Leland a state prosecutor has been widowed for two years and has single handedly brought up his little daughter. He has been feeling out of sorts for well over six months and has met a homeopath Carissa, who he hopes will make him well - fast. His "cold" and fluey symptoms are dragging him down and he feels he cannot do whatever he has to properly because he never seems to shake off his illness. This forms the base of the story that evolves.
Leland is attracted to Carissa instantly and although Carissa does like him, she realizes that she should not be seeing him whilst treating him professionally. A week into their relationship a patient of Carissa's goes into a coma and Carissa and indirectly Leland are thrust into the limelight when Carissa is charged with negligence and Leland knows that as a prosecuting attorney for the State government he should not be associating with either Carissa or with the other parties to the case. Knowingly he goes about visiting the patient and befriends the patient's wife - mainly with an idea of how he could help Carissa and not seeing the danger he is putting both himself and Carissa into.
The conflict between his personal and professional duties bothers him very little as he is at the moment only conscious of how he could "save" Carissa. The book is not a sensational book - its a good read. It also brings into focus the importance of alternative medicines and the general idea that this kind of medicine is becoming popular in America.
It was my first foray into Bohjalian's books. A pleasant read.
After reading Skeletons at the Feast earlier this year, I want to read everything Bohjalian has written, so I'm glad to see this is good.
ReplyDeleteSounds very interesting. I've never read him before but I'm intrigued.
ReplyDeleteI liked this story a lot. I have read all of Bohjalian's books -- my favorite was The Double Bind.
ReplyDeleteHave a great weekend.
His book "Midwives" is one of my most favourite books of all time! I definately will have to check this one out!
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