Description
When disgraced American doctor Burkett's twin is murdered while working for a Christian medical charity, Burkett travels to war-torn Khandak to claim his brother's body. Staring down at the lifeless form in the mortuary, it is as though Burkett is gazing at his own failings. His twin was first and best: the better athlete, better doctor; their father's favourite.
Hooked on prescription drugs and booze, Burkett has little to go home to, and so he agrees to take over his brother's surgical clinic. He struggles through the days, sliding inexorably into a spiral of drug abuse. Then he and his twin's devoutly Christian colleague Nick are taken hostage by Islamic fundamentalists. Forced into withdrawal, Burkett is nursed by Nick, and mutual suspicion blooms into hatred. As their plight becomes ever more desperate, Burkett becomes convinced that their captors are his brother's murderers, and that revenge may be the path to redemption, even if it means death.
Gripping and suspenseful to the last page, Brother's Keeper is a remarkable novel, that vividly and unflinchingly explores pain and healing, empathy and enmity, forgiveness and revenge.
Hooked on prescription drugs and booze, Burkett has little to go home to, and so he agrees to take over his brother's surgical clinic. He struggles through the days, sliding inexorably into a spiral of drug abuse. Then he and his twin's devoutly Christian colleague Nick are taken hostage by Islamic fundamentalists. Forced into withdrawal, Burkett is nursed by Nick, and mutual suspicion blooms into hatred. As their plight becomes ever more desperate, Burkett becomes convinced that their captors are his brother's murderers, and that revenge may be the path to redemption, even if it means death.
Gripping and suspenseful to the last page, Brother's Keeper is a remarkable novel, that vividly and unflinchingly explores pain and healing, empathy and enmity, forgiveness and revenge.
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Born in Atlanta, Georgia, C. E. Smith studied English at Stanford. He went on to work as a martial arts instructor, wrestling coach and Hollywood script reader before changing course entirely and going to medical school at Vanderbilt. He now lives with his wife and two young children in Louisville, Kentucky, where he works as a radiologist. Smith has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, shortlisted for the Bridport Prize and won the 2013 Paris Literary Prize for his novella Body Electric. Brother's Keeper is his first novel.