Do No Harm

Our Review

Do No Harm by Jack Jordan is a taut, edge-of-your-seat thriller and a must read for 2022. 

Anna is a renowned heart surgeon, well-respected if not well liked. She is competent and confident in her skills until the day she is asked to kill a patient on the operating table or risk losing her son forever. Can she go through with it? 

"I am on my own. Each surgery is a collaborative effort up to this point: Dr Burke manages the medications, breathing tube, and monitoring lines; Karin controls the heart-lung machine; the surgical care practitioner standing at the foot of the bad harvest the leg veins for transplantation; each specialist with their own aide. Beside me stands my own, Margot, assisting with every tool and swab. But when it comes to the heart, the responsibility is all mine." 

Anna has a difficult job, not just in terms of what she must perform in surgery but also in knowing how to deal with giving relatives news of a death. 

"Over time I learned not to look at a patient's next of kin with too much sympathy or she might find me patronising, nor too much sadness, in case she mistakes it for guilt. If I had smiled too widely on my approach, I might have given false hope. Being a cardiothoracic surgeon isn't just about fixing hearts, it is also knowing how to break them. " 

In two days time she is due to perform the biggest operations of her career on the man rumoured to be the next leader of the Labour Party. Zack, her son is due to go on holiday with her brother but she is unable to go due to the operation. Zack is upset with her because he feels she cares more for his patients more than she cares about him. Added to this she is going through a seperation with Zack's father and is barely able to be civil with him. More stress is the last thing she needs. 

Then she arrives home to find men in her house, men who tell her they have her son and will kill him unless she cooperates with their plans. 

"What I'm about to tell you is very important. I won't repeat myself, so make sure you listen to what I'm about to say.'

I open my mouth to protest. 

'Your neighbour is dead.' 

He says it with such ease that I almost don't register the gravity of his statement. But when it sinks in, the news hits me like a blow to my temple. A high-pitched whistle screams into my brain.

'And we have your son." 

Do No Harm was a superb book and it barely left my side whilst I was reading it. 

 

 

Our Final Rating...

Wed, 29th December 2021