Christina went travelling and arrived completely jet lagged at Heathrow Airport in London, caught sight of the Aer Lingus desk, and spontaneously bought a ticket to Ireland. She loved it so much she went back the following year to study.
She is currently writing her next novel.
Just Reading Jess 
3 thoughts on “Book Review: Do No Harm”