Genius astrophysicist and former FBI agent Lucas Page's ability to see patterns that elude others makes him one of the most unusual sleuths. Robert Pobi (City of Windows) skillfully incorporates Page's background into the tense Do No Harm, the third novel in the Lucas Page series, and realistically uses science and analytics to connect seeming coincidences to crimes.
Since horrible injuries ended his FBI career, Lucas--who writes books and teaches at Columbia University--has devoted himself to his wife, Erin, a pediatric orthopedic surgeon, and their five adopted children. Yet the FBI still needs his singular skills to solve unusual cases. This time, Lucas approaches the FBI after realizing at a hospital charity dinner that 30 doctors have died in the past year, through accidents or by suicides. Lucas believes that the chance of that many deaths occurring in such a short time is "zero." He is sure the doctors have been murdered. The FBI has learned to trust Lucas's sometimes far-fetched theories. His investigation takes on a new urgency when a friend of his is killed and his wife is targeted.
Pobi weaves a clever, intelligent plot as Do No Harm takes a tour through New York City neighborhoods and museums to find the link among the deaths that would elude the most dedicated investigator. The careful use of astrophysics elevates the novel, and Pobi's ability to explain complicated science makes it understandable. Pobi keeps the thriller aspect of his plot front and center, never allowing Do No Harm to be a dissertation. --Oline H. Cogdill, freelance reviewer