A Handful of Ashes

by Rob McCarthy

Overview

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. e 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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781681778143
Publisher:	Pegasus Books
Publication date:	05/01/2018
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	384
File size:	644 KB

About the Author

Rob McCarthy is a medical student in his fourth year of study, who started writing crime novels when the neuroanatomy textbooks threatened to take his sanity. He lives in South London, where he is currently working on two more novels featuring Dr Harry Kent.

Editorial Reviews

★ 03/05/2018
British author McCarthy’s outstanding sequel to 2016’s The Hollow Men finds medical examiner Harry Kent bemoaning his less-than-successful medical career and hooked on the amphetamines he tells himself he needs to function. To his further dismay, he receives a summons from his troubled, alcoholic former girlfriend, Frankie Noble, now an acting DCI, to look into the death of Dr. Susan Bayliss, who apparently stabbed herself more than once until she severed a major artery. Susan was suspended by London’s Belgrave Hospital for Sick Children, one of the world’s leading pediatric facilities, after she blew the whistle on a cardiac surgeon who lost four young patients in quick succession. Though a previous attempt at a fatal overdose supports the theory that Susan took her own life after losing her job and being publicly vilified, Harry notes marks on her body that suggest someone held her down. McCarthy delivers a startling ending and perfectly blends the whodunit plot with Harry’s struggles with his addiction and his relationship with Frankie. Agent: Jane Gregory, Gregory & Co (U.K.). (May)

Publishers Weekly

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 (Starred)

A perfect mix of detective novel and medical drama. The grit and level of detail presented in [McCarthy’s] narratives shape the foundation of good story and his character development effort is admirable. McCarthy is a new voice to watch and this title makes a good companion for fans of medical thrillers.

Mystery Tribune

Delivers its gruesome details in the authentic voice of the medical student McCarthy happens to be. Presented with jarring realism and zero sentimentality.

Marilyn Stasio - New York Times Book Review

The Hollow Men is gritty and intense; it’s complex and explosive. The characters in this debut are exemplary and McCarthy is unquestioningly a writer to watch.

Shelf Awareness

Dr. Harry Kent, the protagonist of English author (and medical student) Rob McCarthy’s A Handful of Ashes, takes his job as a medical examiner with London’s Metropolitan Police very much to heart. With the gifted Mr. McCarthy in charge, the prognosis is guardedly optimistic.

Wall Street Journal