This well-meaning effort to highlight the opioid crisis spins out of control with clichés, shallow characters, and a preachy narrative. Emma’s plan soon goes awry as the bodies pile up while her inexperience puts herself and her loved ones in danger. The weak plot spins on Emma’s rationalization that in trying to save Josh she’s also helping those who truly are in pain, but whose medication has been cut back because of government crackdowns. Meanwhile, Nate, who knows nothing of Emma’s scheme, volunteers to work with the DEA to find the source of opioids invading their town of Skamania, Wash., in the hope of a promotion.

After they’re turned down for loans, Emma believes the only way to raise the cash is to sell opioids to addicts and forged prescription orders to drug dealers. opioid epidemic, and featuring Christina McDonalds signature complex, emotionally intense ( Publishers Weekly ) prose, Do No Harm examines whether. Then Josh is diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia, and their insurance won’t cover his costly treatment. Heartrending, heart-pounding and fearless to the last word. Her third novel, Do No Harm, is a riveting thriller which braids the complexities of modern parenting with the pressures of finding a moral centre in a devastating opioid crisis. Will the truth catch up to her before she can save Josh?Ī 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.In this so-so domestic thriller from McDonald ( Behind Every Lie), happily married physician Emma Sweeney and her police detective husband, Nate, dote on their precocious five-year-old son, Josh. 'Nobody writes motherhood like Christina McDonald. With her son's life hanging in the balance, Emma is dragged into the dark world of drugs, lies, and murder. But when somebody ends up dead, a lethal game of cat and mouse ensues, her own husband leading the chase. 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.īut everything comes crashing down when her son, Josh, is diagnosed with a rare form of cancer.ĭetermined to save him, Emma makes the risky decision to sell opioids to fund the life-saving treatment he needs. 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.Įmma loves her life.

Do No Harm by Christina McDonald