Martin Firestone's acceptance to medical school triggers dark memories for his father, eccentric painter Leo Firestone, about the past and his own father, a gifted but ruthless doctor involved in such questionable activities as drug dealing, illegal abortions, black market babies, and murder, activities that could have profound repercussions for the present.
Local mystery writer and retired physician Larry Karp has won many fans with his Music Box Mystery series, starring Dr. Thomas Purdue as a venturesome sleuth and music-box fanatic. Most writers would happily settle into such a successful niche - but instead, Karp's newest novel is a complete departure from the Music Box series. It's also some of the best work he has done.
Set in flashback during the World War II years, ""First, Do No Harm"" is a story of family secrets stumbled upon by young Martin Firestone, a computer
whiz who is ready to change careers. Surprisingly, Martin's decision to enter medical school (as his grandfather did) has just been greeted with
violent disapproval from his father, the eminent painter Leo Firestone. Most parents would be pleased; why is Leo so upset?
What follows is a lengthy father-to-son late-night confessional, as Leo knocks back several Manhattans and launches his narrative. Martin and the reader go back in time to the summer of 1943, when the 16-year-old Leo was taken on as a medical apprentice (an ""extern"") by his busy physician father, Dr. Samuel Firestone. A legend in his New Jersey community, Dr. Firestone whisks Leo from patient to patient, demonstrating an almost preternatural
skill at diagnosis, treatment and human relations.
Young Leo discovers firsthand how admirable, and how beloved, his father is - but he also uncovers an ethical quagmire: His father is involved in illegal abortions and adoptions, dispensing narcotics and black-market drugs, perhaps even a coverup for a murder. Deeply troubled, the 16-year-old and his girlfriend investigate some of these issues, ending up in the junkyard of thefoul-mouthed, malicious Oscar Fleishmann. Oscar, one of the most repellent characters in contemporary fiction, turns out to be
trafficking in black-market scrap metal (these were the war years, remember), and Leo ends up in a heap of trouble.
There's more, considerably more, to this saga, some of it unearthed by Leo's son Martin (who senses some gaps in his father's narrative). It's all written at a white-hot emotional pitch with an author whose medical expertise and ear for dialogue are both unerring. ""First, Do No Harm"" grabs the reader in a rigor-mortis grip that doesn't let up until the last page's final revelations. -- Melinda Bargreen, Seattle Times
