First, Do No Harm
Larry Karp
Poisoned Pen, Oct 2004, $24.95, 274pp
ISBN:159058139X

An euphoric teenager, Martin Firestone, happily tells his father he has a job as a nurse's assistant at Bellevue and has been accepted at NYU Medical School expecting his dad to be elated. Instead, his father, renowned painter Leo Firestone, is dismayed and upset. Reluctantly Leo explains to his son that his father was a renowned, gifted doctor, Dr. Samuel Firestone, who practiced in Hobart, New Jersey. In 1943, Leo worked for his dad, but became ill when he observed amoral and illegal goings on from abortions, supplying heroin to addicts and selling babies.

Leo relates to his girlfriend, actress wannabe Harmony, what his father told him, but also adds on that he thinks his dad failed to tell all, perhaps he even helped conceal a murder. Martin and Harmony investigate his grandfather's practice, which takes them to Fleischmann Scrapyard in Hobart. Six decades may have passed, but Samuel's enemy Oscar Fleischmann sees in Martin an opportunity to avenge what occurred during World War Two.

This teenage, amateur sleuth tale is much more as the storyline uses the investigation to explore what happened over six decades ago. The tale in some ways feels like an historical novel, but also has the audience ponder questions of morality and legality as Samuel is either a wizard or a demon depending on whether the reader believes he crossed the line or not. FIRST, DO NO HARM is a terrific character-driven, cerebral thriller.

Harriet Klausner