Another tightly wound medical thriller featuring an intrepid surgeon/detective.
A damaging accusation throws a Houston doctor’s life and livelihood into a tailspin in Bishop’s latest series installment.
A year after solving the case of a child’s mysterious death in Act of Murder (2020), orthopedic surgeon and amateur sleuth Jim Bob “Doc” Brady is back to deflect a personal attack on his professional reputation. Due to a malpractice lawsuit, the typically strong and resilient Brady is dealing with stress that not even his wife, Mary Louise, or his adoring pets can soothe. During a deposition with vicious lawyers, Doc must defend against claims that he acted poorly and recklessly while providing care for Billy Jones, who developed a serious infection and endured a subsequent amputation after knee-replacement surgery. It turns out that the plaintiff’s team includes the “king-dog-daddy of Houston medical malpractice plaintiffs’ attorneys,” as Doc calls him: Donovan Shaw, who tells Doc that he’ll “destroy you and that pretty wife of yours,” if that’s what it takes to win. Doc’s own investigation reveals Donovan to have had some shady dealings with other lawyers. When another doctor dies under suspicious circumstances and someone mugs Doc in broad daylight, the surgeon knows he needs to step up his sleuthing before he and his family end up dead themselves. Although Doc is represented by defense attorney and friend Pete Huntley, the doctor is determined to dig deeper into Donovan, his sketchy firm, and its history of questionable cases on his own, and readers will find his investigation compelling. The book also offers intriguing reflections on America’s flawed medical system, spotlighting amoral “testifying doctors” and patients “looking for a quick ‘medical lottery win’ ” through bogus malpractice claims. Houston-based orthopedic surgeon Bishop stays true to his narrative style in this installment, providing readers with authentic-sounding dialogue and an engaging plot. Along the way, he adds vibrancy to his characterization of Mary Louise so readers can more easily experience the longtime married couple’s bond. However, it’s the breathless concluding courtroom scene that truly steals the show.
Another tightly wound medical thriller featuring an intrepid surgeon/detective.Pub Date: June 10, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-73425-112-8
Page Count: 276
Publisher: Mantid Press
Review Posted Online: July 8, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Starts with a bang and closes with a knockout punch of an ending.
A violent attack hijacks a woman’s memory in this novel of domestic suspense.
McFadden wastes no time pulling the trigger in this harrowing story that starts with gunfire then swiftly propels readers into a crack tale of secrets and misdirection. Originally self-published in 2016, the book carries the same formidable weight as McFadden’s later novels featuring unsuspecting women who lose their power then fight to recapture it—mostly from men who have betrayed them. That formula perfectly fits Dr. Charlotte McKenna, a 37-year-old dermatologist who isn’t looking for love until the most handsome man she’s ever seen begins to woo her. There are warning signs about Clark Douglas and Charlotte overlooks them to her detriment—but is he a killer? The novel has dual timelines split between events leading up to the day Charlotte barely survives a head wound meant to kill her and the months afterward, when she struggles to reclaim her memory and her mobility. In real life, McFadden is a physician trained to treat brain injuries. Her expertise gives Charlotte’s rehabilitation authenticity, and her writing talent makes it interesting and engaging. As good as that timeline is, readers will yearn to get back to the alternate timeline about who wants Charlotte dead. It’s only a matter of time before Charlotte starts to remember who tried to kill her, and the clock is ticking toward their next attempt. McFadden dishes up plenty of suspects: Charlotte’s secretive husband, Clark; a former patient turned stalker who confronts Charlotte on her honeymoon; and the angry husband of a patient who blames Charlotte for his wife leaving him. Though the story is delicious and dark, McFadden brightens things up with a possible love interest for Charlotte and a surprise ending sure to please the author’s many fans.
Starts with a bang and closes with a knockout punch of an ending.Pub Date: Aug. 25, 2026
ISBN: 9781464249617
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: July 6, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2026
Trust no one in this over-the-top tale of deception and revenge.
Dead bodies turn up in the first sentence of the prologue in McFadden’s latest domestic thriller.
The mystery of who died is at the pulsating heart of this propulsive tale. As Chapter 1 begins, Naomi arrives home to find the locks changed on the front door of the gorgeous home she shares with her husband, Jeremy, and their 5-year-old son, Teddy. Jeremy steps out the front door and convinces Naomi to move out while he has their home renovated, a plan Naomi knows nothing about. It’s all a ruse, though, as the next day Jeremy tells her he wants a divorce. Naomi is shellshocked and soon discovers that Jeremy is having an affair with Veronica, a beautiful younger woman. What seems at first like a stereotypical story about a man who leaves his wife turns into something else when Naomi decides she’ll do anything to get Veronica away from Jeremy and Teddy, and Veronica decides to fight for what she thinks she deserves. Fans of stalker novels will cringe with delight as creepy things start to happen. Teddy’s stuffed elephant, a gift from Veronica, is found impaled on a kitchen knife; Naomi suspects Jeremy is gaslighting her and that Veronica tried to poison her. A weird confrontation among Jeremy, Veronica, and Naomi at Teddy’s birthday party, to which Naomi shows up uninvited, is priceless. There are three main characters, and any or all of them may be unreliable narrators. Packing the plot with dark, gasp-inducing twists, McFadden outdoes herself in a story about how highly emotional people engage in risky behavior to get what they want—but in this novel, for better or worse, not everyone will survive.
Trust no one in this over-the-top tale of deception and revenge.Pub Date: May 26, 2026
ISBN: 9781464249631
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: April 20, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2026
BOOK TO SCREEN
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