By: Robert Pobi
Series: Lucas Page #3
ISBN: 978-1250793645
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: 08/09/2022
Format: Other
My Rating: 4 Stars (ARC)
In Robert Pobi's thriller Do No Harm, a series of suicides and accidental deaths in the medical community are actually well-disguised murders and only Lucas Page can see the pattern and discern the truth that no one else believes.
Lucas Page is a polymath, astrophysicist, professor, husband, father of five adopted children, bestselling author, and ex-FBI agent―emphasis on "ex." Severely wounded after being caught in an explosion, Page left the FBI behind and put his focus on the rebuilding the rest of his life. But Page is uniquely gifted in being able to recognize patterns that elude others, a skill that brings the F.B.I. knocking at his door again and again.
Lucas Page's wife Erin loses a friend, a gifted plastic surgeon, to suicide and Lucas begins to realize how many people Erin knew that have died in the past year, in freak accidents and now suicide. Intrigued despite himself, Page begins digging through obituaries and realizes that there's a pattern―a bad one. These deaths don't make sense unless the doctors are being murdered, the target of a particularly clever killer. This time, the FBI wants as little to do with Lucas as he does with them so he's left with only one option―ignore it and go back to his normal life.
But then, the pattern reveals that the next victim is likely to be...Erin herself.
Praise
"Combines an unusual lead with nail-biting suspense...the artful plot twists keep readers guessing until the end." —Publishers Weekly
My Review
Lucas Page, the star of this compelling novel, DO NO HARM (Lucas Page #3 of #). He is quite the intriguing and genius man—an astrophysicist, former FBI agent, university professor, and famous author.
He was seriously injured in a previous accident that left him without an eye and with a prosthetic arm and leg. He has devoted himself to his wife, Erin, a pediatric surgeon, and their five adopted children.
A series of suicides and accidental deaths in the medical community are well-disguised murders, and only Lucas Page can see the pattern and discern the truth that no one else believes.
Not that he is looking to solve any crimes, but when at a foundation's annual charity dinner to raise money for NYC's poorest hospitals leads him to a shocking realization he is back on track in crime-solving mode.
A slideshow shows images of doctors who died in the previous year. 30 deaths. This triggers a red flag of foul play. He is intrigued and starts digging.
Thirty pages.
Thirty dates.
Thirty people.
Thirty doctors.
Thirty cases of death.
Thirty homicides.
Was it murder, suicide, natural causes, or accidental deaths?
Page is convinced they were MURDERS.
His wife, Erin, .encourages him to investigate when a close friend of hers who was a the dinner hangs himself.
Once again, he becomes part of a complex murder investigation involving FBI Agent Whitaker, with whom Page has worked in the past, and the NYPD. When Page's wife Erin appears to be a murder target, the action heats up and starts to sizzle.
#1 City of Windows
#2 Under Pressure
#3 Do No Harm
I have not had the pleasure of reading the first two books in the series because I was drawn to this cover and the description. Now, I am looking forward to going back and reading about the most this fascinating and unique protagonist stepping into the crime novel.
I enjoy humor mixed with my dark thrillers, and the witty banter between Lucas and Special Agent Alice Whitaker was hilarious and razor-sharp!
I like the author's writing style with a mix of cop procedural, mystery, crime thriller, medical, and psychological suspense thriller mixed with humor, well-developed characters, and fast-paced action. I look forward to reading more by this author.
Lucas reminds me a bit of Michael Connley's Harry Bosch and a few of David Baldacci's leading men with his signature personality and unique skill set.
Thank you to #MinotaurBooks and #NetGalley for an ARC to read, review, and enjoy. #MinotaurInfluencers
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
Pub Date: Aug 9, 2022
My Rating: 4 Stars
About the Author
Robert Pobi is the author of several novels, including the international bestsellers Bloodman and Harvest, as well as the Lucas Page thrillers, which begin with City of Windows. He lives in Canada.
MORE
Robert Pobi’s novels have been published in more than twenty-five countries, making bestseller lists around the world.
He lives in the country, but spends most of the summer and fall months at his cabin on a lost lake in the mountains (where a 3:00 a.m. swim one August night inspired his novel Mannheim Rex). He does not have telephone, internet, or television at the cabin; if he needs to check email, he has to drive eight miles to a tiny town hall for the free wifi at the picnic table inhabited by a gang of octogenarian chain smokers. When the cold starts chewing on the trees, he heads to a place he has on the beach, where his nearest neighbor—a retired cop who shares the same first name—makes the best whiskey sour he has ever tasted.
He writes at a desk that once belonged to Roberto ‘God’s Banker’ Calvi, and has (or definitely doesn’t have) a small collection of shrunken human heads (known as tsantsas in anthropological and collector circles) that continually weird out his housekeeper. He owns too many fountain pens and is constantly making notes in old-school Mead marble composition books.
Among his small group of friends, he is infamous for getting the only Buddhist monk in their ranks to yell at him (they were walking in the forest and debating the merits of meditation at the time—true story).
Some of his favorite writers are Jimmy Breslin, Peter Benchley, Emily Brontë, Michael Crichton, Stephen Davis, William Faulkner, Morton Freedgood, John Galligan, Thomas Harris, Ernest Hemingway, Christopher Hitchens, John Irving, Rudyard Kipling, Glenn Meade, Seth Morgan, David Morrell, Nora Ephron, Mario Puzo, Jeff Raines, Mary Shelley, Neil Simon, Hunter S. Thompson, Trevanian, Mark Twain, Duane Unkefer, and Gore Vidal. He also really digs Zach Hutton and Grady Tripp—and considers Below Ground by Ian Stark to be the most important horror novel of the entire 20th Century (for a litany of reasons).
His favourite books on writing are The Joy of Writing: A Guide for Writers Disguised as a Literary Memoir by Pierre Berton and Lessons from a Lifetime of Writing: A Novelist Looks at his Craft by David Morrell.
His favorite poet—after Emily Dickinson—is Gowan McGland. Percy Shelley is a close third.
Due to his private nature, he does not do Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, TikTok or any other social media. He rarely does writers conferences, events, book signings, or interviews. And much to his agent’s irritation, he does not own a cell phone. He is, however, working on his email skills. WEBSITE
