Christie Watson worked for 20 years as a nurse in the NHS and her experience led her to write a couple of memoirs, including 'The Courage to Care'. She also writes fiction, though, and as I've greatly enjoyed her writing, I was eager to read this, her latest novel, published in spring this year and which draws on her medical background as the setting for a gripping and thought-provoking psychological thriller. 

Olivia, Laura and Anjali have been friends for 25 years, ever since they met at medical school. They're quite different characters and their lives have taken different routes, but the bond between them is powerful and profound.

They promised each other years ago that nothing would come between them and they'd always have each other's back. And this was tested to the limit by one night at a wild party in those early student days.

Our story takes us back and forth from 2024 to that time in 1999. A tragic event in the present day has brought back all those memories, and their decisions then are still directing them today as a tragic event rocks all their lives. How far will they go to protect each other, and themselves?

This is very much a page-turner as we're desperate to piece together the events in both time periods but I was drawn in most of all by the portraits of surgeons, GPs and trauma doctors as presented in the stories of the three central characters. Their strengths and flaws, the decisions they make, the challenges and the rewards of these most demanding roles: I loved this insight, and enjoyed the drama of the book. A great read!