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A review by michelles_book_nook
The Nurse by J.A. Corrigan
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
⚠️ TW: murder, suicide, drug use, racism, homophobia, misogyny, stillbirth, pregnancy/postnatal complications, infertility ⚠️ This book is so complex that your brain will be flooded. This book follows Rose Marlowe who is a nurse, loving wife and a self confessed merciless killer, but as she tells her story to former journalist and true crime writer, Theo, he poses the question as to if she is a heartless killer or an innocent victim. This one was a bit hit and miss for me. I enjoyed it but there were also quite a lot of bits I didn't. Personally I loved that it was set in our local area so a lot of the locations were familiar even if they aren't explicitly named. I also really liked that it made you consider a lot of moral and psychological dilemmas while maintaining a compelling storyline which included some Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome representation which is a condition I have myself. However, the things I didn't like were little things in some ways like the misogyny in the medical field when it comes to women, a snide remark that was made regarding the nursing profession and how it was somewhat inferior to medicine like it was some sort of consolation prize and isn't a worthy career and a gendered quote regarding one of the characters bookcases, how "quite a few I wouldn't have envisaged on a bloke's shelf" which made me question why we're gendering books 🤷🏼♀️ and mainly that there were just so many characters to keep track of! Overall, it is a compelling read and even though I guessed the majority of twists it still made me want to continue reading and I can see why others have really enjoyed so please don't be put off by my review.
Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Infertility, Misogyny, Racism, Suicide, Murder, and Pregnancy