From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. All the moral incongruities and conundrums that complicate the war on terror are on almost palpable display in this searing thriller from Harrington (Red Jungle), set largely in Mexico City. In this backwater in the war on terror, Dr. Collin Reeves has found a semicomfortable niche performing occasional chores for the CIA, acting as a go to doctor for the U.S. embassy when American tourists need medical attention, and pursuing his avocation of painting. When CIA veterans Alex Law and Butch Nickels get wind of a possible terrorist bombing plot, they use any means to extract information that might prevent it. Reeves, pressed to keep alive suspects who are being tortured, faces both a moral dilemma and personal danger. This taut, thought-provoking novel offers no easy answers, no good versus evil dichotomy, as Reeves discovers that there was no morally safe place anywhere. (June)
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From Booklist
*Starred Review* “Everyone runs out of luck some place. . . . It was just a question of where.” In the course of not quite 300 pages, that question is answered for most of the cast in Harrington’s superb thriller. Collin Reeves is a doctor at the American embassy in Mexico City; he’s also a CIA agent, but he’s largely ignored by the Company, left to spend his days playing at becoming a painter. Then the Muslim owner of a hotel across the street from Collin’s apartment asks the doctor to treat an American guest. So begins Collin’s transformation from dilettante to reluctant antiterrorist to disgusted man of action. It starts when he falls in love with the sick “American,” who turns out to be a beautiful Iraqi woman who may be involved with terrorists who have brought a bomb into Mexico City. Every character in this gripping story—from the good doctor to his CIA superiors to the terrorists—is portrayed with remarkable subtlety, moments of heartbreaking vulnerability and humanity set against multiple forms of hatred. Curiously, this is not an overtly political novel, except in the sense that Harrington heaps plagues upon all the ideological houses whose bombs spray their shrapnel across our landscape. Duck if you can, the good doctor learns, but recognize when you’ve reached that place where your luck runs out, and try to act with as much grace as you can muster. This will remind many of John le Carré’s Absolute Friends (2004), but it is less ideological and more unflinching in its willingness to examine the humanity of the terrorist and the inhumanity of terrorism. --Bill Ott

A nice read in the tradition of the old film noir stories of the 50s. My mind immediately cast the characters using Claude and Peter and Sidney and Humphrey and the rest of the usual suspects. Harrington is a fine author, not given to boredom with what works in a novel.. avoiding gimmicks and flash. He just lets a great storyline unreel naturally, carrying the rest of us along comfortably in this 1953 Packard Caribbean of a story!

The publisher, Dennis McMillan, continues to build as beautiful a book as anyone in the business.. simple perfection! ( )

Colin Reeves is a doctor who has rejected the good life he could have if he went into practice with his father in the U.S. Instead, he studied at the London School of Tropical Diseases and works in third world countries. His is also a CIA officer, recruited after 9/11, now working out of the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City. The Head of Station at the embassy is alerted to a plot by Islamic extremists who may have smuggled something very dangerous into Mexico for use against U.S. interests. Colin finds himself in a situation and asked to do things that run counter to his idealistic nature. Colin's life is further complicated when he is asked to treat a female tourist with whom he falls in love.

Harrington's character in Dia de Los Muertos, Vince Calhoun, is older, jaded and a cynic. Colin Reeves is young and and a romantic idealist but they have something in common. A woman comes into their lives bringing both hope and fear. The women are not used to represent the downfall of men but to bring out unexpected emotions. Both Calhoun and Reeves are well developed characters and the reader gets to know them intimately.

The story in ...Muertos is closer to a straight thriller than The Good Physician. There is a steady pace to it with episodes of violence. By contrast, The Good Physician takes its time. With a theme of the War on Terror, Harrington gives the reader a lot to think about and the time to do it.

Harrington is a real artist with language and there is a flow and elegance that makes him a joy to read.

I can't speak to all of Harrington's books but these two both have a gold colored image embossed on the flyleaf. In Dia de los Muertos there is a scarab (dung) beetle. With The Good Physician it is a scorpion. These images have meaning within the context of the story and are a nice and attractive touch.

Harrington is a terrific writer and I highly recommend him.