Sometimes People Die: A SUNDAY TIMES Crime Book of the Month and NEW YORK TIMES Editor Pick

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The ‘Doctor’ is an interesting, flawed and complicated character who is well developed and relatable in many ways. He’s trying to turn his life around but, like real life, issues such as trauma, his fear of being found out and the stress of work is making his recovery hard to keep up. As a reader, I felt empathy for him but it also made me wonder whether there were things he wasn’t telling me. It’s the 1990s. Our narrator has a new job as as a senior house officer at an East London hospital after a suspension for stealing opioids. In any hospital, sometimes people die. However, at St Luke's, lots of people are dying. Far too many and far more than expected. It becomes clear that this is not just down to illness, these deaths are mysterious and need to be investigated. The police are called in and seem to take an extra special interest in the Scottish doctor, they know more about him than he is comfortable with and he has to ensure that nothing he says or does causes suspicion, even though he's not a killer.

I’d not read any of Simon Stephenson’s previous books so I didn’t know what to expect. The premise however intrigued me so I was eager to get started.

LoveReading Says

Sometimes People Die blew me away and cost me a night's sleep as I read it on tenterhooks. Both a revelatory glimpse into the rigours and strains of medicine and a thrilling piece of entertainment, this astounding novel announces the arrival of a new Michael Crichton for the zeitgeist' Ken Bruen, author of The Guards If you open this book thinking it’s a medical thriller—which is how it’s marketed—then you’ll be terribly disappointed. But take it on its own terms and it is one of the most evocative and heart-rendering tales you’ll have encountered in quite a while. A young Scottish doctor, caught stealing and using opioids, is deemed fit to return to practice and lands in St. Luke’s—one of London’s roughest hospitals and a place that’s desperately in need of staff. Author Stephenson was trained as a doctor, and this book goes deeply—and fascinatingly—into life in the hospital. Add to this a great cast of characters, including George, an orthopedist, rugby player, and teddy bear of a man who rooms with our protagonist, helping to keep him grounded. Those who fear the hospital should stay far away from this book! I’m not a fan of hospitals, but statistically speaking, the chances of having an “angel of death” taking care of me in a hospital are pretty small. Dark and haunting, powerful and propulsive, Sometimes People Die is a smart, cinematic, tour de force written by an exceptional talent. Simon Stephenson’s novel is simply unputdownable.’ The suggestion that a clever killer could operate in a busy hospital is all too believable and the novel is a riveting read, interspersed with intelligent reflections on what might drive a physician to kill.’

Why do I adore this kind of novel? It is intelligent, very witty in a very dark way, and does not flinch from serious and difficult questions.’ Another thing I enjoyed about the book are the occasional sections that describe real life murderers who practiced medicine, from famous cases such as Dr. Crippen and Harold Shipman to less well-known ones. What’s surprising – or perhaps depressing is a better word – is how long in some cases it took for their crimes to be discovered, either through negligence or a kind of medical omerta. The amount of research & accuracy Stephenson put into this novel, as well as using his own physician experience, was so well done & made it that much more intriguing and capturing. He amped up the anti, the suspicion, the doubt and wonder and kept it going until the unseeing twist of an ending. This completely satisfied my medical appetite like a three-course dinner at a five star restaurant! The author's history as a hospital doctor shines through in his writing. The description of place and people, the extraordinary setting of overworked medics, dealing with constant exhaustion and unexpected deaths reads so well. There's also that humour that I mentioned, a welcome addition to a story that could be bogged down with the darkest of themes.Just as I consider giving up it starts to get interesting… finally! The pace starts to go above that of a country stroll though it’s never brisk partly because of the narrator's delivery. Suspicions start to fall in several places, there’s a tragedy and some rather good plot twists you do not expect. Unfortunately, you have to be very patient for those to arrive. There is a good premise in here but initially it’s well concealed under a plethora of medical jargon. When suspicious and unexplained deaths start to plague the hospital, who is responsible? Can we even trust our main character?