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Kimmery Martin
Berkley
Feb. 13th, 2018/ ISBN 9780399585050
Fiction / Literature
Reviewed
by Elise Cooper
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The
Queen Of Hearts by Kimmery Martin delves into relationships
within the medical profession. This debut novel is set against
a background of hospital rounds with life-or-death decisions.
It is a story of betrayal and forgiveness as the two best friends,
Emma Colley and Zadie Anson navigate their friendship through
stormy waters.
Martin describes Zadie as “Competent, caring, intelligent,
warm, and trustworthy. She is also goofy, funny, and fun-loving.
People are asking me if she is patterned after myself, but I
have to say she is much more charismatic. I think she is not
by nature a grudge holder.” For her, Emma is the complete
opposite, “In many ways, she is unapproachable. She stews
over what has happened to her and fixates on things. Although
physically beautiful she is socially awkward, cerebral. I like
and empathize with her.”
The plot alternates between 1999 and the present day where they
now live in North Carolina, raising a family, and have a successful
medical practice. Everything turns topsy-turvy when Nick Xenokostas
decides to join Emma’s surgery group. The two friends
must face the secrets of their past, including how Nick broke
Zadie’s heart. Nick's unexpected reappearance during a
time of new professional crisis shocks both women into a deeper
look at the difficult choices they made at the beginning of
their careers.
A powerful book quote, “If a child dies it’s not
because she’s needed in heaven, or because there was some
cosmic plan for her to die so another child could be born”?
Martin explains, “This was stated by Emma who wants everything
to make sense. She wants the world to function according to
the laws of logic, less likely to have her personality ruled
by emotion. She never rationalizes that things happen for the
greater good. As I started writing, I thought, ‘try it;
what is the worst that could go wrong.’ But in medicine,
the worst that can go wrong is that you can kill someone. It
is a cloud hanging over doctors’ heads.”
The story has intrigue, drama, and turmoil that combine for
a good story.
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