Welcome to my review of Deadly Cure By Mahi Cheshire. I saw the synopsis for this on a NetGalley email months ago and added it to my list. I love a medical dram and mysteries and thrillers, so it was a perfect fit.
THE HIPPOCRATIC OATH: FIRST, DO NO HARM…
Dr Rea Dharmasena is devastated when she loses out on her dream research job to her med-school rival and best friend, Dr Julia Stone.
To add insult to injury, Julia used Rea’s own cutting-edge research to get it.
But just as Rea finds it in her to forgive the betrayal, Julia, after a life-changing medical discovery, is found murdered.
Now Rea has the dream job she’s always wanted.
But at what cost?
Mahi Cheshire was born in Sri Lanka and grew up in London. She works as a GP and has a degree in Psychology. She loves travelling, kundalini yoga and boxing, all of which provide inspiration for her writing. She lives in London with her husband and baby daughter.
Deadly Cure focuses on two best friends and med-school rivals, Dr Rea Dharmasena and Dr Julia Stone. When Rea loses out on her dream job in research at the London Medical Institute (LMI) to Julia, things become very awkward, especially as she gains an advantage by unethical means. As a result, the friends have quite a public falling out. Rea finally manages to forgive Julia and arrives at her flat to apologise and ask her forgiveness, only to find Julia dead. Being the second choice, Rea ends up with her dream job, after all, working under the charismatic Director, Dr Owen Ansah.
I loved the premise of this fast-paced thriller. Unfortunately, although it started brilliantly and didn’t give up the whole way through, I stayed up far too late reading, and when I reached the point of just three hours before having to get up for work, I forced myself to put it down at 81% to be finished the following day.
There was strong character development, with a diverse range of characters. It was a joy to see two strong female characters in medicine/science who weren’t painted to be saints but real, flawed people. I loved their fierce competitiveness, which isn’t often described, especially between females in a career sense rather than looks. However, they have some great redeeming qualities, making them easy to connect and empathise with.
There are some big ethical questions at the core of the book, Julia has invented a cure for cancer, but should she be using it on a human before testing on the mice? Can she go through with it, and what are the consequences? There are plenty of darker elements as well, is there a basement at the research centre; has it been imagined or purposefully hidden?
The ending was superb, a little unbelievable, and I am sure there are a million ethical and practical considerations that may have suffered for a good story, but this was not what I expected and gave a great ending to a great book!
I enjoyed this well-written debut novel from Mahi Cheshire and will keep an eye out for any future books.
Thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for a free advanced reader copy (ARC) in exchange for an honest review.
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| Title | Deadly Cure |
| Author | Mahi Cheshire |
| Series | N/A |
| Format | eARC |
| Page Count | 416 Pages |
| Genre | Medical Fiction |
| Publisher | Vintage |
| Release Date | 21st April 2022 |
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