Book Summary and Reviews of A Handful of Ashes by Rob McCarthy

A Handful of Ashes by Rob McCarthy

A Handful of Ashes

A Dr. Harry Kent Novel

by Rob McCarthy

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  • Published:
  • May 2018, 384 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

In the new Dr. Harry Kent thriller, a whistleblowing doctor commits suicide - or so it seems. When it turns out to be murder, Harry digs deeper to uncover the truth, in this perfect mix of detective novel and medical drama.

Susan Bayliss became notorious when she blew the whistle on her boss, a famous heart surgeon at a renowned children's hospital. She accused him of negligence, operations were halted, and an inquiry launched. But in the end, she was the one suspended as a troublemaker.

Now Dr. Harry Kent, a medical examiner with the Metropolitan Police, has been called out to certify her suicide. But something about the scene is wrong; it appears someone held Susan down while she died ...

The grieving parents of the children who died demand answers. The hospital is stonewalling. Everyone has secrets. And it's up to Harry Kent and Detective Chief Inspector Frankie Noble to find out which secrets were worth killing for.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Starred Review. Outstanding. McCarthy delivers a startling ending and perfectly blends the whodunit plot with Harry's struggles with his addiction and his relationship with Frankie." - Publishers Weekly

"Starred Review. Medical student McCarthy has created humane, fallible characters - notably Kent and Noble, who struggle with addictions - as he spins a taut plot that's part police procedural, part medical thriller. An unbeatable combination for what's shaping up as a winning series." - Booklist

"This fast-paced mix of medical thriller and crime novel keeps readers guessing until the surprising finale." - Library Journal

"Delivers its gruesome details in the authentic voice of the medical student McCarthy happens to be. Presented with jarring realism and zero sentimentality." - New York Times Book Review

This information about A Handful of Ashes was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

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Author Information

Rob McCarthy

Rob McCarthy, a medical student in London, wrote The Hollow Men when the neuroanatomy textbooks threatened to take his sanity. He is currently working on the next Dr. Harry Kent novel.

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