Family Values

Don't Go" is such an apt title to this book.

Dr. Mike Scanlon, don't go and sign that custody agreement without getting a lawyer.

Dr. Mike Scanlon, don't go on that second tour of duty.

Dr. Mike Scanlon, don't go to the neighbor's house (twice).

You get the idea.

However, it is Mike's moving forward that pushes people to solve problems. It may not be the right way, but it works.

I identified with Mike's Oxycontin addiction because I have gone through it, too. It was a good representation of an addict early in. His symptoms were mild because of the low dose.

Mike was lucky that his sister-in-law and her husband were good, or his custody situation could have been ugly, dragging on for years. It does happen. I am glad that Lisa Scottoline gave us a happy ending. ( )

This one didn't work for me. I found it dragged at the beginning. The characters were a little too bluntly drawn and hard to relate to. So many bad things happened to Mike...it was like reading the Book of Job! And, after a series of disasters, bad choices and damaged relationships, suddenly, everything is okay at the end....with no sense of how they rebuilt the relationships. So, no more of this author for me. ( )

This book put too many issues into it and ruined a good story. Liked the idea of what really happened to his wife but he went way overboard in his behaviors that it became unrealistic. Realizing that war ruins people's thoughts is probably true but doing another tour immediately, becoming addicted to pain medication, thinking you are in a war zone just came about too quickly to be believable. The attitude of his little girl afraid of him seemed correct, the way the sister-in-law behaved was good, and his friends was OK too. From his wife's friends murder the book lost realism. He tried to do too much during his first week back. ( )

My heart went out to Dr. Mike Scanlon throughout the book. I hurt for him even when he made poor decisions. We all do then wish we could turn back time but that’s not how life works.

Mike is a podiatrist serving as an army doctor in Afghanistan. He works under terrific pressure in a M.A.S.H. tyoe “hospital”. back in Pennsylvania, he has left behind his beautiful wife Chloe and his newborn baby, Emily.

One day as Mike operates on a wounded soldier in a war-torn country, Chloe dies at home in the suburbs, in an apparent household accident. Devastated, he returns home to bury her, only to discover that the life he left behind has fallen apart. His medical practice is in jeopardy, and his precious baby girl doesn’t know him and cries every time he approaches.

He returns to Afghanistan To complete his tour leaving Emily in the care of Chloe’s sister and her husband. For some reason, call of duty maybe, Mike agrees to another tour. During his second tour he and his pals come under a tragic and deadly attack. Mike survives, but not without great sacrifice. He is sent home where not only has he changed but everything that was familiar has as well and not for the good.

The first quarter of the book dragged for me, but after he returned home as a war hero, and everything still went to hell for him, the intrigue gripped me.

I especially liked the court hearing where Mike tries to regain custody of Emily. ( )