The Hospital at the End of the World

by Justin C. Key

From the author of the acclaimed The World Wasn’t Ready for You comes a thrilling first novel, set in a near future where artificial intelligence runs the world, involving a young medical student who must unravel family secrets to uncover the truth of his father’s mysterious death.

In a time not so far from our own, society is run by a global AI system controlled by an all powerful corporation. The Shepherd Organization oversees every medical school in the country save one in New Orleans, the renegade Hippocrates which still insists on human-led medicine. It is the last choice school for an ambitious young New Yorker named Pok. But after his father—himself a physician—dies under mysterious circumstance that seems connected to “the shepherds” and their megalomaniacal young CEO, Pok finds himself on a quest for answers that leads right to Hippocrates. Once enrolled, he stumbles upon a further mystery: a strange illness is plaguing newcomers to New Orleans who grew up under shepherd rule. What is causing this fatal anomaly? And how does it relate to the mystery of Pok’s father’s death and his own mysterious past?

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Dystopia, Mystery, Audiobook, Speculative Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy

400 pages, Hardcover

First published February 3, 2026

Reviews

[♡Heather✩Brown♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

ARC✶REVIEW
#ad much love for my advance copy @harperbooks #partner
& @harperaudio #partner for the ALC

𝕋𝕙𝕖 ℍ𝕠𝕤𝕡𝕚𝕥𝕒𝕝 𝕒𝕥 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝔼𝕟𝕕 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕎𝕠𝕣𝕝𝕕
< @justinckey >
ʀᴇʟᴇᴀꜱᴇꜱ: ꜰᴇʙʀᴜᴀʀʏ 𝟥, 𝟤𝟢𝟤𝟨
ᴛʜʀɪʟʟᴇʀ | ꜱᴄɪ-ꜰɪ | ᴍʏꜱᴛᴇʀʏ

NFTF - IYKYK

“𝙷𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚒𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚘𝚏 𝚜𝚌𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚊𝚛𝚝. 𝚆𝚒𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚎𝚒𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛, 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚕𝚘𝚜𝚝. 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚒𝚜 𝚕𝚘𝚜𝚝,” (p. 164-165).

This was such a fun and unique read. Holy crappers! I loved every second of it.

When Pok doesn’t get into any of the medical schools he applied to, he can’t accept this. So he hacks into the system to see what’s up. His info is all wrong - someone has changed everything. He was denied because he was sabotaged.

The world is run on AI. His father wants him to get away from AI doctoring people and help bring back patient-to-provider medicine. But there’s only one hospital left that isn’t run by AI. And now the Shepherd School of Medicine at MacArthur Hospital (who uses AI) wants to bring him onboard.

But Pok is given a warning to get out of New York, so he takes off heading to New Orleans. To the last hospital not depending on AI. Let the adventure begin.

🎧: Also followed along while listening to the audio and it’s a good audiobook. The narrator James Fouhey was perfect for this book and is easy to listen to. You can distinguish different characters and he just a fab voice actor.

Oh how I LOVED this book! As I was reading, I kept thinking surely this can’t possibly get any better, but it did! Such a fun, but also thought-provoking, read. From start to finish it was impossible to put down.

Set in New Orleans, this is as much an atmospheric thriller as it is literary - while still being fast-paced. It’s one of those rare books that balances it all perfectly. But there’s also some head-spinning parts that will take you by surprise.

In NOLA there lies a city hidden from the Shepherds, people fighting to keep the humanity in medicine. But there’s rumors that something much darker is happening there. Pok needs to figure out what is going on and do it fast. Humanity depends on it.

Loved Pok. He’s fighting with the worldview he grew up in, to how things used to be. He wants to help people and has no negative intentions, but still has much to learn. He isn’t secure in his abilities even though he knows everything they can teach, and the things they can’t teach.

Told in four parts - the seasons, summer, fall, winter, spring, and back to summer. Each is gripping and keeps you hooked. An easy 5 star read. I especially loved the schooling and testing chapters.

Mem
Skinning the pen*s song title LMAOOOOO
The librarian 😂😂
Sweating rot 😭


Explores the bias of AI
Grief
Betrayal
Humanity
Fighting back
Conspiracy
Secrets
Agendas
Communities

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't normally rate or write reviews for the books I work on (I was part of the production team for the audiobook) but I really, genuinely liked this book. Pok is an engaging, well-written protagonist. He is a first-year medical student at the last hospital in the US that isn't run by AI, and as he grew up in AI-saturated NYC, he has to learn from the ground-floor up.

The tension between so-called traditional medicine and the AI algorithms that purport to always create the best outcomes possible is the spine of the story, and the narrative goes in some interesting directions I wasn't expecting. While some of the dilemmas facing Pok are definitely in the near-future speculative realm - how to treat the physical manifestations of tech withdrawal? - some are frightfully relevant to today's world, like how Black mothers face increased levels of maternal mortality. Key takes care not to let the themes overwhelm the characters. They are all richly drawn, even those we see only briefly.

[Danielle · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF @ page 147

I had been looking forward to this for months, but unfortunately I haven't enjoyed this enough to finish it. Life is short and my TBR is massive, so unfortunately I'm letting this one go.

What worked for me:

The conversation about AI vs human medicine. I fall unashamedly on the human side, for context. So does this book. AI has it's uses and its place in medicine, but replacing humans outright is not the way to go, and I enjoyed Pok's gradual coming around to this way of thinking. I liked the reader being challenged by this question.

What didn't work for me:

Everything falls into place exceptionally easily for Pok. He immediately meets the sister of the single patient we are shown, who just happens to be able to expertly guide him to the one place he needs to go to. He has no credentials and no acceptance into the hospital, and yet is accepted regardless. The very first patient that is discussed in earshot of him just so happens to be the one singular person in the state that he is looking for, and he finds her on the ward with absolutely no difficulty whatsoever. He accesses the ward with a stolen ID card and faces zero repercussions.

???

It's just way too convenient for me. All of it. There is no challenge and everything simply falls into place for Pok.

At least the author got the presentation of PPP correct.

[Cari · Rating 5 out of 5]

**I received a copy of this book from Edelweiss**

Read on the plane down to Disney. I love everything Key writes, and this book was really up my alley. It's a dystopia set in a world where AI and tech controls everything people do. The main character, Pok, loses his father early in the book. Pok's dad leaves him a message saying to go to New Orleans. It's a rough trip, but eventually he makes it to the hospital there, where he becomes a student doctor. At Hippocrates, real medicine is practiced--there are no robots that will fix your broken leg or administer IVs. Pok learns about how to resist while also about his father's past. Loved this.

[Kelly Garman · Rating 3 out of 5]

While really timely and a very good premise, this was too slow, too dry, and too optimal.

[madcrazyreviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the acknowledgements section of his debut novel THE HOSPITAL AT THE END OF THE WORLD, author Justin C Key says he started this book after his first year of medical school (2014). I first came across Key's work in the Black horror short story collection OUT THERE SCREAMING (his story "The Aesthete" was a highlight).

His first book has some growing pains, it feels a bit uneven, but it shows promise for the career to come, and it's also one of those books that gets better as it goes along. (No small feat.)

The book focuses on Pok Morning, a star student who has tested and interviewed so well he's a shoo-in for any medical school he wants. Except he gets a rejection letter from the top twelve universities. The one he does get accepted to is in New Orleans, and they're a bit backwards down there.

For starters, NOLA doesn't use any of the biological enhancements, technological advancements, or integrated medical AI that Pok is used to in New York. NOLA is old school – they actually believe in human interaction.

See, THE HOSPITAL AT THE END OF THE WORLD is set in an unspecified near-future, where AI delivers basically all healthcare services. This novel comes at the perfect time. We're all familiar with generative AI threatening Hollywood, but perhaps even more worrisome (to me, anyway) is how heavily involved AI is becoming in healthcare.

As Pok journeys further down the rabbit hole – why was his stellar application rejected? why is he being followed? what is it about New Orleans that makes it special? – we get to see Key shine. The second half of the book is hard to put down, and you love the twists and turns along the way. The first half is a bit bumpy and uneven, the medical school stuff in the middle needed a trim, but the book is nevertheless an enjoyable sci-fi medical thriller.

[Michael DeRose · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting read

[Lawren M. Perry · Rating 3 out of 5]

At first, this book had me very interested but it lost me at the end. Great concept and writing.

[Jen C · Rating 3 out of 5]

**I received a copy of this book via Goodreads giveaway***. I would give this book 3.5 stars. The premise was interesting but felt it was a bit slow and maybe didn’t need to be as long as it was.

[The Blog Without a Face · Rating 3 out of 5]

BWAF Score: 6/10

Justin C. Key writes like he’s pushing a gurney at a jog: clean sentences, constant motion, and enough clinical detail to make the air taste like disinfectant and bad decisions. The Hospital at the End of the World is post-collapse institutional horror that understands a crucial truth: nothing is scarier than a system that keeps “functioning” after the world stops making sense. A rejected would-be med student flees an AI-dominated America for an off-grid medical enclave in New Orleans, only to discover the hospital’s walls protect you from the outside and trap you with the inside, including withdrawal tech, rationed power, medical politics, and a conspiracy with a very sharp scalpel edge. It’s grimy, readable, and reliably tense, but also very legible and cinematic in its escalation.

The grime is the selling point. “Adjustment” isn’t a cute onboarding process, it’s forced detox by infrastructure, with symptoms, surveillance-adjacent rituals, and a sense that your body is being reprogrammed whether you consent or not. The hospital itself feels lived-in and stratified, with color-coded uniforms, markets for supplies, and the constant hum of crisis logistics: who gets access, who gets clearance, who gets care, who gets quietly managed. The medical unease is best when Key lets the physicality stay unglamorous. Cadaver lab is not aesthetic, it’s rubbery skin, torn muscle, and a professor barking about “respecting the dead” while your hands learn how to do violence politely. Postpartum psychosis scenes crank the dread by tying institutional workflow to something intimate and panicked, the exact kind of “this could go catastrophically wrong in five minutes” energy that makes hospital horror work. Even when the book dips into conspiratorial beats, the best horror is still procedural: forms, IDs, restricted areas, supply chains, and the low-grade terror of being one mistake away from becoming a “case.”

The backbone is built for propulsion, not formal risk. You can feel the adaptation-friendly structure: chase, gatekeeping, secret meetings, escalating reveals, and a clean throughline that’s easy to pitch and easy to binge. The story’s big ideas about AI medicine, bodily autonomy, and “do no harm” under duress are compelling, but the book rarely lets them get truly strange or structurally unhinged. It’s more “tight thriller in Medical Horror clothing.” Readers who like dystopia and sci-fi horror with real hospital texture, bodily dread, and a brisk plot that keeps shoving you down the hallway will dig this.

Read if you want institutional horror where the scariest monster is the workflow.

Skip if you need your weird to get lawless and formally risky, not just tense, sharp, and very filmable.

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Not for the faint."

Speculative fiction looks at the possible direction of medical care.

In a near-future America, the Shepherd Organization has turned healthcare in to a cold, algorithmic commodity. AI dictates every diagnosis and treatment, leaving no room for human intervention or error. Pok, an aspiring medical student living in New York, has spent his life preparing to join this system alongside his father. When his applications to medical school are rejected, his world falls apart coinciding with his own father's sudden death.

Following a path his father had secretly set in motion, Pok flees the high tech surveillance of the North for New Orleans. The city, guarded by electromagnetic spires that block the Shepherd's reach, is home to Hippocrates, the last medical school on earth that still practices human led medicine. But that special place and sanctuary comes with a price. As Pok struggles through the grueling medical school training, he discovers a terrifying new plague -- the Grips -- that specifically targets those who have spent their lives under AI. As more become infected and die, Pok must accept his own purpose and realize all that he is capable of when the truth about his origin and past are revealed.

This plausible scenario was haunting and scary and I really enjoyed it. I love medical fiction, and this plunged deep into the big questions about what AI will do as it is increasingly integrated, or mandated, into our lives. Will human empathy and all the skills of a human physician be traded for an algorithm and efficiency. Who lives, who dies just a calculation. There is so much to think about within these pages and so it took me a lot longer to read this than a typical thriller of this type. It made me even more certain that restrictions and restraints need to be in place to prevent machine driven medical practice and care.

A huge question raised by the author deals with the ethical questions. Definitely a must read for fans of speculative fiction who want a story that feels both like a warning and a tribute to the people who still believe in the human side of healing.

I was able to listen to the audio book while also following along in the e-book ARC, both provided by the publishers. The narrator, James Fouhey, did a decent job, but it was a bit of a let down because he just didn't do women's voices well. As a result, the characters basically sounded the same without much differentiation. This production would definitely have benefited from a full cast, or at least a female voice. I always enjoy the immersive experience of listening and reading, and this would have been such a huge hit had the characters sounded more distinctly male or female.

[Ginger of Horror · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a world run by medical AI, one hospital holds out. What happens there will determine everything.

Have you ever sat in a doctor’s waiting room and watched people scroll on their phones? Everyone’s got that little rectangle glowing in their palms, mining for symptoms, self-diagnosing, plugging their anxieties into a search bar that spits out WebMD horrors. We trust the algorithm more than the person in the white coat we haven’t seen yet. That trust is the quiet erosion Justin C. Key has been watching for years, and in The Hospital at the End of the World, he builds a whole society around what happens when we finally hand the stethoscope over to the machine for good.

This isn’t his first rodeo. Key’s 2023 collection The World Wasn’t Ready for You announced him as someone who understands that the scariest monsters aren’t the ones jumping out of shadows but the ones we invite into our homes, our bodies, our bloodstreams. That collection had a rawness to it, a short-story writer’s willingness to wind up and throw heat without worrying about where the pitch lands. The novel form suits him better, though. It gives his obsessions room to breathe.

The setup arrives clean. Pok Morning grew up in America where the Shepherd Organisation’s AI runs everything. It decides what you eat, where you work, and which medical school will take you. Pok wants in. Badly. He’s the kind of kid who has optimised himself within an inch of his life, believing the system’s promises because the system has delivered for him so far. Then a drone delivers the news: denied from all of the “Prestigious Twelve.”

He initially blames his father, a physician who practices the old, human way, for sabotaging his applications. But when his father dies unexpectedly in a hospital, an AI-generated version of him—a “Memorandum”—appears with cryptic advice. It’s polite. It’s helpful. It’s absolutely hollow. And then a warning comes through: get the fuck out of New York. The lie is out that he poisoned his own father.

New Orleans becomes the destination. The city, shielded by towers that scramble both hurricanes and data surveillance, hosts the last human-led medical school in the country. Hippocrates. The name carries weight. Key paints this New Orleans with affection but not nostalgia, a place where refugees from Shepherd-controlled America wash up with mysterious illnesses like Agrypnia, the sleeping sickness they call the Grips.

Read the full review here

https://gnofhorror.com/the-hospital-a...

[Margo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC--I've been holding off on reviewing this one because I've been wobbly on how to rate it and how I felt about the whole story after the fact. Did I finish the whole book, and relatively quickly? Yeah. Was it a great book? No. Was it okay? Yeah, more or less.

Conceptually, this should have been great. The first chapters were so promising, between father and son on opposite sides of the human healthcare vs AI-led healthcare debate spectrum, with the raising of ethical questions and contemplations on data-driven care versus the human interaction and relationship between doctor and patients. Then the dystopia aspect of the story kicked in, and OK, we're off fleeing the city on foot, great. Still fine.

But from the moment main character Pok gets to New Orleans, things are too smooth, too convenient, too everything working out in his favor for no reason other than he's the main character. The plot armor was heavy, seemingly due to his father being respected at Hippocrates Medical Center in New Orleans, but this is next level, almost YA-feeling stuff.

No repercussions for the litany of poor decisions he makes literally from day one, despite infractions that would have seen him out of medical school, if not worse consequences. When he *finally* has to face a consequence for his, I don't know, fifth transgression at least, it's almost immediately overshadowed by a sudden family twist revelation and what's practically a chosen one sub-plot out of the blue.

And then he's welcomed back to med school at the end like everything's forgiven just because of that chosen one subplot.

If all that hadn't dropped so near to the end, I probably would have given up at that point.

All to say: a really solid start on a really awesome premise that I wish had either been marketed to YA, or had had more time to be fleshed out and built up into something more. Key's writing is fine, and his idea for this book was great. I'd be willing to try something from him again in the future. This one just ultimately fell flat for me

[Victoria Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would like to thank NetGalley and Justin C. Key for early access to The Hospital at the End of the World.

I went into this with minimal expectations, and yes, the cover was partly to blame. What a mistake that turned out to be, because this ended up being a sleeper hit for me. I’m a huge fan of medical dramas like ER, House, and The Pitt, and this novel scratched that same part of my brain in the best way.

The story explores a world where AI runs most aspects of society, including hospitals. The Shepherd Organization oversees and operates nearly every medical school in the country, except for one holdout in New Orleans. This school refuses to bow to pressure and integrate AI into its curriculum, and it also happens to be connected both to the CEO of the Shepherd Organization and to our main character, Pok.

Pok is a compelling protagonist. He grew up in New York, where AI is deeply embedded in everyday life, and he dreams of becoming a doctor like his father. Unlike his father, however, Pok wants to attend a Shepherd-run medical school and learn medicine through AI. His father practices medicine the “old way,” relying on his own skills rather than artificial intelligence. That is, until his father dies under suspicious circumstances, forcing Pok to flee to the one place where AI and the Shepherd Organization supposedly have the least reach: New Orleans.

From there, the story shifts to Pok enrolling in medical school and attempting to build a new life far from what he had planned. Naturally, things are not nearly that simple.

The Hospital at the End of the World has easily become one of my favorite reads of 2026 so far. I was genuinely sad to see it end, even though the conclusion itself was quite satisfying.

Rating: 4.5/5

[Brittany Barry · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

This near-future sci-fi thriller feels especially timely. With artificial intelligence rapidly expanding into real-world healthcare, this story imagines a system where AI controls diagnoses, treatment plans, and mortality predictions, essentially replacing doctors. 😳 It’s unsettling not because it feels far-fetched, but because it feels possible. 😬

🏥 What did you love the most?
What worked best for me was how realistic the tech and medical infrastructure felt. This isn’t flashy gadget sci-fi; it’s systemic, procedural, and rooted in algorithmic healthcare and predictive medicine. 💊 That grounding makes the suspense hit harder. The New Orleans setting adds emotional texture and cultural depth, creating a strong contrast between human care and machine logic. 🤔

🏥 What to expect:
🤖 Dystopian sci-fi meets medical thriller
🖤 Minority representation
🤯 Dark side of tech

🏥 How was the pace?
The pacing starts as a slow-burn science fiction mystery, building the world and stakes with care, then shifts into a fast, high-tension techno-thriller in the second half. ⚡️

Once it accelerates, it really moves. The author’s medical background shows in the detail and psychological insight, especially around empathy, patient trust, and institutional power. 🩺

🏥 Do you recommend this book?
This is a smart, suspenseful dystopian thriller that blends medical drama, AI ethics, and conspiracy fiction into a thought-provoking debut. 🙌🔥

If you enjoy speculative fiction about technology, near-future healthcare, and morally complex thrillers, this one is absolutely worth picking up. 📚

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book could easily be labeled a a dystopia, but that would not do it justice. It's not post-apocalyptic, there is no barren landscape or roving packs of cannibals. Instead, we have something far more realistic:

A modern world that has outsourced the human side of medicine to AI computers; a modern world that is under constant surveillance from tech that WE have bought into. Patients in this book are treated for tech-born illness which honestly felt real. (Maybe they are) Algorithms and data and computers rule the hospitals, save for one in Louisiana. Corporations and shareholders and profit matter more than patients. Does that sound familiar? Of course it does.

It's a medical thriller, too, with a lot on it's mind about our modern health system, and, through the drama of it's father/son story is an argument FOR The human side of medicine. But it's never a lecture and it's never boring. It also does not give into Despair.

In fact, Key operates much the same way Octavia Butler did with her 'Sower' books. He shows us the future, but also HOW to rebuild and move forward DESPITE the grim prognosis for a future under the tech lords. The book does not flinch or look away, but nor does it give into cyberpunk nihilism.

Also: There is line of dialogue here--"I'm already enrolled!"--which sounded like an action hero's one liner when confronting the villain. I laughed out loud. Maybe I'm strange, but there you have it.

Highly recommend. A fresh and original novel.

[Megan Middlebrooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5
Things I liked
-Our main character, Pok, was intelligent and likeable. Most of his decisions were smart, which is a book that has thriller elements, can be rare.
-I enjoyed the discussion of AI in medicine vs human led medicine. I thought there was an interesting case for both sides, which led me to think about my own opinions on the future of AI in medicine.
-The book read quickly and there was good tension throughout. I never really felt like the story dragged at any point.
-The idea of the anima and natural, human-led methods having a scientific basis was an interesting concept.
-The narrator did a good job of expressing emotion without being over the top.

Things I didn't like
-The end was a little messy and I didn't fully understand what was happening at some points.
-My biggest complaint was that Hippocrates didn't really use much modern medicine, instead sticking mostly using non-traditional and natural methods. I felt like it lessened the strength of the debate between AI that uses cutting edge technology and drugs vs Hippocrates using things honey, light therapy, and alignment of anima. I wish that there had been more of a mix of naturopathic and modern medical techniques that the medical students were learning and using on their patients.

[Lydia · Rating 3 out of 5]

In theory, AI has the potential to revolutionize health care by minimizing the potential for human error. In practice, it’s hard to say how things would actually go, and this “what if” science fiction novel imagines a concerning and less optimistic future. Pok Morning is a medical school hopeful, determined to follow in his doctor father’s footsteps. But when his father dies suddenly under mysterious circumstances, Pok heads to the last human-run medical school still holding out against AI-medicine, determined to find answers.

This novel had such an interesting premise and creative and rich worldbuilding. Pok was a believable protagonist and I enjoyed following his journey. However, the pacing lagged quite a lot in the middle 1/3 or so, when he was in medical school/starting his studies. I found myself skimming some sections there to get to the end and the resolution of the larger/overall plot. Some of that required a few conveniences for the sake of the plot, but overall once I got through the slow middle section, then the ending/resolution was satisfying.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Beth Sawicki · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bingeable read as I finished this in just over a day. Very interesting concept and as a nurse, one that hits close to home. The question of medicine as something practiced by humans vs. perfected by AI is interesting and highly debatable. Sure, safety and the ability to compile volumes of data to determine a best outcome is appealing, but at what cost. Key proposes that AI could result in eugenics as a way of improving outcomes as "congenital diabetes goes down if Black female births go down. Suicide goes down after a decline in populations more susceptible to suicide Down syndrome goes down if geriatric pregnancies don't go to term, or don't happen at all. All these outcomes can be deleted, in the name of the seemingly good."

** let that sink in **

Some reviewers bemoan how everything falls into place incredibly easily for Pok, but how long do you want the book to be?! I found this book to have a good balance of character development and storytelling with creating suspense and some unexpected twists.

Overall a highly engaging and enjoyable read!

[Keila (speedreadstagram) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a fantastic and inventive read. Justin Key wrote this fun dystopian fiction and it hooked me from the start. With the current state of AI, it is both fun and horrifying to think about what the future holds. The future in this book is dark and scary in a lot of ways. I loved Pok and following him on his self discovery journey. I loved it. I couldn’t get enough of Pok and what was going on. While horrifying it was interesting to think of NOLA the way that was described, I can’t imagine them being the only hold out against AI, but you never know. The writing is wonderfully don’t and engaging read and I highly recommend it for those looking for a fun dystopian read focusing on the future of medicine.

Thank you to @justinckey @harpercollins and @netgalley for the e-arc. All thoughts are my own.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

AI has taken over almost all medical practice, efficient but cold. Pok has applied to med school and hopes to join one of the top AI schools. Though mishaps and tragedy Pok is forced to run from home and find his way to the last human run medical school and hospital left.
Very interesting tech setup.
Interactions between people are become superficial because of AI interactions on all thing including how to interpret feeling of others.
Bad intentions turn a helpful tool into an overriding force to exact revenge

[Elizabeth Godfrey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting concept for the book: what happens to our world and specifically, the practice of medicine, when AI takes over? I feel like this book started very strong, faces paced, and with enough intrigue to keep the reader engaged, but then lost the pace towards the middle and end. There were a number of minor characters that got a little mixed up and were hard to keep straight. The ending lost me a bit, it seemed like there were "twists" thrown in for no reason and it did not tie together well in the end.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book wasn’t bad. I enjoyed the sci fi/dystopian setting and plot and thought Justin did a good job of building up the suspense and mystery. The writing was decent, but I wouldn’t say I was compelled to finish this one; I mostly persevered because I won a finished hardback copy of this title in a Goodreads Giveaway. I think some of my medical friends might be more interested, however, so I'm going to pass it along to them.

[Morgan Lane · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Hospital at the End of the World is a smart, gripping near-future thriller that blends medical suspense with chilling questions about AI, power, and control. The mystery unfolds at a steady, compelling pace, and the ethical tension surrounding human-led medicine versus automation makes the story both timely and thought-provoking. A strong debut that lingers in the mind.

[Michael Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy!! It took me a bit to get through this book compared to my normal. There is a lot to process in the latter half. An interesting take on the future of medicine and where the future may take us. Hospital at the End of the World feels like a return to more classic science fiction. A warning of the future and how humans have failed.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won an advanced copy of this book through a giveaway.

I’m a sucker for anything futuristic, dystopian, etc. so this was just my speed. I loved the premise, even if there were a few places where it felt like the story was dragging and others where I wanted more detail than we got. All in all it’s a solid book.

[Jenn Harmon · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book centers around AI doctors versus human doctors inside a futuristic hospital setting, and honestly… that’s about the most interesting thing I can say about it.

Way too many pages.
Way too many words.

The concept had potential, but the execution dragged hard. I kept waiting for it to pick up or hit me with something meaningful, and it just never did.

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting ideas percolating in this book. Speculative fiction, yes … but only a hair removed from current reality. And I absolutely love it that the author decided to make all the characters people of (varying) color, not that he makes a big deal of it. Well worth a read … and it would make for an interesting book club discussion.

[Frosty61 · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF - I'm throwing in the towel on this one. Loved the beginning and happily settled in for a suspense-filled ride only to find it wasn't engaging enough to hold my attention. Disappointed because I really liked the premise of AI medicine vs. human doctors. Gave up at 50%.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started strong but kinda lost me in the middle. I feel like the book was trying to be everything (thriller, mystery, sci-fi, philosophy, and medical) all at once and ended up being a hodgepodge. Some fascinating ideas barely explored while all of the deep dives were in the shallow waters.