The unnamed Scottish narrator writes about his experiences as a doctor in 1999 in this engrossing medical/crime novel.
He barely passes medical school and in his third year of practice in Scotland he gets addicted to opioids and once he’s (barely) cleared to work again he moves to London to try to start over. Not many doctors are willing to work at the understaffed, under-resourced St Luke’s, but he’s aware not many hospitals would hire him either. After what can only be called a cursory interview he begins his first of many exhausting shifts while attending weekly drug counselling, with a minister who sleeps through their sessions.
Just as he settles into a chaotic routine between the emergency section and the elderly care ward, the hospital starts having unexplained deaths that brings the police in and soon everyone is a suspect. But this is not a medical thriller, it moves slowly, and feels more like a fictional medical memoir with a crime thread. There’s a lot of medical detail and the fascination is in the daily account of the life of a young, flawed hospital doctor.
It’s witty and compelling but don’t expect thrilling. Between chapters the author, a former doctor, adds interesting stories of real-life cases of medical staff who have murdered in history.
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC.

This is a pretty average thriller. It wasn’t what I expected from the summary at all. The plot wasn’t gripping and I think it may have been due to the writing style.

If a visit to the hospital fills you with dread, ex-physician Simon Stephenson’s medical crime thriller will undoubtedly scare the living daylights out of you.

Set in 1999 Sometimes people die follows the daily life of a young, Scottish doctor who returns to practice after being suspended for stealing opioids. Working conditions at St. Luke’s in east London are, as in most hospitals, often less than ideal. Nonetheless, a deluge of patients, inadequate funding, and understaffing are the least of their problems. There have been at least 15 and possibly up to 43 excess deaths in the last year. Too many patients are dying.

Full review: https://westwordsreviews.wordpress.com/2024/03/20/sometimes-people-die-simon-stephenson/

Ich bin nicht wirklich warm geworden mit dem Buch und dem Schreibstil und habe es dann schlussendlich abgebrochen. Die Thematik an sich hätte gut werden können, leider nichts für mich.

A good thriller that kept me reading and guess. I like the plot even if it drags a little in the middle.
You don't know who's the culprit and there's plenty of surprising twists
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

This was an okay read but i really struggled with concentration in the middle section of this. The main character was interesting to follow and i liked seeing what he had to go thorough in his position but the side characters didn't feel believable enough for me. I feel like the story progression was fine but it certainly didn't have enough for me. I liked the writing for the most part but there were definitely scenes that could have been written better.

I loved this, the mix between medicine and a serial killer thrown in was executed perfectly.

Sharp, clever and a thrilling read.

Sometimes People Die was a cynical, dark and twisted gem of a book.

God, I loved this book. For me it was kind of like This Is Going To Hurt but leveled up - it had that same bleak humour in the face of a broken healthcare system, emotional integrity and impact and ultimately tragedy. It was gritty and grounded, allowing you to get entirely caught up in the unnamed narrator’s life. He is somewhat of an unreliable narrator to his colleagues, keeping secrets but frank to extreme points with the reader. He is caught up in his addiction and recovery, adding another layer to an already complex book. The shifts are unrelenting and death becomes such a normalised part of life. Throughout, there are these real-life examples of medical serial killers and they are chilling. You keep second guessing who in the hospital is guilty. Though I did guess this one fairly early on, I was flummoxed and successfully distracted by Stephenson so many times.

I also adored the dark humour that ran throughout the book. It is such a testament to that style of coping that manifests from facing trauma every day and just having to carry on. It also underscores the complete disaster that is the healthcare system. The shifts are horrendously long, the staff are somewhat broken and the many failings often go swept under the carpet. You get so immersed in the daily shifts that you somtimes forget to keep an eye out for a potential killer. This is also where those real life examples come in - to reiterate just how nefarious these killings are and how they can be hidden in plain sight. The power that the medical professionals hold in their hands is staggering. Stephenson makes some wonderfully thought-provoking points with the final few chapters about vengeance, justice and the justice system itself, particularly in these cases that involve people we trust and who are respected purely for their jobs.

Sometimes People Die lives up to its title - grim, bleakly funny and unfalteringly honest in its brutality.

I loved this! I had forgotten what it was about when I started to read it - which is how I like to go into a book, I don’t re-read the blurb - and was convinced (until I eventually gave in and looked it up) that I was reading a memoir. I thought I had it all worked out at the end, but I didn’t. I enjoyed the sections about serial killers, interspersed throughout. I would definitely read more by this author and recommend that everyone read this! Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers.

I read a lot of thrillers so I'm always looking for ones that are a bit different to the standard. I'd say this isn't really a thriller but more of a medical, slow burning crime story that has a memoir feel to it. Certainly quite different to the standard then!

Our unnamed narrator, who is a junior doctor and former opioid addict, recounts his time at St Luke's hospital during which a series of unexplained deaths happen. This book then follows the investigation but the focus is more on the day to day life in the hospital.

It really feels like you're reading a memoir especially as every now and again there is a short chapter covering a real life medical serial killer, most of which I hadn't heard about and found fascinating.

I loved this book so much. I loved the writing style and the dry humour. I loved reading about the hospital and the commentary on the pressures junior doctors face. It raises some really interesting points. There is also quite a bit about drug addiction which again I found to be a really interesting aspect of the story.

I found this book to be so addictive to read. I was thinking about it all the time! Can't wait to read more from this author in the future!

Excellent book. Really enjoyed it and its one that is very hard to put down.
I will be looking into other books from Simon Stephenson.

The gentle, sometimes humourous and conversational memoire style of telling makes this a sneaky read that draws you in without you even realising it. Dealing with some heavy topics as well and the underlying series of mysterious deaths at St Lukes, this is a thought provoking reading experience that I know I will be talking about for some time.

this is a very different kind of "serial killer" book and I think I was expecting a lot more of a traditional crime / thriller novel. Instead this for me was primarily the story of a junior doctor, who having fallen into addiction, is on his last chance - he has to attend weekly counselling, stay clean, and has had to take any job available as he no longer has his pick. He ends up in a rough London hospital with little support system. It reads like a non-fictional account of a junior doctor, but is also interspersed with small chapters detailing other health professionals who have gone on to become killers... setting the scene for the main plot of the book. There is an unexpected death on the ward - and the elderly patients daughter is suspicious and the police investigate. The post mortem reveals that it looks like foul play has occurred, and an investigation is launched into the excess deaths the hospital has suffered in recent years. There are suddenly many suspicious deaths, and a fuller police investigation begins. Our junior doctor is immediately a suspect, in part because of him being involved in the failed resuscitation of the elderly patient who died, but also his own addiction background.
Terrified to be in the police spotlight, he starts to investigate the potential culprits himself.
Really enjoyed this - but the title and the cover did not give sell me this book - it was a recommendation from a bookseller. I think it will be word of mouth that sells this - as it doesn't fit into an obvious genre.

Right from the opening chapter this unnerving novel hooks you in

Told like a diary or memoir we great from unnamed narrator, a Scottish doctor who has recently fallen foul of the General Medical Council due to his opioid addiction. Whilst he was not struck off, his reputation is such that he can only really get a job in specific hospitals, overrun, dilapidated hospitals where no self-respecting doctor would really choose to work. This brings him to St Luke's and this where the action takes place.

The narrator takes on a journey that is unsettling, eerie and that plays into our own fears. The novel is fantastically paced with a slow burn, the way the first deaths are handled almost like background noise among the busy life of the narrator highlights the way these types of crimes take place they are almost unnoticed at first, this for me was really smart and set the pace and tone of the novel. The resulting conclusion is good and leaves you thinking long after reading.

Although serial-killer-in-the-hospital sounds like a thrilling page turner (and it very much is that), this is also a character-driven novel and a great look at doctors as human beings, first and foremost, and their inherent fallibility and weaknesses. This is expertly discussed and examined in close detail with the interlinked chapters on the history of medics of whom commit murder in real life. I found these added extra depth to the novel and the characters within in, these chapters were also very interesting and informative.

The narrator throughout has a dead pan witty tone what gives what is a quite a dark novel a lighter dark humorous tone, which I felt suited the narrators character very well. Very much gallows humour.

This is a deeply unsettling psychological thriller what is well written and has something more than your usual serial killer novel.

I would advise you don't read it while in hospital tho

Simon Stephenson brings his experience as a former physician to his storytelling, lending an authenticity to his indepth medical details and insightful account of being a NHS doctor in 1999 in an underfunded East End hospital, the life, the constant and recognisable stress, the patients, and the staff. After being caught stealing opoids, a young unnamed Scottish doctor takes up a post hardly anyone is keen on after being suspended, at the struggling and challenging St Luke's hospital in a deprived part of London, determined to do his best. The first part is written in the style of a memoir, the pacing is slow, and for me, it was highly informative, but slightly overwhelming at times. The narrative pace increases in the latter half, it is not surprising that in a hospital people are going to die.

However, too many people are dying, this now turns into a stylish serial killer mystery relayed as true crime. The police suspect the 'Angel of Death' is our doctor, as tensions and paranoia rise, could he possible find the real killer? There is plenty of black humour as we are given a picture of the exhausting long hours, and often traumatic daily experiences of working within the NHS, and there are twists and turns in this at times entertaining read. To top it all, we learn of the true history of actual doctors who have killed, including the notorious and obvious candidates of Dr Harold Shipman and Dr Crippen. I can see this appealing to those interested in the life of a medic in the late 1990s, and as a bonus get a murder mystery too!! Many thanks to the publisher.

If you like your humour dry and dark (and I very much do) then this is definitely the book for you.

I will start off with a couple of warnings though which you may see in other reviews. Although the story of this book is essentially about a potential serial killer lurking within a hospital, it is not what I would call fast-paced and it does start off slowly. For me, that is not a criticism. I actually dislike the term 'slow' being used pejoratively, there is definitely a time and a place for slowness in story telling and I think in books like this, it is necessary.

The next warning is that there is quite a lot of medical jargon and explanation of conditions in the book. Again, not an issue for me as I found it quite enlightening but others may be put off by it.

Anyway, back to the novel. This story follows our unnamed narrator, a Scottish doctor who has recently fallen foul of the General Medical Council due to his opioid addiction. Whilst he was not struck off, his reputation is such that he can only really get a job in specific hospitals, overrun, dilapidated hospitals where no self-respecting doctor would really choose to work.

This brings him to St Luke's where he meets a number of different people, all struggling in some way or another. However, when a police investigation uncovers a number of unexplained, excess deaths at St Luke's it is clear that not everyone is who they seem to be.

Although serial-killer-in-the-hospital sounds like a thrilling page turner (and it does become that), this is also a character-driven novel and a great look at doctors as human beings, first and foremost, and their inherent fallibility and weaknesses. The story may live or die dependent upon your feelings about the main character. I, essentially, liked him despite his obvious flaws and dubious life choices but not sure everyone will agree.

This is not quite what I expected. It reads more like a diary, than the serial killer story I was expecting, and so I felt it was slow to start.
Once we got into some detecting, it picked up.
I really liked George, though not so much our main character.
I don't have to like him, to find him interesting though!
By the end, I was fully invested in the whole thing, and felt a bit more knowledgeable on medics who kill.

Every now and then you pick up a book and just know its going to be everything you love.
This has everything, well written with characters you easily get to know. Sad, heart-breaking and full of such dark humour that found me really laughing out loud in the early hours of the morning. I wish every book i read was of this quality. My thanks to netgalley and the publisher for my copy.