The story starts well, with a good opening tension-builder which draws you in, but towards the last third of the book, I was finding it predictable and the ending for me wasn’t great.

Quite terrifying. Rea and Julia have been friends since school and share a passion for science and medicine; Julia helps Rea after a terrible accident that leaves her fragile and anxious, with a tendency to depend on painkillers. Together with Feng they go through University, all students of med and later when a top research position becomes available, the two girls are in competition for the one job. This story about researchers and those who strive to make breakthroughs in medicine will chill you to the core. Rea comes close to the edge. Is her imagination being fed by painkillers, or is what she sees real? Love and loss weave in to the story of her obsession that could leave her without everything she loves.

This is about 3 long term friends, now all doctors . Both of the women have had problems in the past and are both now involved in cutting edge research in a cure for cancer. Both applied for the same job and Rea had difficulty coming to terms with coming second to her friend for her dream job. Rea ends up doing a low key job within the same clinic, but starts to notice that something is not right with patients who have been receiving a particular drug, supposedly vitamin supplements.
The friendship between the two women disintegrates completely until Feng, Rea's flatmate persuades her to reach out to Julia. Rea arrives at Julia's flat to find her murdered. Rea enters a traumatic rollercoaster where she at first takes over Julia's job, is accused of the murder by the police and realizes that the perfect job may not be all it was cracked up to be. Towards the end, the suspense builds up.
The characters are mostly quite well portrayed and the events mostly fairly believable. I liked the writing on the whole, but was not too keen on the ending. Quite a lot of ethical issues raised regarding medical research which sometimes made for difficult reading.
Thank you to Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

Just wow! Gripped from the first page. What a lot of twists and turns. Great characters, with realistic flaws and personality traits. Beautifully written and kept me guessing.

The underlying current of competitiveness between Julia and Rea is well woven into the plot and rears its ugly head just enough to muddy the waters as you read.
The story starts off well with rivalry, disappointment and bitterness as Julia steals Rea's dream job but for me it then started to fall apart a bit with ever less believable elements (the mysterious basement that no-one has ever stumbled across before, the mad scientists running their own clinical trials with no qualms?).
For me this made getting to the end a bit of a trial, which was a shame as the characters were well written, the plot was just a bit too far fetched for me.

Rea is furious when she discovers that her friend Julia has used Rea's PhD research to grab a job at the UK's top medical research facility, a job which Rea desperately wanted. But our sympathies don't stay long with Rea when we start to hear Julia's side of the story. According to Julia. she supported Rea all the way through school and her medical degree. Who to believe? Julia makes a breathtaking discovery in the lab and Rea's jealousy mounts a notch. To get back at her she does something unforgivable and before long Julia is dead and Rea is a suspect.

I thought this started off very well. The rivalry between Rea and Julia is very well done and I enjoyed the descriptions of the medical research very much. But after the death of Julia the story spiralled downhill with a plot that had more holes in it than Swiss cheese, Are we really meant to believe for example that a hospital can have a hidden basement with a secret entrance in plain view and that no one knows about it? Except of course for the doctors and nurses and auxiliary staff who work there. This was so absurd that it annoyed me greatly and between that and the highly unlikely and misplaced romance between Rea and her boss, I lost all confidence in the book. It's a real shame because I thought it was so good at the beginning. Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC. 2.5 stars

A fantastic story with so many twists and turns you don't know whether you are coming or going! Worth a read.

Many of the reviews that I have read mention that the ending of this book is puzzling. I certainly found it so. The story of the two Doctors competing against each other in a research world, is convincing, but once one of them is found dead, things start to unwind.. Rea and Julia have been friends for years, but once their friendship is torn by cheating, there is no going back. Once Julia is found dead suspicion falls on Rea. Did she? Didnt she?
Parts of the book were gripping, but I repeat, the ending had me completely baffled.
Thanks to NetGalley for a review copy.

When I started this book I thought what a great storyline. It has two very strong female characters who you do not know which to support, and you end up switching allegiance between the two of them. There was a lot of technical scientific description which could be reduced. I found the ending quite disappointing and more than a little far fetched which spoilt it for me.

I have to say, that I found the beginning of the book slightly confusing – I felt, for the first few chapters, that the author was incredibly enthusiastic and was trying to give the reader so detail much in order to grasp their attention. As I read on, I found the book settled down and as that happened, it did grab my attention.

I’ll be honest and say I didn’t warm to Julia, Rea, or Owen - each of them is ruthless in their own way. I liked the fact that Feng added an element of genuine concern and friendship. I believe the book is more than a murder mystery - it embraces topics such as loyalty, scruples, and medical ethics. The ending took me by surprise – don’t worry, I shan’t spoil things, suffice to say it wasn’t what I was expecting at all.

A solid four stars from me.

What happens when a doctor cuts corners on medical research? Can she cure someone she's close to with the new wonder drug? It must be difficult if the research you're doing seems to be ideal, yet you have to go through stages - petrie dishes and animals before you can start to think of human trials. Yet these checks and balances are there for a purpose - what if the side-effects are worse than the original disease, and not as rare as necessary for a drug.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher I read a free advance review copy of the book. This review is voluntary, honest and my own opinion.

Too Plodding for a Thriller



Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Vintage for this Advanced Review Copy.

The title, cover, and description all intrigued me, and I was delighted to receive a review copy of this book. Having worked as a nurse in past decades, I looked forward to a good medical thriller. Unfortunately, the read didn’t deliver for me. I found the pacing too slow and the characters flat and like cardboard cutouts. Basically, I couldn’t care less what happened to any of the people populating this novel. As for the plot, I found this too fantastical to believe. And the way the characters responded didn’t resonate. Finally, what happened at the end, and what got uncovered, just made things worse. The writing suffered from a lack of polishing with overuse of words such as “practically”, over and over and over again, and miswritten sentences such as “it got and worse” and “I take a tissue from box on the bedside” etc.

I wanted to like this book. I truly did. But it simply didn’t deliver for me. A few lines stood out for me, but so many more didn’t. I offer a soft 2 stars for this read.

***

NOTE ON RATINGS: I consider a 3-star rating a positive review. Picky about which books I give 5 stars to, I reserve this highest rating for the stories I find stunning and which moved me.



5 STARS: IT WAS AMAZING! I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN! — Highly Recommended.

4 STARS: I WOULD PULL AN ALL-NIGHTER — Go read this book.

3 STARS: IT WAS GOOD! — An okay read. Didn’t love it. Didn’t hate it.

2 STARS: I MAY HAVE LIKED A FEW THINGS —Lacking in some areas: writing, characterisation, and/or problematic plot lines.

1 STAR: NOT MY CUP OF TEA —Lots of issues with this book

Gives me the vibes from the early thriller writers like Robin Cook and Robert Patterson. Loved the book. Great story.

This is a medical-based drama/thriller. The main protagonist Rea, believes that her closest friend Julia has cheated her out of her dream job and they have a major falling-out. Both women are ambitious and stubborn, but have a long history of friendship which Rea cannot ignore. But when Rea visits Julia to offer an olive branch, she finds her dead.
Who killed her, and why? Suspected by the police, and suffering criippling headaches, Rea tries to work out why Julia was killed.
The story starts well, with a good opening tension-builder which draws you in, but I found the ending and reasoning behind it unconvincing. There were too many implausibilities and inconsistencies that made the last major section -the denouement and explanation of what’s going on- feel disjointed and improbable. (I read this section twice to make sure I wasn’t being unjust).
This is still quite a good read-just not, for me, a brilliant one.

This is an intriguing book right from the beginning because it is not obvious what is going to happen. Ria and Julia have been friends for years but are now competing for the same senior job in the cancer research department of a major hospital. One wins, one comes second which damages the friendship. That seems like the end of it but it is a long way from that. There is much to come that is unexpected as one disappears. Then there is their boss who is in an inappropriate relationship first with one then the other. He is also seriously ill with exactly the disease that their department is trying to cure. Throughout this book, there are unexpected twists and turns which keep you absorbed and the ending is entirely unexpected. I recommend this book.

I found this really unlikely. I realise that it is a work of fiction but the sudden discovery, the use of the drug on a person and the unlikely opportunity to develop a hidden experimental laboratory is so much of a stretch that it seems to be only a platform for the final twist in this story. I felt that the final chapters held the story idea and everything else had to be made to fit. I found the behaviours of the hospital and police characters were unlikely.
This is difficult for me to recommend

Deadly Cure started well and certainly piqued my interest with the first few chapters. It promised to be a thriller of betrayal, secrets and ruthless ambition and for the most part it was. However towards the last third of the book, I was finding it predictable and the ending for me wasn’t great. Thank you to NetGalley, Random House and the author for the chance to review.

This is a phenomenal read.

Rea is rightfully angry when Julia, her closest friend and long time academic, takes the job Rea has been dreaming for for as long as she can remember. However, when Julia turns up dead - with all fingers being pointed at Rea for her murder - Rea must find out the truth, clearing her own name and finding justice for someone who changed her life.

The book tackles themes of medical ethics and morality as well as serving as a murder mystery. You find yourself questioning the guilt and innocence every character - it is a masterfully crafted novel, a real page turner. The ending does not disappoint - I found myself suspect parts, but the delivery is phenomenal and absolutely perfectly done.

Such an easy five stars.

Thank you to netgalley for this ARC in exchange for my unbiased review :)

The story was ok. Kept you guessing but I could not connect with any of the main characters.
They were all shallow and narcissistic.

A really exciting addition to the genre; reliable, if a little predictable in places. Would recommend if you know what you want from this sort of book, as it definitely delivers that. Also great for fans of any sort of medical show, as the finale is like an episode of Grey's Anatomy!