Do No Harm by Lucy V Hay
Published 15 June 2018 by Orenda books
300 pages
Psychological Thriller
Book Description:
Till death do us part…
After leaving her marriage to jealous, possessive oncologist Maxwell, Lily and her six-year-old son have a second chance at happiness with headteacher Sebastian. Kind but vulnerable, Sebastian is the polar opposite of Maxwell, and the perfect match for Lily. After a whirlwind romance, they marry, and that’s when things start to go wrong…
Maxwell returns to the scene, determined to win back his family, and events soon spiral out of control. Lily and Sebastian find themselves not only fighting for their relationship, but also their lives…
Chilling, dark and terrifying, Do No Harm is a taut psychological thriller and a study of obsession, from one of the most exciting new voices in crime fiction.
After leaving her marriage to jealous, possessive oncologist Maxwell, Lily and her six-year-old son have a second chance at happiness with headteacher Sebastian. Kind but vulnerable, Sebastian is the polar opposite of Maxwell, and the perfect match for Lily. After a whirlwind romance, they marry, and that’s when things start to go wrong…
Maxwell returns to the scene, determined to win back his family, and events soon spiral out of control. Lily and Sebastian find themselves not only fighting for their relationship, but also their lives…
Chilling, dark and terrifying, Do No Harm is a taut psychological thriller and a study of obsession, from one of the most exciting new voices in crime fiction.
My Review:
First of all, my thanks go to Anne Cater for the opportunity to be part of the blog tour for this book and to Orenda books for the advance ecopy.
As with many of Orenda's titles, the stunning cover artwork certainly stood out for me before I had even read the synopsis. I may have mentioned before that I do tend to judge books by their covers -which I know is wrong, but Orenda rarely disappoint and neither does this extremely chilling novel of obsession and manipulation.
Right from the get-go we know that Lily's ex husband Max is reluctant to let his former partner move on with her life. He thinks Lily has made a huge mistake in leaving him and is determined to have her and their son Denny back home where he believes they belong - with him. He takes every opportunity to make his presence felt, even turning up outside Lily and Sebastian's wedding venue just prior to the ceremony. Once back from their honeymoon, strange and unsettling events start happening which logic leads both Lily and Sebastian to suspect Max of being responsible for. I have to say I rumbled quite early on what was going on in the newly-weds' life but couldn't quite put all the pieces of the plot together regarding the hows and whys of my theory in order to be 100% convinced.
With various suspects in the picture with different motives and time frames - not to mention a possible coalition of some of the characters being suggested at one point - the author had really tied my brain in knots and twisted the practicalities of my initial thoughts so much that I ended up not knowing who I'd put my money on.
I would recommend this book to fans of Liz Nugent's Lying in Wait and actually felt rather sorry for Lily and Sebastian - and even Maxwell in a way - by the end of the story. It is well paced and I felt we got to know the characters just well enough to put each of them into doubt at various points through the book. Definitely a book I would recommend to friends and family and not just for its cover!
About the Author:
Lucy V. Hay script editor and blogger who helps writers via her Bang2write consultancy. She is the associate producer of Brit Thrillers DEVIATION (2012) and ASSASSIN (2015), both starring Danny Dyer. Lucy is also head reader for The London Screenwriters' Festival. Lucy is also an author, writing both screenwriting books and crime fiction.
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