Do No Harm

by Gregg Luke

Paul Randall needs to start over, and Crescent Cove looks like the ideal place for the widowed pharmacist to begin again. What could be more perfect than running an old-fashioned pharmacy in an idyllic small town on the coast of northern California? But soon after purchasing the charming drugstore, Paul discovers it will be anything but business as usual in his new locale. Although Crescent Cove seems prosperous, there is also something about it that feels dangerous -- a fact that becomes disturbingly obvious when Paul finds Bria Georgopolis cowering on the side of the freeway. She unveils an eerie truth about a nearby hospital that places corporate profits above the price of human life. As the pieces of the conspiracy come together, Paul and Bria realize that it's up to them to expose the monstrous evil -- before their new beginnings lead to a very dead end.

Genres: Lds Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Lds, Fiction, Thriller, Mystery Thriller

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Gregg Luke is a practicing pharmacist. He received his medical training at the University of Utah. He has been writing since he could put pen to paper. He enjoys medical thrillers and is one of the first to work this genre into the LDS market.

Reviews

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a more intense version of a fluff book. Kind of like a grisham novel without too much violence and no swearing. I really liked it and couldn't put it down. Of course, I like books with happy endings.

[Rebecca Trujillo Batty · Rating 3 out of 5]

A medical thriller, the type of which I would normally never read. As a professional wussy, I scare easy! I saw a guy reading this book last May while I was waiting and reading something else at Jiffy Lube. I was intrigued, so I looked it up and finally got around to reading this book.

I love that the main setting of this book is in a small community. For those from Salt Lake (Utah), especially the Midvale area, it was easy to picture a small old style drugstore, Vincent Drug comes to mind! I really like how the author takes a few storylines and brings them all together in the end. His characters become real and, for most of them, you just hope it works out positively. I was impressed how this author implemented the role of Paul's LDS history. I was also impress at how strongly the author made the reader understand how it is to feel all alone in the world. Gregg Luke captured some basic feelings, too, like most people hate moving more than going to the dentist (pg 151)!

Overall, if no other lesson is learned, I would say always make sure you have friends and loved ones so you won't be the next 'target'! And, above all, decide for yourself who you are going to TRUST!

A couple of other quotes that I felt really applied to certain current events in my life:

pg. 196: "Sure, they had their fair share of hardships and troubles in life, but their faith and commitment to their religion bore them through the tough times."

pg 225: "Part of being charitable is allowing others the same privilege, " Paul said smoothly. "If you deny someone the chance to be charitable, they will not be blessed for following through, and the fault will be yours."

[E Brent · Rating 5 out of 5]

Had me on the edge of my seat until the very end. Great read.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprising good book. I just found it on my shelf and gave it a go. Good storyline, good characters (not too many to keep track of), and a decent ending.

[Deb · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is murder mystery of sorts that entails a large, clandestine underground laboratory that engaged in human medical experimentation. A recently widowed young pharmacist buys a "mom and pop" pharmacy and drug store in a small town near the laboratory. The pharmacist suspects that all is not right in this picturesque little town, when the older pharmacist he bought the store from is murdered the day after the pharmacy sale closes. While the young pharmacist is trying to figure out what is going on in his new home town, a lovely young ICU nurse, with no family connections is kidnapped from San Francisco and held in the hospital/laboratory while being injected with various unproven and dangerous substances. How can she escape her fate and certain death at the hands of evil doctors? If you guessed that she would escape the well-guarded lab complex and then be rescued by the young pharmacist, who, single handedly fights off the medically altered psychopathic murdering monstrous human giant, you would be right! Furthermore, the nurse and the hero pharmacist fall in love and are planning their wedding by the end of the book, apparently completely over their terrible traumas. This was honestly one of the hokiest mysteries I have read lately. The plot had huge holes in it and read like it had been written by a "fan fiction" author. (I say this because I know a woman who writes "fan fiction" mysteries, and from the little bit I have read of them, they are truly awful). I thought this was this author's only book, but after I finished the book, I found out he has written and published several others. I promise I won't be reading them. I gave the book 2/5 stars on Goodreads. I read it on the Kindle app. on my phone, and I own a paperback copy, which I plan to donate to a thrift store very soon.

[The Sunshine Bookworm · Rating 5 out of 5]

This. Was. So. Good.
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
The story revolves around Paul, a pharmacist who runs off to idyllic Crescent Cove, California in search of a new lease on life. Hoping to find spiritual and mental rejuvenation after the loss of his wife, Debbie, Paul impulsively buys Crescent Cove's vintage-style pharmacy from its previous owner. This sleepy California beach town, however, turns out to be less than idyllic, and Paul gets wrapped up with more than he bargained for. Throw in an extremely gritty and resilient female character, Bria, and you get one heck of a novel.
Oh, and also, the "bad guys" in this book are extremely revolting. I was actually sort of terrified by the evil Luke's characters wrecked on his fictional world.
I guess I really loved this book because it was a medical thriller. It was a break from the standard plot line given in most LDS suspense novels. Although I love a good predictable romantic mystery, this book gave me something different.
The book, however, should practice what it preaches on its front cover. This books promise to "do no harm" apparently does not extend to readers in the middle of the book.😉

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great read if you like medical thrillers. I really enjoyed the premise of the underground research facility, the illicit drug testing & kidnapping of test subjects. This book has the feel of Stepford Wives meets covert ops. This is 2nd book I've read by Gregg Luke & I plan to read more. He pulls you in & keeps you going. I actually read this in about 24 hours, with interruptions. :) Definitely a great read!

[Shae · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had this book hyped up to me by some family members, so I expected a lot. It certainly wasn't bad, but not as good as I expected it to be due to the hype. The basic premise seemed fairly unrealistic, but was decently written for all of that. The author added in some religious pieces to make it appeal to a particular audience, but I felt like it didn't need that to be a good book, and it actually made it less appealing to me overall. Bottom line, really decent book, just not my type.

[Dallas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Improved as the book went along

When I read the first couple chapters I was not impressed and felt the author was a bit too descriptive and didn’t leave enough to the reader to fill in the blanks. That improved some but the story improved significantly making it an enjoyable read.

The insertion of some description of religion seemed appropriate as the main character’s actions were impacted by his religion and his devotion to it. An overall enjoyable read after a slow start.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good job Gregg. A story that was worth the read. I don't know much about pharmacies, but I do about small towns. This was a bigger town that one would think would be influenced by such forces, but I suspended my disbelief.
I was frustrated that this guy new in the church never prays with the girl. Pray for help, guidance, protection, etc. That was frustrating.

[Kaela Batson · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was very detailed, almost too much. Everything had to be described to the full extent and it got to be too much. I don't need to know the brand of the lamp he was standing under. And there were things that just felt silly like he printed a "government looking license plate" on glossy paper and it looked good? Yeah no.
The guy also knew everything about everything. it was over kill.

[☆ emeline · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

•this was different than anything ive read before
•i dont mind religion in a book but this felt a lil bit preachy
•i liked the female lead but the main dude was kind of a nondescript mary sue
•pretty great bad guys which is always a plus
•cultish organizations are a plus
•i cant tell if this is supposed to be about scientology?

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting story that keeps you engaged and questioning what is going on. Bria is trapped and being experimented on. Paul wants to start a new life but is unexpectedly thrown into the middle of chaos. Will they both come out alive in the end?

[Jodie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one seemed so far fetched. It took me a bit to get into it. I also hated the romance novel thing. Not for the escape idea, but in general. I do not believe most women read that kind of romance. Anyway, I did like the excitement of the book, even if it was a slow start.

[Lindsey Hemara · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was off and on good. Paul’s story interest me. Bria’s story at Pathway was more on the boring side.
Then it got really interesting when she escorted. Then it drug on way too long trying to get away from Surt.

[Susan Forsgren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written, but slow moving.
Will hold only the best readers interest.

[Danni · Rating 3 out of 5]

weird book.

[Victoria · Rating 3 out of 5]

PAUL, a pharmacist moves to a little town with big secrets. Bria is a nurse who was been kidnapped and injected with a mysterious drug. Finally they meet and work to bring down the evil doers

[Edmond Porter · Rating 3 out of 5]

It takes a while for the two main characters arcs to intercept, even though you expect they will. Once the action begins it moves quickly. At times the situations are too convenient.

[Heather Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nail biting, on the edge of your seat, action.

[Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great book by Gregg! Great characters that sometimes piss you off in their decision making! Interesting read!

[Laramee · Rating 5 out of 5]

A medical thriller that keeps you wanting to read just a little bit more!

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mystery, adventure, tragedy and romance set in the idyllic, sparsely populated region of northern California’s majestic redwood forests and dramatic ocean vistas – a combination sure to entertain many LDS fiction buffs. Gregg Luke’s latest novel, “Do No Harm” pulls pharmacist Paul Randall, a young LDS widower, out of the monotony of his megastore drug-counter job and drops him into a small town hundreds of miles away where he learns that leaving the city to become your own boss does not necessarily mean leaving all life’s problems behind.

Randall purchases Crescent Cove’s only drug store from its long-time pharmacist who tells Randall to keep the sale a secret. “I’m not one to make threats, but if you squeal before I leave, the deal’s off,” he warns. On that ominous note, Randall learns that the town he’s just bought into is full of secrets and history that are better left in the past. A new business owner needs a place to live, and seemingly before the ink is dry on the house papers, the man Randall is replacing is found dead and the town’s belligerent sheriff is knocking down Randall’s door prying for clues. Randall is plunged head-first into the town’s ocean of secrets and their dangerous waves begin battering him immediately.

In the mean time, a young nurse with Greek ancestry, Bria Georgopolis, lies in seclusion, attended to by medical doctors all using the pseudonym Dr. Smith and by nurses all using the pseudonym Nurse Jones. Was Bria truly exposed to the deadly Ebola virus on her job, as her attending medical personnel say, or is there another reason everyone around her wears hazmat suits? Although her amnesia is fading, she cannot remember several weeks of her life, and when she befriends one of the nurses Jones, she begins to fear for her future survival.

“Drawing huge, slow gulps of air in an effort to prevent hyperventilation, Bria patiently counted to twenty before opening her eyes and staggering to her feet. Glancing once more into the isolation room, with her fists blanched and trembling, Bria’s jaw clenched so tight her teeth hurt. She swore she would exact revenge when she got out – if she got out....” (pp. 175-6)

Can Paul and Bria find each other and put together the puzzle pieces before any more people disappear? Can they trust anyone in Crescent Cove? And is the secluded former government building on the hill a hospital, a research facility, a storage compound or something completely different?

Author Gregg Luke spins a tale full of questions and foreshadowing which will keep readers turning pages and trying to guess what happens next. Tightly written and descriptive narratives punctuate the book, more like intermittent stepping stones than solid fallen logs, across a fast-moving forest stream, while his vocabulary-expanding choice of words encourages readers to think as they follow him on this forest journey.

Some less-important characters are little more than caricatures, but the color they provide is entertaining, if not totally believable. Who would imagine that big-city fashion trends like purse dogs would ever infiltrate a secluded community happy to keep to itself? Randall’s reactions to these “ornery customers” are predictable, but his knee-jerk reactions to local law enforcement is a bit bewildering at first – why would an innocent newcomer relate to the sheriff as if he has an ax to grind?

Probably because so much action happens so quickly upon his arrival in Crescent Cove, Paul Randall never makes it out to Fort Bragg, California, a real coastal community north of San Francisco. Perhaps that’s why Randall asks an accomplice to seek the assistance of the soldiers there. Had he traveled to the sleepy coastside tourist town, he would have discovered no operating military base, only a 150-year-old building and a memorial plaque commemorating the Civil War origins of the town’s name. Miraculously, though, and true to the romantic nature of the novel, military help arrives from Fort Bragg just in time to wrap up some messy plot problems.

Novels are, after all, fictitious by definition, so perhaps it is as easy to believe in a fictitious military base as it is in a fictitious research lab or aspens growing alongside redwood trees. Indeed, the addition of the soldiers provides for both excitement and romance, so readers would be well-served to imagine a Fort Bragg resembling North Carolina’s more than California’s as they work their way through the book. Perhaps in his next novel, Luke could take some advice from Paul Randall and remember that “[t]rying to improvise too much detail would lead to inaccuracy,” or maybe Luke could just use a few more fictitious city names.

Despite the geographic and ecological inconsistencies, the book is still fun, clean, escapist entertainment suitable for anyone wanting to read a non-graphic medical thriller seemingly influenced by Michael Crichton, Dan Brown and Anita Stansfield.

[Tristi · Rating 3 out of 5]

When Paul Randall's wife passes away shortly after they join the LDS Church, he's grateful for the new testimony he has, but he feels the need to start over. He has worked as a pharmacist for years, and when he sees an ad placed to purchase a pharmacy building in a quiet little town, he decides to go for it.

Bria can't remember her past. All she knows is that she's being held in some kind of hospital, surrounded by nurses and doctors who keep injecting her with various solutions. As her memory begins to return, she realizes that she's been abducted and must escape in order to save herself from a horrible death by scientific experimentation.

When Bria manages to slip out of the center, Paul is driving by and picks her up. Together they help solve the mystery of the center and find new love.

I enjoyed the premise of this novel, and yet I felt the conflicts were resolved too quickly. Bria has been implanted with a chip to monitor her movements and keep her from escaping, and yet she practically walks out of the center and they never find her. When it's time for the showdown between the villains at the center and Paul, again, he pretty much just walks in and diffuses the situation. The plot was set up to prepare us for some real suspense and tension, and yet it didn't quite deliver. All that said, it was an entertaining read.

[Tiffeny · Rating 1 out of 5]

I honestly can't belive this book has received an overall rating of 3 1/2 stars because it is so lame. As was previously stated, it took half the book to set the stage, it got exciting for about 25 pages, and then turned lame again. I found Paul Randall to be a very unlikable character. The man he's buying the pharmacy from has one request. Don't tell anyone that he's leaving town. So what does Paul do? He blabs to the first two people he talks to. He's belligerent to the town Sheriff for no reason (yes, the Sheriff does turn out to be a douche, but Paul didn't know this initially). He can't attend church because there isn't one in the town, but drives an hour to worship in nature. He's in California for heaven's sake. Are you telling me he can't find an actual chapel within an hour of where he is? People outside of Utah have to drive all the time to attend church.

And then there's Bria. She's likable enough but I found it completely unbelievable that she hasn't trusted any men her entire life, but within 10 minutes of meeting Paul has determined that she can trust him and that he's one of the good ones. Give me a break.

A book like this gives other LDS authors and the business of Mormon fiction a bad name.

[Linnae · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good balance between suspense and lighter moments with the cranky pharmacy customers. He also managed to keep the suspense going after the main problem was as good as solved.

My only issue is with the ending. Immediately after the big climatic scenes, Luke seems to switch out of story mode and into giving the rundown of what happened to everyone--like an epilogue. Except then there is another chapter that is the "Epilogue," which goes back into the story again for a moment. It was distracting--just when I thought it was all wrapped up, it wasn't. So instead of concentrating on a satisfying ending, I was trying to figure out if I missed something, or if it was done on purpose that way.

[Devon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is by an LDS author, and he does a great job of telling the story of a young, single pharmacist who buys a drug store in a small town. The old guy selling it tells him to to say a word to anyone, anyone until he owns the pharmacy and the old man leaves town. Well, wouldn't you know it, he slips and spills to beans and the old guy ends up dead. (Shame on you, Paul Randall. Shame on you.)

Anyway, a girl is held in a hospital somewhere nearby because she escapes and Paul finds her and takes her home to keep (finders keepers) until he can figure out what is going on in this town and in that hospital and why doesn't the sheriff like him and just how popular is his home-made root beer going to be, anyway.

[Patricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I need some kind of new differentiation for books I scan-read. Normally, I automatically give those books two stars. However, that lumps a lot of disparate books into the same rating--some I actively dislike and some like this one where, yes, I did scan-read a lot in this book but I did not dislike the story. The story was generally OK, but I did not feel the necessity of reading every word or was not caught up enough in the writing style to read every word, so maybe this is a 2.5 and I round it up to 3.

One thing I really enjoyed in this book were the pharmacy stories. Besides being funny, they had such a ring of authenticity that I wasn't surprised to read after-the-fact that the author is a pharmacist.

[Shanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book as a chaser to Gregg's first novel, The Survivors, and the improvements in his writing are noticeable. While he did a pretty good job the first time around, it was easier to get drawn into the story in Do No Harm. I found myself skimming through some of the pharmacology details, but it was simply because I have little interest in that subject and not because of his writing. There was enough suspense to keep me turning pages & I really liked Bria's character. I found her strong & resourceful, and was glad she didn't get caught up in her convenient beauty. Overall the storyline was different enough to catch my interest, keep me reading & earn Do No Harm a fourth star from me.

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I needed a book to listen to on a recent trip and just picked this up at the library. I had absoulety no idea what it was about and so I read the back of the book. That was a mistake. It basically summarized the entire plot so I knew was was going to happen in the end...kind of weird. I also didn't realize it was a LDS book until the main character tried to find a church and picked up his Book of Mormon to read. I don't think I would have liked it had I read it, but listening to it added to the suspense and I found myself enjoying my trips in the car to find out what would happen next to Bria and Paul.