Rob McCarthy

Not an easy book to read on several levels. For a start, the chapters are relatively long, covering a day in the timeline, secondly there is considerable use of complex medical terms and initials, not always explained and lastly it casts an unflattering cast on some of the NHS. However, the plot is cleverly put together making good use of the author's expert knowledge and experience of the medical world.

Harry Kent is called to treat a youth holding customers hostage in a cafe. Whilst there police shoot the youth thinking he has fired his gun. This sets off Harry on a crusade to save the youth's life and find out what drove him to the hostage taking. When Harry gets too close those responsible threaten him in a very complex, murky plot. The author makes good use of his medical expertise, introducing very detailed descriptions of procedures, medical and administrative. Paints a grim picture show more of life as one of London's underclass. show less

Harry Kent is an A&E doctor who also has a role as a Force Medical Officer for the local police. Called out one evening to a suspected suicide Harry discovers that the body is that of a fellow doctor, one notorious for being a whistleblower, and that the investigating officer is his ex. When the death is identified as murder Harry's expertise is needed as the victim had been suspended from work over accusations of malpractice in a big profile paediatric cardiac unit and Harry is needed to show more provide medical knowledge for the team. However Harry has his own problems, guilt over the death of friend, overwork and a rocky relationship all fuelled by an addiction to amphetamine.

This is the first Dr Harry Kent book that I have read and I did like the idea of looking at what should be a standard police procedural from a different perspective, that of a doctor who works alongside the police. The information about the life of a doctor in the NHS seemed fairly accurate and I enjoyed the complexities of Harry's life. However I found the plot a little convoluted and with lots of excessively detailed medical information, and the ending was a little unsatisfying. It was a perfectly readable book but nothing out of the ordinary. show less

Dr. Harry Kent, part time Metropolitan Police Medical Examiner, aside from the profanity, is back with a gritty medical thriller. Kent is hard pressed to keep up his regular hospital schedule and report on call to crime scenes. His former girlfriend Detective Chief Inspector Frankie Noble calls on him to assist in a particularly gruesome murder of a medical doctor and later into a series of infant and children’s deaths at a local NHS hospital. Suspicion points to one of the cardiac show more surgeons but as clues and other incidents accumulate Dr. Kent reaches a surprising conclusion. Replete with extensive medical terminology and routines this is a cliff hanger to the very end. I won this book by signing up with my local library for summer reading with no idea of how gripping it would be. show less