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

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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.

SUMMARY: Scottish physician became addicted to pain pills after an accident. He gets a second chance at a busy hospital in London. Soon after he begins working there, the hospital falls under scrutiny for a higher percentage of deaths, leading to a police investigation and the eventual capture of one of his coworkers who confesses to one of the (16?) patient murders. When too many patients die under his watch, a troubled young doctor suspects murder. But are his instincts to be trusted? I could list about 10 quotes, but I won't. Just one which gives you some idea of the pointedness of his phrasing. He doesn't need to tell and tell. For instance you get his first roommate within 3 paragraphs PERFECTLY. But here's a quote about structure surrounds: There is a grit to this novel as well as a thread of dark humour as these doctors and medical professionals try to get through their shifts in a profession I know I could never be in and have utter respect for.Simon is from Edinburgh in Scotland, but now lives in Los Angeles having had stopovers along the way in London and San Francisco.

The criminal element comes into play when it’s discovered that several of St. Luke’s patients have died from opioid overdoses, clearly at the hands of medical personnel, with our narrator suspect number one. Woven throughout the book are the stories of doctors throughout history who doubled as serial killers—these sojourns away from the narrative will drive some readers crazy but I found the context they provided fascinating. In the end, the book comes down to just a few characters and a couple of questions: How does medicine, “a dark and a terrible knowledge,” force its practitioners to see things differently? And what’s the impact when they do see differently? —Brian Kenney I’ve worked as a writer on various films including Pixar’s LUCA, PADDINGTON 2, and my own THE ELECTRICAL LIFE OF LOUIS WAIN. Like every other screenwriter in Hollywood, I have a bottom drawer full of unproduced scripts.

Like Stephenson himself, his main protagonist is a Scot who moves to London to work. Hopefully that’s where the similarities end. I especially liked the inclusion of short chapters that dealt with real-life medical murderers, these are an interesting addition and goes to prove that whilst the story is fictional, it's by no way unbelievable. It also puts you through all the emotions a little. One moment there is tension and then, especially at one scene in particular, I was fighting tears.