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THE DOCTOR ROCKS THE BOAT
by Robin Hathaway
Thomas Dunne Books, June 2006
224 pages
$23.95
ISBN: 0312349939


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Dr Andrew Fenimore remembers fondly his days of rowing on the Schuylkill River when he was just a young man; it was a family tradition and he carried it on with pleasure. On a whim, he decides to take up rowing again.

When he goes back to the Windsor Rowing Club to rejoin, he is met by an old fraternity buddy and one-time rower. Charles Ashburn is one of those 'hail fellow, well met' kind of guys, prone to backslapping and lots of alcohol.

Charles had to give up rowing due to a congenital heart problem. His son Chuck is fulfilling all his father’s dreams. Mrs Ashburn worries about this. Does Chuck have the same heart condition? Is he going to do himself harm by training as hard as he is to win a chance to go to the Henley’s? Mrs Ashburn asks Fenimore to intervene.

Fenimore does, and is not delighted at the responses he gets from Charles and from Chuck. Chuck goes on to win the competition, but dies after another race. Was it the heart problem, or are there more sinister reasons for people to want Chuck to come to harm? The answer, of course, is yes. But which faction is it? The preservationists or the developers? Or someone else altogether?

While I enjoyed THE DOCTOR ROCKS THE BOAT, I do have some minor quibbles. First of all, for a physician with a full-time practice, Fenimore spends a lot of time away from his office. His patients must be far more forbearing than most.

Fenimore has an ongoing relationship with a lovely young writer named Jennifer. He doesn’t seem to pay a lot of attention to where this relationship is headed, although he isn’t very happy when Jennifer spends time away from him with a man who is turning into a major source for her work. As near as I can tell, Fenimore has been seeing Jennifer for something like four or five years, and still doesn’t know if he wants to marry her. Jennifer doesn’t seem to mind this. This strikes me as very understanding of her, but not very realistic.

This is the fifth book in the Dr Fenimore mystery series and Hathaway has kept the series alive and growing. Fenimore cares very deeply about those around him, although the way he shows that caring can be quite subtle. His standing as a physician is very important to him, but what he does as a doctor is more important to him than the perks of the position. His rediscovery of the joys of rowing is heart-warming to read about, because he is so aware that it was his choice to let it go, and his choice to take it back. Hathaway has another fine entry in this series.

Reviewed by P.J. Coldren, September 2006

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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