I was keen to read this after being hooked by the blurb, unfortunately it didn't live up to my expectations.
I thought the story had a lot of potential but It was just so unbelievable at times.

I really wanted to enjoy this one but there were just many points where I found myself shaking my head thinking ‘there’s just no way’. The characters were shallow in that I didn’t get under the skin of any of them, the writing felt stilted and forced and the motive was weak to say the least. Disappointed as thrillers are usually my favourite - this one fell very short of the mark.

A good medical thriller, the author knows how to keep the reading engaged and in suspense. I found the pace a little slower than I normally like however it still kept me reading. Alison Wilson is the new Medical Officer is a strong character with a background

I really enjoyed this book. Working in healthcare, there can be fiction set within a healthcare setting that I struggle to read. However, this wasn’t one of them. I liked the main character and the strength she showed throughout the challenges put towards her. The mystery and suspense the author has created kept me wanting to read more. I kept changing my mind about who had done it. Allowing there still to be a little shock factor at the end. I would very much like to pick up another book by this author, I look forward to what they have in store for the future.

Ready for a clean break, Dr Alison Wilson has moved from London to a small seaside town to take up a new a post as Medical Director at failing hospital, St Margaret’s.

With a higher-than-average fatality rate Alison is tasked to turn things around – a challenge she is keen to get her teeth into- but the odds are not in her favour and some of those factors are far darker than she could have even possibly imagined.

The Doctor is a fast-paced medical thriller. The hospital setting made it different to many other thrillers I have read before, and it was evident the author knew what she was talking about (having worked in the NHS herself) and therefore the details were spot on. I found the start slightly slow but once the suspense started building, I couldn’t get through the pages fast enough as I was so eager to find out who was behind everything.

Th characters in the book were very well developed--from the main protagonist herself right to the extras in the story- I could imagine each and everyone of them and emphasise with the emotions they were feeling.

One thing I found confusing was that the narrative of the suspect was added at the end of some chapters and there was a lack of differentiation which meant I sometimes had to go back and re-read it in the correct context. This may be clearer in a printed version but on Kindle it was just a new paragraph in the same font.

Overall four stars. A great medical mystery.

I enjoyed The Doctor, I read through most of it in one go, but towards the end I felt it lost me a little, but that didn’t detract from the fact it was a good read.

This medical-themed suspense story is atmospheric and has a distinctly chilling ethos. I like Alison, the main protagonist. While she has some characteristics of an unreliable narrator, it is clear her motivations are for good. This is a suspenseful medical drama but would be more so if the second voice in the story was darker and less distinct. The cast of characters adds to the story, and the hospital setting is intrinsic to the suspense.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

The Doctor is a suspenseful medical thriller.

Dr. Alison Wilson is starting a new job at St. Margaret's Hospital as the new medical officer. Because of low ratings she is tasked to make changes with quick results. All most from day one things are a struggle for Alison. People keep dying and faulty equipment is only partially to blame. Alison's emails and appointments are removed and are unable to be explained at how this keeps happening. Reports she submits are changed without her knowledge. Something isn't quite right at Saint Margarets, but no one seems to notice or want to find out what is wrong.

Alison gets permission to hire another doctor, a retired former colleague, to help her discover where the problems lie. As she starts to dig into the hospital’s past, Alison gradually discovers a much deeper and darker problem than she could have ever imagined. The attacks on Alison escalate and her life is in danger. Will she be able to find the person responsible for everything before it is too late.

This was a slow burning mystery. There are many twists and turns that kept me turning the pages until the final reveal. There are many red herrings that had me changing my mind as to who might be responsible. The ending was riveting I found myself holding my breath.

Alison is running away from her past and has moved jobs to a new hospital where she is taking over as Medical Director. The hospital is failing on so many levels and it's her job to turn things around.

With staff shortages, faulty equipment and more lies than she could ever imagine, Alison really does have an uphill battle and when she becomes a target it's clear that somebody will do anything to stop her discovering the truth.

Written from the point of view of Alison, with some paragraphs from 'the killer'.

It's clear that the author has great knowledge of medical terminology.

Kept me guessing and I changed my mind so many times.

Really enjoyable read with great believable characters.

Dr Alison Wilson is the new medical officer of a small seaside hospital moving from a busy London hospital but some people don`t want her there and strange things start happening to her and people are making her job difficult for her to cope.
Lots of suspects and twists, you know who it might be but keeps you guessing.
A bit slow in places and sometimes confusing who it is who is speaking

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC

Posted to Goodreads

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and Avon Books for the gifted e-book ❤️ #gifted. My review is comprised of my honest thoughts.

Read this book if you like: Multiple POVs, whodunit, small towns

This started off incredibly slow. The first chapter was amazing but then it crept by. Once it hit midway it was more engaging. It's an easy read that is a bit predictable. I liked it enough.

I can’t think of any other medical thriller I’ve read so I wasn’t completely sure what to expect. The first chapter is told from the POV of the killer and set the scene well. It is clear the author has first hand knowledge of hospitals and hospital procedures, there was a lot of it in the book, which I was fine with. The main character was, I thought, not as strong as she would have been having attained this level in her career, but she was still a good protagonist.

Briefly, Dr Alison Wilson is the new medical director at St Margaret’s hospital. Recently divorced, she resigned from a similar post in London looking for a new start. Needing to turn the failing hospital around she has great plans but very quickly finds herself simply trying to keep her head above water. Her computer is hacked, property vandalised and she is being stalked but what she doesn’t yet know is that there is someone deliberately murdering patients and Alison is a threat.

Fairly slow paced this was a good psychological thriller with a tense plot. There are a number of clever twists as Alison fights against time to discover the truth. The story felt very authentic and it was an enjoyable read.

Alison Wilson is the new Medical Officer in the hospital. As she adjusts to her new position, she finds that things are truly amiss and sets about to make some big changes, which some of the staff are not happy about. Some of the Starr aren’t happy about her even being there-they liked the former colleague who held the position, and don’t understand why she replaced him. As strange things keep happening, Alison chocks it up to being the newbie, but slowly she uncovers the secrets of her colleagues and realizes that something dark is happening at the hospital.
I liked the premise-always a fan of a hospital or clinical setting and anytime a character is placed in an isolated new environment and left to sort things out is usually going to be a good time for me. However, this felt a little too “clinical “ sadly and not enough “thriller “ I needed a little more action and a little less hospital.
That being said, I will for sure check out the authors future work.
Thanks to Avon Books Uk and NetGalley for this eArc in exchange for my review.

At the beginning of the story it is such a quick read and interesting as it’s from a medical perspective which I thoroughly enjoyed however the story did get a bit predictable which made me lose a bit of interest.

I like the fact that the Dr Alison Wilson came from a big shot city to a small town to help out another practice with her years of experience.

Right... I was already afraid this was going to happen to be honest. There have been a lot of negative reviews about The Doctor since I requested a copy, and it kind of made me regret the decision to do so... Especially since the reviews all mentioned valid issues that would greatly bother me as well. Since I already had a copy hanging out on my kindle, I decided to just jump in with low expectations and try to make the best of the situation. Who knows, I might have another unpopular opinion popping up and actually love the story? But of course those kind of books are rarer to find than a talking unicorn.

I was initially pleasantly surprised, because the beginning of The Doctor wasn't all bad. The first chapter from the killer's POV makes for a great opening, and I was ready to sit down and enjoy this medical thriller. But the fact is: whatever The Doctor is, don't expect for anything exciting to happen or for it to focus on the actual crime. Instead, this story reads like one of those over the top medical drama series you see on TV, and not in a good way. The plot basically consists of telling us in great detail how the hospital is run, then strange stuff happening to the main character, but her thinking she is just paranoid and drinking yet ANOTHER glass of wine to end the day. Repeat that a kazillion times, and that was just about what I read in the first 36%. Could things have become better later on? Maybe, but considering I read quite a few reviews and they all complain about the same, I don't think so.

There was just something about the writing style and tone that simply didn't work for me at all. There was quite a lot of repetition, and I just never felt the suspense. I also hated that some of the chapters suddenly had a POV jump at the end to the killer's POV without any warning at all. I do normally love a good POV from the killer, but the tone was just way off and it made the killer almost sound immature. The pace was considerably slow as well, and I struggled to keep reading. Add the fact that the reviews promised that it was only getting worse and more over the top, and I decided that life was too short to continue reading a book I already knew would never work for me. DNF number five of the year it is! Oh well, we can't like them all...

Thank you NetGalley and Avon Books UK for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

So I have never read a book quite like this and I really enjoyed it! It was definitely different than the typical thrillers that you come across because it is more targeted as a medical thriller. You could definitely tell that the author has been around the hospitals because she definitely knew what she was talking about and I feel like that helped with the suspense of the story. This book was gripping, kept the readers attention, and there were definitely parts that I did not expect. I will say that the description of the MC was definitely frustrating at times. As a reader, I really wanted to support the MC who is a female doctor who moved to become a head of the hospital that she is now working at. However, the writing just kind of made her into this defenseless women who can’t really take care of herself and that just became frustrating at times. Overall, I still enjoyed reading the book and think this would be a perfect beach read going into the summertime!

The Doctor Annie Payne

5 stars

Interesting Medical Story

Dr Alison Wilson has left London to take up a job as a Medical Director at a small seaside hospital. She has left her cheating husband behind whose behaviour made her leave a job she loved but is determined to make a success of her new position. St Margaret’s hospital is struggling in many ways but most importantly there seems to be an excess of unexplained deaths.

However right from the start all the staff seem to be against her in particular the man whose job Alison has taken over. Dr Richard Atkinson was forced to resign due to his drug addiction but blames Alison for everything including the fact that she is renting his previous home which he was forced to sell.

Everyone seems to be against Alison, not only the majority of the staff in the hospital but also the locals in the village. Everything that Alison tries to do goes wrong and it is soon obvious that someone is hacking into her computer, emails are not sent, meetings are cancelled and everywhere she turns the staff seem to be hindering her and blaming her..

I really enjoyed this book, my daughter is a doctor in a busy hospital and I know of the conditions that they have to deal with. It is obvious that the author has worked in the NHS as so many of the problems described are actually happening on a daily basis. This book was a really impressive story building up all the suspects and, something that always impresses me in this type of book, the real culprit was totally unexpected.

Medical thrillers like this are quite unusual and I really enjoyed this one and will look forward to any more books from this author.


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Karen Deborah
Reviewer for Net Galley

The Doctor is a medical thriller, it’s fast paced and quick to read.

Dr Alison Wilson has a new job as medical director at a new hospital, but after looking through the books she notices strange things going on. She’s not been received well as she took an older Dr’s job. Strange things started happening and she had an idea who it could be.

I enjoyed reading this book, the author has a great knowledge of the medical background after working in that work. The characters were good to read about, the descriptions were in depth.

A great thriller, an easy read and you wouldn’t want to put down.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for a copy.

This was a quick and easy read for me, but I found it a bit too predictable and that spoilt my enjoyment of it unfortunately.

I’d like to thank Avon Books UK and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘The Doctor’ by Annie Payne in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Dr Alison Wilson has left London and accepted a position as Medical Director at St Margaret’s, a hospital in the coastal town of Wayleigh, where she’s employed specifically to improve their CQC rating. Alison arrives a week before she’s due so she can make an early start but finds things worse than she’d expected with unexplained deaths and missing drugs, and it isn’t long before she senses that someone is getting into her computer, deleting appointments and falsifying reports.

‘The Doctor’ is an excellent medical drama that’s written by an author who knows her way around hospitals and is able to write a thriller that’s factually correct and authentic, making it an absolute joy to read. From page one I’ve been gripped by what was happening to Alison at both St Margaret’s and her home, not forgetting Paws, and all day I’ve been turning page after page unable to stop reading in case I missed anything. By the time I approached the last chapter I felt as if I’d actually been there in the hospital and was glad when the heart-stopping conclusion revealed who was trying to destroy Alison and her reputation. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed reading this thriller, can wholeheartedly recommend it, and am sorry it’s come to an end.