The Antidote for Everything by Kimmery Martin

The Antidote for Everything. Kimmery Martin. Penguin Publishing Group. February 2020. pb, 384 pp.; ISBN: 9781984802835.

Dr. Georgia Brown is a urologist and Dr. Jonah Tsukada is a family medicine physician.  Both work in a hospital in Charleston, South Carolina.  The journey both are about to begin is a very painful one as the Director of the hospital and a group of local citizens have decided that Jonah’s treatment of LGBT patients is immoral and therefore unacceptable as hospital policy.  So he is accused of that and also of stealing drugs from the hospital pharmacy.  Georgia stands by his side through the thick and horrendous journey of these accusations as well as when he is fired.  At the same time, Georgia has finally met and fallen in love with a businessman, Mark.  All three of these characters have experienced devastating loss and know what it takes to survive and even surpass these tragedies.  Their friendship is engaging and admirable to the uppermost degree.

Unfortunately, Jonah makes a choice that puts his life in jeopardy.  It is while he is suffering from that choice that the truth about the whole hospital situation is exposed, through the work of a very savvy lawyer and the confession of an addictive physician.  Georgia had contemplated doing something wrong in order to make the situation right but never implements that plot.  During that time of innocence, all come to understand what they want to do in medicine and make new decisions to honor that dedication.  They are stronger for the experiences.

The Antidote for Everything will leave readers thinking about opinions and prejudices.  It will also hopefully make readers think twice about the quick judgments the public and individuals make after accusations are published or splashed through the news.  The plot condemns the notion that once alleged means guilty.  It also invites readers to see all patients as equal and deserving of fairness and compassion.

This is finely crafted contemporary fiction with real characters worthy of respect and honor.  Nicely fashioned, Kimmery Martin and highly recommended reading!

The Queen of Hearts: A Novel by Kimmery Martin

The Queen of Hearts: A Novel.  Kimmery Martin. Berkley Publishing. February 2018. 352 pp.  ISBN#: 9780399585050.

The world of medical students is fraught with exhaustion from working too many hours that any human being should endure and with tension from working in an urban Emergency Room rife with life and death scenes.  It all requires the utmost tenacity, refined medical skills and the patience and calm of a saint!  This is the world of Emma and Zadie, two best friends, who are about to undergo a true test of their solid rock friendship.  Add to that their male friends, Dr. Nick Xenokostas and Graham.  The time element in this story goes back and forth from past to present and back. 

The story concerns scenes that make Gray’s Anatomy and other medical TV shows seem tame in comparison.  For reality isn’t pared back in a novel.  So for the squeamish of heart, you’ve been warned!  Blood, guts and gore as well as actions and reactions force the reader to flip the pages and want to stay up way past a normal bedtime.  No spoilers here but two particular events score the plot with tension and shock!

Exhausted doctors or even doctors handling multiple near-fatality emergency room scenes will make mistakes!  Those inadvertent errors can wreck a person’s career and such a danger is posed for Emma upon the death of a little girl.  The minutiae of that scene will be repeated in her mind as well as the minds of her physician peers and the family of the little girl.  The outcome of this processing will absolutely amaze the reader!

Relationships happen out of all this chaos and non-stop turmoil.  Some make sense and some take twists and turns that make no sense.  But they happen to Emma, Graham, Zadie and Nick and they are life-shattering.  How much wrongdoing can one forgive and should one even consider forgiveness? 

Kimmery Martin is a past medical doctor who knows her professional world well.  This is a well-written, intense, caring, brutal and shocking story that is written with sensitivity and care, enabling the reader to enter this world as fully as possible and root for every character, halting judgment and awaiting the evolution of healing and grace on every page.  Highly recommended medical fiction!