Moral Injuries
The gripping new novel from the No. 1 Sunday Times bestselling author
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3.6 • 5 Ratings
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- £5.49
Publisher Description
'Compulsively readable' SUNDAY TIMES
'A superior medical thriller' GUARDIAN
'Darkly gripping' OBSERVER
You're trained to save the lives of others. But how far would you go to save your own?
Olivia, Laura and Anjali couldn't be more different. Inseparable since the first day of medical school, their bond has remained unbreakable. Years ago, they promised nothing would come between them - including the wild university party that forced them to make a deadly choice.
Now working as doctors in high-pressure jobs, with lives and families of their own, their secret binds them tighter still. But when an eerily similar tragedy affects their teenage children, the choice the three women face may not be one their friendship can survive . . .
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Through the novel’s three female protagonists who are caught in a conflict of loyalty and self-protection, Watson explores the moral dilemmas that arise from friendships. Olivia, Laura and Anjali are complex yet relatable individuals whose backgrounds encompass sexuality, relationships, class and status. Watson, a former nurse herself, delves into the challenges associated with healthcare, and the medical details entwined within the fiction provide an extra layer of intrigue. The characters’ moral quandaries lead to profound repercussions that challenge readers to reflect on their own notions of fidelity. Through a skilful use of flash-forwards and flashbacks, the story unfolds to reveal the multifaceted layers of the protagonists’ experiences and interactions. Watson’s thriller is a carefully crafted exploration of human complexity and the ethical consequences of actions that cannot be undone.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In the propulsive if schematic latest from Watson (The Language of Kindness), three female doctors in present-day London find their friendship and their ethics tested when they're confronted with a secret from their past. Olivia, the perfectionist, is a cardiothoracic surgeon, while Laura works as a doctor on a helicopter rescue team and Anjali is a general practitioner. When Olivia's teenage daughter, Freya, attends a party with Laura's son, Rudy, another boy named Joe Duggard falls down a flight of stairs and sustains brain damage. With Joe in a coma, the women try to guard their children's futures. Laura's position on the hospital's ethics committee becomes particularly thorny, as she's empowered to determine whether Joe will be kept on life support or the children will face involuntary manslaughter charges. The situation echoes a drug-fueled party during the women's med school days, when a classmate was accidentally killed during a brawl and they fled the scene to avoid being implicated, and they argue now over who was at fault. Watson's tendency to withhold key information can feel gimmicky, but she shines in her portrayal of medicine as an imperfect blend of art, science, and emotion. Fans of medical fiction will admire this.
