Moral Injuries by Christie Watson

 

Olivia, Laura and Anjali formed a strong friendship when they met at medical school. When two of their children are involved in a serious incident at a party it threatens to uncover a secret they’ve kept hidden for twenty-five years.

The opening of Moral Injuries by Christie Watson is a party setting, a raucous party with alcohol, drugs and fighting. We learn quickly that someone is badly injured and that people involved in whatever has happened run.

The story then jumps between the three main characters, Olivia, Laura and Anjali, in 2024 and when they first met in 1999. We learn how the three women met at medical school and became close friends, maintaining that friendship over the next twenty-five years. Olivia is a successful heart surgeon, Laura is an A&E specialist and Anjali is in general practice. We slowly learn that a teenage boy has been seriously injured at a party attended by Olivia’s daughter and Laura’s son. This then brings back memories for the three women of a similar party and a secret they’ve kept hidden. You then begin to wonder which party is described at the very beginning of the book.

I liked each of the three women. Laura is driven, terrified of failure, becoming a doctor and doing the best job she can is all-consuming. Anjali is reckless, always open to new experiences. Olivia is the most complex; cold, made of steel, and from a family of surgeons so she’s never considered anything else. The women support each other but it’s obvious Olivia is the leader. None of the women are perfect, this story is about the grey areas between right and wrong, but because we see the friendship grow and develop over time you feel as if you are part of the group. It’s the events involving their children that makes you begin to doubt the behaviour of each of them.

There are lots of hints about the secret the three women are keeping but I did feel that this part of the storyline was too vague and too slow to develop. The role of them as mothers, desperate to protect their children, alongside their role as doctors, sworn to “do no harm”, brought forward the issue of moral ambiguity. The vagueness made sense to me in the end as all was revealed and made me look at some of the characters in a whole new light, questioning how likeable they actually are.

Moral Injuries by Christie Watson will be published on 14^th March 2024 in hardback, ebook and audio format. My thanks to NetGalley and Orion Publishing Group for a review copy.