When his toxic medical director dies of a heart attack, fellow doctor Eitan Rose smells foul play. Nobody else does, though, including some quite crucial players like the police and the medical examiner. So Eitan vows to uncover the truth himself.
But Eitan’s own past and reputation are far from spotless, despite his budding relationship with Cole, a handsome hospital porter, and reluctant camaraderie with his office mate, Margaret-with-the-cats. As his colleagues become increasingly concerned about his mental health, Eitan’s investigation spirals out of control. Could a killer really be stalking the wards? Or is Eitan making a catastrophic mistake?
I really enjoyed Adam Kay’s medical murder mystery A PARTICULARLY NASTY CASE quite a lot, but I’m going to start this review off by talking about DNFs, because I almost bailed out on this book very early.
Spoiler alert: I’m glad I didn’t.
I’ve become a rather proficient DNFer. I think it’s a skill that all readers should hone, to be honest. I have a whole internal set of “rules and guidelines” about when and why I might choose to not finish a book. It could be any number of things, but a few examples:
-something problematic that pops up more than once or really egregiously, like fatphobia, transphobia, etc.
-something I find wildly unnecessary and/or upsetting. For me this is usually animal testing or a totally senseless animal death
-there’s nothing that could happen in the remainder of the book that would make me feel any different/better about the part of the book I’ve read. And if it’s a series, there’s nothing that could happen in the end of book one that would get me interested in reading book two.
So some of that probably sounds vague but it makes sense to me. I think it’s just one of those things, like “you know when you know,” and I don’t feel bad about putting aside books that just aren’t working for me. There’s too much I want to read, and I hate when reading a book begins to feel like chore.
The thing that was putting me off A PARTICULARLY NASTY CASE was more just…the tone? I found the early stages of the book to be almost relentlessly sarcastic, and it was keeping me at arm’s length. I couldn’t connect at all with the characters and just wasn’t vibing with this book.
But there was something there. The writing was really good & so I stuck with it. I also ended up listening to the audiobook for a lot of this one & I’ll be mentioning that later in the review. But no doubt it really enhanced my enjoyment of this one!
Eitan Rose is a rheumatologist at a London hospital called St. Jude’s. When we meet Eitan, he’s returning to work after an extended period of time off. Eitan is bipolar and has been going through some really tough times. He’s a guy who seems unable to stay out of trouble. He’s a good doctor & a caring, funny person. Eitan just always seems to be putting his foot in his mouth and making his own life a lot harder than it needs to be.
When Eitan’s medical director/nemesis, Douglas Moran, dies of a heart attack, Eitan feels something suspicious has happened. The problem becomes, as Eitan’s own madcap “investigation” into Moran’s death intensifies (read: gets totally out of control), all the clues seem to point in one direction: at Eitan himself.
With the help of his new boyfriend, Cole, and his mopey co-worker Margaret, Eitan is determined to solve the case, and/or get fired and socially ostracized in the process, whichever comes first.
The tone of this book is quite irreverent & I think that was my issue initially. I think I was just looking for a little more to sink my teeth into, and it took awhile for the book to get there. And then, oof. There’s some really heavy, emotional stuff wedged in among all the zaniness, you just have to be a little patient (no pun) to get there.
Eitan’s younger sister tragically passed away when he was a med student, and the circumstances surrounding her death have left Eitan both grief-stricken & guilt-ridden. It’s a lot for him to carry, and it’s impacted his life in some really awful ways.
In addition to confronting the messiness of grief, with A PARTICULARLY NASTY CASE, Kay also shines a really bright light on the stigma around mental illness, especially in a professional setting. Eitan is under constant scrutiny from co-workers and supervisors, all of whom seem to think that having bipolar disorder is the central defining characteristic of who Eitan is.
Where this book really comes alive is on the audiobook, narrated by the Andy Serkis. I don’t believe he’s done a lot of audiobook narration outside of the LORD OF THE RINGS books, so that makes this a really special thing here. And he really puts a lot into the performance & I was completely riveted when I was listening.
All in all, this was an entertaining read. I’m sure really savvy mystery readers might be able to crack the case before the end of the book, but I was definitely kept in suspense right up until the end. Like I said, it took me a bit to get settled into the tone of the book, but this proved to be a very enjoyable story!
Big thanks to Mulholland Books and Hachette Audio for sending this one my way!
Grimdark Dad 