Do No Harm by Carol Topolski Penguin Group HK$169
The line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being, as Alexander Solzhenitsyn is quoted as saying in the preface to this story.
This concept of how good people can turn bad is the underlying theme of Carol Topolski's second novel, the follow-up to her debut, Monster Love, and a similar psycho-thriller told through various voices.
In real life, Topolski is also a 'practising psychoanalytic psychotherapist' and her likely experience with the darker sides of human nature is obviously used to explore the complex nature of the story's protagonist, Virginia, a lauded surgeon specialising in female fertility.
Meanwhile, Faisal, another surgeon, is struggling with guilt about never returning to Kashmir to build the hospital he promised to his impoverished family.
Virginia is responsible for recommending a hard-to-find specialist who saves Faisal's daughter from never being able to walk again. His gratitude towards Virginia is boundless.
