I Read, Therefore I Blog

The Blurb On The Back:

Some patients will live.

Some patients will die.

But while their lives hang by a thread …

The heart surgeon will do everything he can to save them.

The day his grandfather died, Steve Westaby vowed to become a heart surgeon.

Today, as one of the world’s most eminent heart surgeons, Professor Steve Westaby shares the stories of the lives he has fought to save.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Professor Stephen Westaby is one of the world’s foremost heart surgeons and a pioneer in the use of mechanical hearts and stem cell research in heart tissue repair and in this moving and fascinating medical memoir (illustrated by Dee McLean), he describes how his grandfather’s death and a TV documentary inspired him into the profession and sets out some of the cases that have had the biggest impact on him both professionally and emotionally.

FRAGILE LIVES was released in the United Kingdom on 9th February 2017. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.

The Blurb On The Back:

It takes a strong woman to be able to watch someone die.

Ex-FBI agent Brigid Quinn has seen it all, and survived. But nothing can cut her closer to the bone than family …

Laura Coleman once saved Brigid’s life, but is now working on an ‘innocence project’, investigating cold cases. And one in particular seems to have caught her attention. Fifteen years before, Marcus Creighton was accused of killing his wife and three children. Now the state governor has signed the warrant for his execution.

Worried that her friend is getting in too deep, Brigid promises to help. But what if her instincts are betraying her? If she can’t even trust her memories of her own childhood, how can she make a call on some stranger’s story that took place over fifteen years before?

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

I picked up Becky Masterman’s crime thriller not realising that it was the third in a series and I think you need to read the earlier books to understand the family and friendship dynamics as I found both them and Quinn’s behaviour around them difficult to believe in while the mystery itself never really grabbed me and becomes overwhelmed by Quinn’s family problems. I liked the fact that Quinn is an older woman and able to draw on her experience but the hard-boiled voice just read like it was trying too hard and without having had the benefit of the earlier books, I simply wasn’t that interested or emotionally invested in her re-examination of her relationship with her parents or her brother. Similarly, I found her friendship with Coleman to be a little cold and distant and really needed to know their shared history (which is mentioned without going into much detail) in order to understand some of the tensions there. The mystery itself is okay but very much plays second fiddle to Quinn’s domestic issues and while the death row element should add jeopardy a development half way through removes the urgency and made it difficult to care about the resolution. Ultimately I just didn’t connect with the book and I’m not sure I care enough about Quinn to read the earlier works.

A TWIST OF THE KNIFE will be released in the United Kingdom on 23rd March 2017. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.