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The Hospital at the End of the World: A Suspenseful Sci-Fi Medical Thriller About AI Dominance and Family Secrets
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 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?
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 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?
398 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 3, 2026
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January 17, 2026
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
#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
December 1, 2025
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.
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.
November 4, 2025
**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.
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.
October 29, 2025
The Hospital at the End of the World is a gripping and unsettling journey into isolation, survival, and the fragility of humanity. Justin C. Key masterfully blends psychological suspense with elements of horror, creating a chilling atmosphere that lingers long after the last page.
The story’s setting—a remote, desolate hospital—is as much a character as the people who inhabit it, and Key’s attention to detail makes the environment vividly haunting. The characters are well-drawn and complex, each grappling with fear, desperation, and secrets, which adds layers to the tension and intrigue.
While the pacing occasionally slows, the build-up of suspense and the unexpected twists make the story compelling. Key’s writing style is immersive, keeping you on edge while exploring themes of isolation, morality, and human resilience.
Fans of psychological horror and dark thrillers will find this novel particularly satisfying. It’s eerie, thought-provoking, and unflinchingly intense—a story that reminds you just how thin the line between order and chaos can be.
The story’s setting—a remote, desolate hospital—is as much a character as the people who inhabit it, and Key’s attention to detail makes the environment vividly haunting. The characters are well-drawn and complex, each grappling with fear, desperation, and secrets, which adds layers to the tension and intrigue.
While the pacing occasionally slows, the build-up of suspense and the unexpected twists make the story compelling. Key’s writing style is immersive, keeping you on edge while exploring themes of isolation, morality, and human resilience.
Fans of psychological horror and dark thrillers will find this novel particularly satisfying. It’s eerie, thought-provoking, and unflinchingly intense—a story that reminds you just how thin the line between order and chaos can be.
February 6, 2026
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.
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.
January 15, 2026
**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.
February 11, 2026
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.
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.
February 6, 2026
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.
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
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.
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
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
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.
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.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
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.
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.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
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.
Thank you to @justinckey @harpercollins and @netgalley for the e-arc. All thoughts are my own.
Review of advance copy received from Goodreads Giveaways
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
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
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Review of advance copy received from Goodreads Giveaways
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.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
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.
January 26, 2026
Thanks to NetGalley and HarperAudio Adult for an ARC audiobook in exchange for an honest review.
4 stars
Set in the near future, Pok is a young New Yorker applying to medical schools. Most of the USA is very high tech with all the medical schools and hospital systems controlled by the powerful Shepherd Organization. After Pok's non tech doctor father dies, Pok goes on a journey to New Orleans where medicine is done in a low technology way. Very interesting commentary of society getting overly reliant on AI tech and the power the tech powers yield.
I enjoyed the narration by James Fouhey.
4 stars
Set in the near future, Pok is a young New Yorker applying to medical schools. Most of the USA is very high tech with all the medical schools and hospital systems controlled by the powerful Shepherd Organization. After Pok's non tech doctor father dies, Pok goes on a journey to New Orleans where medicine is done in a low technology way. Very interesting commentary of society getting overly reliant on AI tech and the power the tech powers yield.
I enjoyed the narration by James Fouhey.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Full review and podcast converge on the way. Really cool stuff.
February 8, 2026
3.5 a great start and great end but the middle eventually got a bit boring for me.
However it is a great look at AI / technology and our over reliance on it.
However it is a great look at AI / technology and our over reliance on it.
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