Book Bites | Marina Auer, Ashley Elston, Martina Cole with Jacqui Rose

Single Minded ****
Marina Auer
Kwela

It's New Year's Day in 2001 when anaesthetist Dr Murphy Meyer arrives at Eden State Hospital, a semirural hospital near Pietermaritzburg, for her first day at work. The neglect everywhere is an eyesore, from the pitted, potholed road leading up to the hospital to the shabby, brutalist 70s building surrounded by faded prefabs running with rats. Meyer has a reason for applying to work at this God-forsaken hospital. She's looking for her beloved Esther, who brought her up as a child. She last heard from Esther five months earlier when she was admitted to Eden State. Now Meyer is on a mission to find out what happened to her.

Within days things start to go wrong. Meyer is assisting in a leg amputation when she discovers they are cutting the wrong leg. Days later, an eclamptic patient dies from magnesium toxicity. A child is raped on the grounds, a nurse brutally assaulted and more patients die without any reason. Who is behind these acts? Whispers in the corridors speak of “tokoloshe”. Meyer begins to wonder what's going on, and jots down her thoughts on a piece of paper. Now the trouble targets Meyer. A thrilling book, beautifully written by someone who knows hospital life intimately — Auer is a doctor who has worked in state hospitals. Reading this is like watching ER in words: exciting, dangerous and riveting. — Gabriella Bekes

First Lie Wins ****
Ashley Elston
Headline

Elston is an exciting new author whose previous six books were for the young adult market. This, her first adult thriller, became a #1 New York Times best-seller. Evi Porter is living a life of love and wealth with businessman Ryan Summer. But she is not what she seems — and neither, for that matter, is Summer. In fact, Porter is investigating him as part of her job (mostly on the wrong side of the law) for a mysterious “fixer” called Mr Smith. One problem is that Porter is in love with Summer; another is the shocking arrival of a woman who has stolen Porter’s hidden real identity. The job spirals out of control, unleashing an explosive series of events that are entertaining and unexpected. — William Saunderson-Meyer

Loyalty ****
Martina Cole with Jacqui Rose
Headline

Off the bat disclaimer: Loyalty was my first Martina Cole read and I went in blind, completely new to her work and style, so it was one heck of a shocker. The crassness, vulgar language and extreme violence were unsettling and disturbing to say the least. But the story was well worth the push to get through this weighty novel. Gritty and brutal, this is the true definition of a page-turner. This saga of the lifelong friendship relates the story of two young girls, Dara and Grace, who meet when they are placed in the Holly Brookes Children’s Home in the English countryside. They unite in the face of horrific abuse and form an unbreakable bond for life, navigating immense horrors through the years. They engage with a mixed bag of vivid characters — some loathsome, some lovable, some that make your blood boil. This is definitely not a book for the fainthearted. It's a chilling, unflinching, and disturbing insight into London's criminal underworld and those living on the fringes of it. Highly recommended if you have a strong stomach. — Gill Gifford