A missing son A kidnapper who's dead Nobody believes her Nothing will stop her
When Doctor Jemma Sands' five-year-old son goes missing, only she believes that a vengeful patient has stolen her child. How do you convince police to search for a dead woman? As her world falls apart, Jemma realises she is the only one who can save her son.
If somebody took your only child, how far would you go to get him back?
What the critics say about Slow Bleed:
"A tense and gripping crime read ... Slow Bleed grabs you by the throat." Raven Crime Reads
"One of those books you can't put down ... a great medical thriller." Book of the Month, Crime Book Club
What the critics say about Tim Adler:
"Compulsively readable" Sunday Times Culture
***** The Daily Telegraph
"Adler writes with brio" The Week.com -------------------------------------------------------------- Enjoyed Slow Bleed? Then you'll love Surrogate, the latest thriller from Tim Adler.
Tim Adler is an author and journalist who has written three nonfiction books for publishers including Bloomsbury.
The Week said that Tim writes “with brio” while the Daily Mail has described his work as “dazzling” while The Sunday Times called it “compulsively readable”.
He is a former commissioning editor on The Daily Telegraph, who has also written for the Financial Times and The Times.
Tim has written four thrillers, including his debut SLOW BLEED, which ranked #1 on the Kindle medical thriller chart, and HOLD STILL, which bestselling crime author Peter James said, “hooked me from the beginning”.
He is former London editor of Hollywood entertainment news website Deadline and, more recently, the website he now edits was named as a top blog covering the coronavirus pandemic by journalist trade magazine Press Gazette alongside the BBC, Guardian and the Telegraph.
In his spare time, Tim enjoys playing bridge, jogging, yoga and trying to gain the upper hand in his running battle with his pet chihuahua.
This is the first time I have read a book by the author Tim Adler, and how pleased I am that I have. His writing is professional, flawless and easy to follow and the story line is intriguing and truly well researched. Having never read a medical crime thriller before I didn't know what to expect but the opening pace of "Slow Bleed" is fast, compelling and relentless and has you in its grasp from the first page. The drama that unfolds is seamless and delves you into a world of medical emergencies and instant life or death decision making. One professional life saving decision throws Jemma the female protagonist into a downward spiral of disastrous consequences that just keep you hooked page after page till you just don't want to stop reading. I loved the suspense at the end of some of the chapters and found the ending totally befitting the story. Being a mother of 3 boys I completely sympathised with Jemma's emotions at her missing son. This is a terrific read and would highly recommend. I look forward to reading Tim's next book "Surrogate". 5 stars.
From its explosive opening chapter Slow Bleed grabs you by the throat and is entirely unwilling to relinquish its grip from that point on. Balancing the demands of both a thriller, and an exploration of the darker side of the medical profession and the lucrative world of the pharmaceutical business, Tim Adler produces a tense and gripping crime read, in his first foray into the crime fiction genre.
I would have to say that this a genuine easy reading thriller, that as the story ebbs and flows, leading the reader in unexpected directions, you will fair whip through this. With the central character of Doctor Jemma Sands, a professional and steady woman of good character and a seemingly settled home life, Adler seems to take a genuine delight into uprooting everything she holds to be true and most treasured, and turning her world upside down. From her initial interaction performing a life saving operation on the mysterious Toppy Mrazek, Jemma’s life goes into tailspin, as she discovers an emotional connection between her duplicitous husband and Toppy, but most tellingly that Toppy is in no way, shape, or form the woman she appears to be, and will prove to be Jemma’s arch nemesis. As Toppy begins to malevolently influence all corners of Jemma’s comfortable life, our intrepid doctor must draw on all her resources to outwit her opponent, particularly when her child’s life is threatened. For me, this was the most successful aspect of the book, as Adler really seemed to tap into the female mentality and the ‘lioness’ instinct, that is demonstrated by both women. Although it is quickly evident that Toppy possesses a singularly devious and self assured character, that shapes and dictates her less than honourable deeds, it is interesting to see how Jemma grows in stature and strength, as she is thrust into a whole host of dangerous situations, and how those around her seek to manipulate her. As she is led down blind alleys, and placed in danger- particularly by those she puts her trust in- she begins to think outside her own complacent reality, and proves herself a more than worthy adversary to the troublesome Toppy- but who will come out on top?
With my normal honesty, I won’t pretend that the plot was without flaws and there were certain incidents that did require a little leap of faith by the reader, particularly in relation to a brief sojourn across the Channel, and sometimes a little too much reliance on slightly clunky coincidences. However, such is the breathless pace of this thriller, any small kinks in the general story arc can be forgiven to keep the action moving forward. As the reader’s empathy is aroused by our emotionally bruised and battered heroine, you are quickly moved from chapter to chapter, to see the next twist in Jemma’s nightmare. A good page-turner overall.
Doctor Jemma Sands is a doctor in A&E. Her life changes forever when a pregnant car crash victim, Toppy Mrazek is brought in. Jemma makes a decision that results in the loss of Toppy’s baby. When Toppy recovers she wreaks her revenge, first suing Jemma, then stealing her husband, Tony.
Toppy drowns in an accident on holiday with Tony, but when Jemma’s son, Matthew, goes missing Jemma is convinced it’s her nemesis – but the police don’t believe a dead woman can be responsible. How can she convince them and retrieve her child?
Part crime, part medical thriller, this is a pacy page-turner of a novel. It starts with a bang (well, a crash) and the pace barely lets up throughout. Jemma works too hard, she’s in what’s become a loveless marriage with Tony. The strain of Toppy’s legal challenge eventually splits them up. She goes from steady doctor and wife to a mess and back again.
Adler places an extra layer in Slow Bleed with the inclusion of shady pharmaceutical testing. Tony is taking backhanders from a large company to test a drug that has dubious side effects.
It’s a decent story overall, at times gripping, particularly when Matthew goes missing. I found myself being dragged along to the conclusion. The medical aspects are strong enough, well researched and plausible if the outcome is anything to go by. There is a requirement for a degree of suspension of belief at certain points, but if you’re okay with this then Slow Bleed will prove an enjoyable read. I’d certainly pick up Adler’s next book.
**Originally reviewed for Books and Pals blog. May have received free review copy.**
This was a really good thriller but I questioned a few situations in this story. The only medical part of this story is that Jemma is a surgeon and she had to make a quick decision on the operating table in order to save the woman's life. Not only did she do it once, but twice. For someone stealing my husband and child, once is really too much. It's a fast-paced story with a few little twists that kept me interested. I would definitely read more of his work.
This is a bit of a strange one. The plot was a good idea, but it jumped around quite a lot and seemed to miss out bits so you were left guessing what had happened. Also there were a few things that were implausible. And the characters were not particularly likeable either, or maybe I just didn't care enough to like them.
This was a book that seemed familiar. The last time I could not finish. This time I skipped a lot. It isn't a medical thriller. It was okay the first half of the book then, it dipped into torturous attempts to make the plot twist and turn. But the credibility was long gone. So my three stars applies only to the first half.
the first chapter good, then definitely up and down, good, bad, far fetched and then not, some 'clever' words thrown in for some strange reason, couldn't wait to get to a point where i could skim to the end
Definitely will keep you awake. It's fast moving and excruciating. All the emotions come afloat, even when you're surprised by Jenna's ingenuity. Well written for sure. You will keep on reading until everything is unfolded.
I really didn't know what to expect when I started this book. However, it's a fantastic read. Full of deception, lies, mystery, murder, and then the players in the story who held incredible parts. The medical professions of surgeons, psychiatrists, hospital leaders always looking for the betterment of themselves. A bunch of narcissistic nobody's who thought they were more deserving than reality. People who cost others their lives, who endangered not only themselves but their families and friends. But, isn't that usually how the story plays out when greed steps in. This story is full of adrenaline, surprising unexpected changes, twist and turns. It's placed in England and France. It runs the gambit of love, lust, jealousy, betrayal, and any and all other human emotions. Plus it was wrapped all up together with a tidy bow of immense fear. I sure hope you enjoy it as much as I did. A great author and I'm looking forward to what comes next.
This book is unbelievably bad. To be fair, the writing is okay except a few cringey parts (like the random sex scene?) but this book’s main problem is that the central character is the dumbest person alive. Now if this were a book about someone who just wasn’t that smart, that’d be one thing. But in this book the main character is an obstetric surgeon who is also the dumbest person alive.
Nothing makes sense, from the way she talks to her patients to following the advice of people who she knows have done terrible things to her and her child. I get one or two bad decisions to make the plot more interesting, but in this case she just had so many escape routes and decided not to take anyone them.
And there are many plot holes. I don’t want to get into specifics and get into spoilers, but there’s lots of things that happen that don’t line up with other things that happen.
Does marriage get stale like week old bread? Do husband’s get bored with the same old meals and routines? What happens if the one who got away ten years ago walks back in the room just as the mid life crisis is hitting. Or if the husband is involved in something over his head at work? Tony has it all or she’s he? Until the one day his wife ends up in a lawsuit over a botched hysterectomy and stillbirth. He has a way out for her. His way. His way out. What he has always wanted. But does his son being kidnapped end up part of daddy’s daydream? Fast pasted storyline. Although easily figured out from the start as to who the villain will be. Lots of players in the game to the point of confusion toward the end. The detectives did not play a very strong role in the story. It revolved mostly around Jemma and the other woman.
b-e-t-r-a-y-a-l. times every character in this book, one way or another!
except for Matthew. at least three chapters were written for adrenaline junkies, had to have been. maybe even written by one. the only trip wire throughout the tale was what the tie between the story and its title was, but that mystery does get explained eventually. I had searched for medical thrillers and was rewarded with more than enough selections to keep me busy, but while the tale revolves around the lives of a medical family -i.e., obstetric surgeon and her husband hospital administrator, it"s not as clinical as I was expecting. but that's not criticism. but it does encompass issue s that snafu the lives of folks who hail from the spectrum of human dysfuntion, and who suffer regardless of their genesis. so it's a human tale that argues for humaneness as well as for humanity.
What a crappy tale this turned out to be!!! … It starts off with a partially interesting, partially confusing crash scenario, then gets boring with family issues and stupid accusations for the rest of the first 25% of the book. The 2nd quarter gets more interesting, until The Reader can finally put 2+2 together for how the (unoriginal) plot is going to proceed. By shortly past the halfway mark, though, I’ll admit the unimaginative plot takes a change, that may or may not be worth The Reader’s investment of time. But, in my final analysis, this book is unbelievable and deserves 2-stars, but I gave it 3-stars out of generosity.
This was a solid 4 star read until the end. The characters were exciting and the story had good pacing and the writing was easy to read and strait forward. The end while not the worst ending was unbelievable and almost too much. The characters did things in the end that did not make since with who they were and what they were after. Overall I enjoyed it. I have noticed that many of the book I have been reading lately have been English authors which isn't a criticism but it takes some getting used to because the same words mean different things in England than in the U.S.
A disturbed woman seeks vengeance on the doctor she blames for the loss of her unborn child. Her revenge includes a lawsuit, stealing her husband, faking her death and kidnapping the doctor's young son. The doctor is pretty much on her own since everyone believes the woman is dead.
This book is very much over the top perils of Pauline. It requires a continuous suspension of disbelief. Yes, Jenna, the doctor is as resourceful as her nemesis is determined. The ending is a disappointment pace is fast and the story moves. But the damsel is just in way too much distress for my tastes.
Great plot and story line but it developed into the main character surviving situations that were just not believable. From escaping from the trunk of a sinking vehicle then climbing the walls of a quarry to falling through the ice only to be swept up over a water fall and ending up with dry clothes from her knapsack. The more I read, the more ridiculous it go.
I enjoyed the twists n turns , the strength of what a mother will go to, to get her child back, I read some of the other reviews n honestly, yes there were some spelling errors throughout, however that's what reviews r for to help the writer...one never knows what some people will do in any situation, good or bad...so like I said I still enjoyed the story, n look forward to Tim s other books ..thank u Suzanne
I truly enjoyed this book so much. I kept waking up and reading a bit more as I was desperate to find out what happened next. The characters were so well written they were alive in my head. So many parts had me holding my breath. I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone who loves a good on the edge of your seat thriller. Will be looking out for this author again.
I quite enjoyed this book...the story of a woman (an obstetrical surgeon) with everything: a loving husband, a beautiful child, satisfying work. However, all is not as it seems, and a string of unfortunate incidents overtake our heroine. The way she handles and overcomes the events, each of which could have destroyed a more fragile character, is the real story here.
This was a long book to read. The first few chapters were a bit slow but you have to stay with it and you begin to really get into what is happening with the characters and how they interact with each other. Then you don't what to put the book down. It has so many twists and turns and half the time you don't know who is doing what. All in all, I liked this book and would recommend it to anyone.
There is a lot of Deus Ex Machina, but it adds to the story. It was really interesting to see how the carelessness and unprofessional behavior of Jemma's fellow surgeon caused so much damage. If he had been more professional, this book would not exist. In a very real way, this shows the tragedies that are caused by someone who won't let go of their prejudiced ideas from the caste system.
Parts I loved! Suspenseful! I liked Jenna a lot! Parts I didn't love! Reminded me of a horror story where the bad guy won't die mixed with an action movie where the magazine never runs out of bullets. Also, there wasn't much medicine to it for it to be called a medical thriller.
A really well written book. Gripping, and a very believable story line. I think as a parent we have all been there when our child goes missing even if only for a short period of time. And as a parent you would never give up looking. Will definitely be looking out for the next book written by this author.
it was bad enough she stole my husband but now she kidnapped my son!
It was bad enough when Toppy stole my husband for revenge, but now she has Kidnapped my son. And no one will believe me. They think I did it. What has she planned next to get her revenge? This is actually a nine star story. Once started you won’t put it down.
I love medical dramas! I have always enjoyed reading a great novel the involves the medical field. Slow Bleed by Tim Adler was the first novel I have read written by him. I, thorough enjoyed it. Just when I thought the plot couldn’t be any stronger, Mr. Adler throughs in a few more unexpected twists and turns to make this a nail-biter to the very end.