Doing Harm by Kelly Parsons

by:   Kelly Parsons
published by:  St. Martin's Press
publish date:  Febraury 4, 2014

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.

Steve Mitchell is rockin' and rollin' in his medical career.  He's at the top of his game.  Then, all of the sudden, everything that can possibly go wrong does.  He's being blackmailed, his marriage is falling apart, his patients are sick and dying, and while he knows who is doing it, he can't stop it.  Someone close to him is causing all this mayhem to advance a cause that only their twisted mind can rationalize.

Doing Harm was exciting and very tense.  It had one or two really good "wow" moments that were totally unexpected.  The characters were very well developed.  I particularly liked Luis, a resident doctor and ex-Marine that Steve eventually confides in.  

This was an amazing medical thriller.  I was upset that this genre had lost a great in the last year when Michael Palmer died.  However, discovering Kelly Parsons has made me feel a lot better about the future of this little niche in the book world.