Official Review: The Fine Line by Jasmine Bowen

[Reading lady]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Fine Line" by Jasmine Bowen.]

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The Fine Line written by Jasmine Bowen is the story of Dr. John Starling who is the boy wonder of the medical profession. He made national headlines as a genius who graduated high school at 13, college at 17 and med school at 21. And as a doctor he was brilliant, quick on his feet and saved more lives in his first year than most of his fellow students combined.

But John had another side. He was good looking and charming, he had a way with the ladies, he got away with almost anything and broke the rules whenever he could. Although he never did anything to harm his patients, he had a way of charming them out of a possible lawsuit if the thought crossed their mind. He quickly learned he could function on minimal sleep and a large coffee and several beers would keep home going when he had a long shift at the hospital. John was a lady's man and he made them all swoon, both staff and patients. That is except for Trinity.

John was 29 when he met Trinity who was 10 years younger. Trinity had an attitude and a mouth, but she was funny and interested in everything and she wanted to be a doctor. John and Trinity met when she was brought into the emergency room where John was working. She had been diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis when she was 10 but John knew when he saw her that there was more to it than that and eventually diagnosed her with Felty's syndrome (another brilliant diagnosis), a rare complication of her arthritis that caused her much more pain and eventually other complications which lead to frequent hospital trips and treatments.

From their numerous interactions a friendship was formed. Theirs was a rare and unusual friendship. It was like they were an extension of each other and people often thought they were dating but there was nothing romantic between them. It was a very unique, strong bond but unexplainable.

I am officially rating this book 4 out of 4 stars. In actual fact I believe it deserves a 3.5 rating but that is not possible in this system. This is a short book, more likely a novella and generally speaking I prefer something longer but from the beginning the author drew me in. It was well written and interesting - both the characters and plot line. I enjoyed the interaction of the two main characters. The story line was good and the author drew you into the major problem quickly and had the reader concerned for both Trinity and John. We wanted good things and a positive outcome for both. The moral issue/dilemma would cause every reader to question their beliefs and wonder on what side of the question they would fall if presented with the same circumstances.

Since it was such an interesting story and so well written I could not rate it 3 stars but there was one thing that kept it from the perfect 4 in my opinion. First I want to mention briefly that there were a number of places where proofing/editing was needed. These were not grammar, spelling or typo errors, but rather the use of wrong words altogether. For example "into" instead of "until or similar mistakes. For me it was noticeable. But the reason I hold back on a 4 star rating is that I think there was enough story here to make it into a full length novel. Some situations could have been drawn out a bit more and some could have been fleshed out more. I don't want to give any of the story away by saying where but there were times when there was a jump in time with no description of what happened during the intervening time particularly in the latter part of the book. I think the tension could have been increased more by drawing out John's story and his problem leading up to the main conflict and eventual climax. Just my opinion.

In conclusion this book should be rated 3.5 stars and I recommend that everyone should add this to their reading list.

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[Kappy]

Good review. I read a book a couple of years ago (but I can't remember which one) in which it was revealed that malpractice lawsuits are rare among physicians who take a genuine interest in their patients' well-being. The doctors who get sued are those who rudely ignore complaints from their patients. Competence in treating patients is only a minor factor.