Do No Harm

It begins with a nurse, stumbling into the emergency room, her skin melting as some corrosive substance works its way into it, down her throat and into her eyes. Emergency Room Chief David Spier treats her quickly, trying to figure out what the substance is as he rushes to save her life. A second woman, a Doctor this time, is attacked, causing the police to realize that the attacker is concentrating on women who work at that hospital. They nearly catch him, and in his escape attempt, badly injures himself on his own drain cleaner concoction. The ER, already in an uproar over the two women, refuse to help him. Spier sees this as a huge breach of ethics and helps the attacker, earning the hatred of his staff. This hatred increases when he overhears a suspicious conversation, convincing that the police will kill the man on route to the jail. So he holds the man a little while longer, and Clyde, as he is called, cleverly ta! kes the opportunity to escape.

This book asks many hard questions about ethics and about our own actions. Spier feels that he is ethically bound to give Clyde -- who no one doubts is the perpetrator -- the best care possible, while everyone else from the police to his staff are content to let him die. Knowing that these people worked with and cared for the victims makes their feelings understandable, but I thought he had a point. What I am not sure that I agreed with is that he, fearing for the prisoner's life, took it upon himself to protect the man by keeping him in a really unsecurable location. This makes matters altogether worse because not only is the guy on the loose again, but he uses the opportunity to hurt more people. Clyde has fixated on Spier and his girlfriend, and so he directs his attacks toward them. Spier feels great responsibility for letting the guy get loose, (as he should!) and so dedicates himself to tracking Clyde down.

Clyde is a very unusual antagonist. He feels real remorse for his doings, but can't seem to stop himself. Because of things in his past, he won't seek medical or mental help, and therefore ends up treating himself. His remorse, though, does not mitigate the fact that he is a vicious and vile man...a killer with no real redeeming qualities. A man such as this, if he makes court, would probably easily get off the worst charges because of madness or diminished capacity. The question is, do we help a man like this? If there are medicines that can control him, if, since he feels real remorse do we try and let him have a real life? Or are his terrible crimes such that we have no choice but to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law? Also, did Spier have a right to risk so many lives just so that the police wouldn't harm Clyde? These questions have no easy answers, but they do make the plot move along quickly.

I enjoyed the story and the characters very much. Everything worked well together to create a convincing and interesting story. Hurwitz takes an unusual concept and runs with it to the fullest extent, and even if the questions he asks can't be answered, he manages to satisfy the reader with what answers he can give.

4 out of five scalpels
--Cindy Lynn Speer, GWN Book Reviewer
10/2/2002