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.
Stephenson writes an immensely entertaining crime mystery that skillfully blends medical information with dark and wry humour. While attempting to identify the person who is killing rather than healing, our narrator must confront his own demons. In addition, he offers a startling look at hospital conditions and the unpredictable nature of medicine. This makes for unsettling reading, especially given the author’s inclusion of real-life cases of medical killers. These short true-crime intervals in the plotline creates perfect pauses in-between the hustle and bustle of events at the hospital.
“… the notion that a healthcare worker might intentionally harm a patient is therefore a profoundly troubling one. And yet a hospital is an almost perfect hunting ground for those motivated to end rather than enhance human life.”
Stephenson recently stated in an interview with Crime Reads that he had always wanted to write a book that was set in a medical environment but wasn’t quite sure how to accomplish it without turning it into a memoir. Until it occurred to him that there could be an intersection of crime and medicine. As he explains in the same interview, medical diagnosis and criminal investigation come down to the same thing: “an attempt to identify a killer before they claim another victim.” As a doctor it’s the disease, as a detective it’s the actual killer. Even on a forensic level there are obvious similarities.
Sometimes people die is an unlikely mix of humour, facts, and suspense which does not sound like it would work, but it does. The author clearly understands what works and how to hook his audience, which could be attributed to his experience as a screenwriter for film, as well as his firsthand experiences as a medical practitioner. Whatever the reason, this is a compelling, darkly funny, and surprisingly entertaining novel that deserves more attention than it has received to date.
Sometimes people die is published by Harper Collins UK and they provided me with a NetGalley review copy.
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