Best Intentions
Fiction
St. Martin's Press
August 15, 2017
Hardcover
288
Publisher
"Marti Trailor--social worker on hold, mother of three, wife of a successful obstetrician, daughter of a Congressman--is ready to go back to work. She's thrilled when the perfect opportunity falls in her lap. The catch? The job is at her husband's hospital and he seems not to share her enthusiasm. Undeterred, she takes the position counseling vulnerable young women as they prepare to give birth. Marti quickly begins to feel like she is making a difference in the lives of her clients. Soon, though, she finds herself caught up in the dark side of the medical center--with its long hours, overworked doctors and entrenched practices. When she witnesses something she can't unsee, Marti, who has always done her best to keep a low-profile, finds herself thrust under a dangerous spotlight with all of Richmond, Virginia watching. In her captivating domestic suspense novel Best Intentions, Erika Raskin weaves together high stakes hospital politics, the pressures of family life, and the consequences of trying to do the right thing"--
My review:
I was excited when I read that this story revolves around a hospital setting, since I worked in hospitals before my "Mom life". Not surprisingly those aspects were what I enjoyed the most about the book. I was captivated by the work that Marti was doing as a social worker, responsible for helping at risk new moms. I enjoyed the behind the scenes look at the stress of hospital workers, the ways that certain hospital mishaps are glossed over (or covered up), and the seedier side of some of the higher ups in command. What I wasn't as interested in was the character of Marti herself. Parts of her I really liked (the social worker), but parts of her annoyed me (her dealings with her husband, and some of her over the top behavior). Also, all of the aberrant behavior of the hospital staff didn't work for me, even though it ultimately did figure into the plot. The little snippets at the beginning of each chapter that threw you into present time took a while to get used to, and kind of upset the flow of the book for me. I thought the trial at the end was a nice way to add drama and climax to the plot, and I did enjoy it.
All in all, this was a decent read. It's short, has some parts that were great and some parts that I could have done without, but a good story with an even better setting. Check out some of the other reviews on Goodreads, I have bookish friends who really loved this one.
Authors seem to fancy those quick switches in time periods these days. Frankly, I feel the technique has become a bit overused. Still, the inside look at the hospital seems interesting enough.
A lot of times they are separate chapters. In this book it was a few paragraphs at the beginning of each chapter so it took some getting used to.