Marti Trailor is a mother of three, a New York congressman’s daughter, and wife to a successful obstetrician. Tired of playing the dutiful stay-at-home mom, she jumps at the opportunity to return to her stalled career as a hospital social worker. The catch? The job is at the same hospital where her husband works, and the doctor is not so keen. As Marti gets enmeshed in the world of the hospital—long hours, overworked doctors, entrenched and dangerous politics—she witnesses something that she cannot unsee. Marti takes it upon herself to do the right thing. But the right thing comes with unintended consequences, and before she even has time to plead innocence, Marti finds herself thrust under a dangerous spotlight. Peeling back the layers of one woman’s precipitous journey from stay-at-home mom to murder trial defendant, Best Intentions is Erika Raskin’s sophomore gem, a domestic mystery set against a captivating emotional backdrop.
So this book took me quite a while to get into, but then stopped me from sleeping all night because I was so stressed about what would happen...
This story is fabulous because Marti is a mother first and foremost and the love that she feels for her three kids is so passionate and so real that I was feeling incredibly protective of each of them. I also love the way she navigates the work place and the people she interacts with there as well as how she maintains relationships with close friends, with her family, and with her in-laws--the latter more challenging than the others.
I loved the trial, also. I guess though I've recently been devouring everything suspense, I've never read anything set in an actual court with a trial going on. I found the back and forth between the witnesses and the prosecutor/defender to be snappy and witty and I could very much envision it all coming together.
The entire political situation and the dynamics of the workplace were legitimately fascinating and probably raise some real world issues. I'll be passing this one on to my mum, who works as a nurse, to see what she thinks, but I was appalled by the situation and how overworked residents were. The family dynamics also stunk and I loved reading about them and seeing how they evolved.
It did take me a good third of the book to really start caring about anyone and to get invested. The ending felt a little sudden and I had to reread a bit to make sure I hadn't missed something. The middle, however, had me reading quickly and on the edge of my bed with my need to know what would happen. Sometimes the way that the flashforwards worked were also a little bit confusing, but common sense solved this.
If you're interested in nursing, social work, or court, or just enjoy good suspense novels, this will be right up your alley.
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
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