An intersting read which was well written.

It was a thriller that kept me turning the pages with a good twist

A dark tale,full of deadly deeds.
The way the author writes makes it an exceedingly believeable story in this age of big drug companies. Who polices tne medics/researchers in real life? How much can they get away with in the name of science?
Well defined characters with their own history,great interactions between friends and work colleagues totally realistic
A brilliant twist at the end.
Very much enjoyed reading this book

I really enjoyed this book, the story line is very different from what I normally very intense but thought the ending with a bit of a let down

A great mystery read. It got me hooked right from the start.

I was suspicious of most of the characters, and poor Rea really had a tough time from me. I didn't trust her one bit. But was I right not to trust her.

It was clear that the author has a medical background as the knowledge and descriptions were very clear. You really got into the lifestyle of a doctor.

I read this as a readalong and the questions given really amped up my interest and detective skills.

This is a interesting story of two best friends Dr Rea Dharmasena & Dr Julia Stone who both apply for a top job but Julia gets offered the job after stealing Rea's paper. Rea feels betrayed and falls out with Julia and accuses her of stealing her job and complains to the head of the department but he dismisses her complaint.
When Julia is found dead the finger points at Rea and what follows is lots of twists and turns. which culminates in a unexpected ending.
Would recommend this book and thanks to NetGalley and Penguin for a advanced copy.

An interesting story based on the friendship between two young female doctors working in the field of medical research whose relationship drastically alters when they both apply for the same post and one of them is successful. Secrets and lies abound in this quite disturbing book. How far should you go to find a cure for cancer? The boundaries are certainly tested by the researchers working at the fictional LMI hospital.
I thought I had the final reveal by around sixty percent of the book but that may have been the intention of the author as although I was on the right track I was still somewhat surprised by the ending..
For me, this is a very satisfactory debut novel.

I thought this was a very good, well written debut novel with an interesting theme and some big ethical questions at its core, and I'm looking forward to reading future books by the author. However, I did find a number (and there were a lot) of the major twists a bit predictable, and the last few chapters frankly unbelievable!
thank you to netgalley and Random House for an advance copy of this book

I love a novel that takes a reader to unexpected places and I was pleasantly surprised by this. Dr Rea Dharmasena is grieving the loss of her dream job, something she’d worked for and had hoped to sail through. What hurts as much is that the role went to her best friend, Dr Julia Stone. We’d argue they’re more frenemies than friends, the medical school rivals are at odds when it’s revealed that Julia may have gotten the job thanks to Rea… well, what’s a bit of stealing when you’re friends? All that pales into insignificance though, when Julia is found murdered not long after she makes a potentially life changing discovery. Rea is handed a lifeline; she’s now welcomed into Julia’s old role – by some – but there’s the very real fact that her BFF is dead and someone is responsible. The tension builds up nicely in a world about which I know very little but the ending is mouth opening. Would love to read more from the author.

I wanted to like this book. I truly did. But it simply didn’t deliver for me. The description and then the prologue were really good but the book went downhill from there and I didn't finish it.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book.

A twist that I didn’t see coming. Great rivalry. Kept me guessing right to the end.

The description and then the prologue were really good but the book went downhill from there and I didnt finish it. Sorry this one isnt for me

I really enjoyed this thrilling, mystery murder story. It’s a real page turner, unpredictable with lots of twists and a brilliant ending. Definitely recommend.

Rea Dharmasena and Julia Stone have been friends since their early teens and have had matching careers, first as Medical Doctors and then as researchers completing PhDs. Now they are both applicants for the same research post, working at the London Medical Institute (LMI) under its charismatic Director, Dr Owen Ansah, on a highly secret project to design and trial a treatment for cancer. Julia illicitly obtains information about the project, which she doesn’t share with Rea. This shows that the project is into viral based treatments, which was Rea’s PhD subject but Julia goes along with her idea when Rea suggests that she should give the interview panel a presentation on a different topic. Julia gets the job, of course, the friends fall out and an attempt to patch things up goes drastically wrong. Then Julia is murdered and Rea is the obvious suspect. The plot from here becomes much more complicated, but not in a good way.
My problem starts not with the research idea (I know people who are involved with projects in this area), but with the scientific and medical organisation of the LMI (I have some experience in this). However, this is a mystery story and I can go along with anomalies because the plot needs them and most readers won’t notice. However, there are too many non-scientific holes in the plot; events and actions never seem like they would have happened in any form of reality; none of the characters feels real; there are structural details (physical and operational) which are needed for the plot but which could not happen. Most importantly, the whodunnit aspect is easy to solve (there is a twist but that depends on an operational detail which would not be possible). If you can fly over the holes then it is not a bad read, albeit a bit turgid, but I doubt regular crime/mystery/thriller devotees will be satisfied.
I would like to thank NetGalley, the publishers and the author for providing me with a draft proof copy for the purpose of this review.

I want to say I liked this book but I'm still on the fence. I just did not engage with the main character, Rea. If anything, I found her annoying from the outset and found her relationship with best friend, Julia to be built on a strange professional mistrust of one another which Rea clearly found hard to overcome. Julia was no angel either believe me and when she comes a cropper, you wonder how things will turn out. The book picks up from that point on but at every turn in this book are characters I found difficult to like. I accept as adults, we are all pretty flawed but there was only one person in this story who was genuinely nice and there were just too many bad 'uns for me to care what happened. Maybe this was what the author intended? If so, well done. I just could not engage because I didn't like the characters.

Wow. This was such a quick paced suspenseful psychological thriller. When you think you got your head wrapped around everything something else mind-blowing happens. I loved the medical setting and the intense ambition to find a cure for cancer. I was hooked and was flying through this story. I did suspect parts of the end and even though I did love the ending, felt like there was something missing. I did really enjoy it and would definitely recommend!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

🤓 ʀᴇᴀᴅ ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ʟɪᴋᴇ:
Short Chapters
Continued suspense
Psychological thrillers

ꜱʏɴᴏᴘꜱɪꜱ:
𝘋𝘳 𝘙𝘦𝘢 𝘋𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘢 𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩 𝘫𝘰𝘣 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘦𝘥-𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘭 𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥, 𝘋𝘳 𝘑𝘶𝘭𝘪𝘢 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘦. 𝘛𝘰 𝘢𝘥𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘭𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘯𝘫𝘶𝘳𝘺, 𝘑𝘶𝘭𝘪𝘢 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘙𝘦𝘢'𝘴 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨-𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘪𝘵.

𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘴 𝘙𝘦𝘢 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘺𝘢𝘭, 𝘑𝘶𝘭𝘪𝘢, 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦-𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺, 𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘶𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥.

𝘕𝘰𝘸 𝘙𝘦𝘢 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮 𝘫𝘰𝘣 𝘴𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥.
𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘴𝘵?

A twisted thriller which led me through a maze of intrigue , friendship, love and cutting edge research.
Feng, Julia and Rea seem to have been friends forever, but Rea has always had rivalry issues with Julia. Julia almost always came first in class, best at interviews, overshadowed Rea which culminated in a split in their friendship when Julia got a coveted research role by means Rea thought were underhand. When tragedy strikes Rea's life is left in turmoil.
Just when you think you have it all worked out then the next twist changes everything.

Loved to hate the characters, but found the plot a bit too unlikely or believable.
Thanks for the opportunity to read this ARC.

This was packed with drama, suspense and tension. I enjoyed reading it but found the characters a little annoying and unlikable.

A super-twisty thriller about medical research and a complex friendship. It was very cleverly written and has a fascinating premise, but I found it difficult to stay engaged with at times, perhaps because some of the characters were so incredibly unlikable! But it was a good read nonetheless.

A fresh topic for a psychological thriller / mystery - I was hooked! A real page-turner, I loved the fallibility of the lead characters - not perfect, definitely flawed humans but all the more interesting for it. The flashbacks kept me reading, desperate to find out what had happened, and the tightening tension just built and built. Fab holiday read.