A Kiss Before Killing

Here's the thing -- I hate giving stars. Most of the books I read are amazing, but a 5 star to me means that it changed my life -- I might need to give that idea more consideration. What do you think? How do you decide? My rating system is pretty simple.
"Coincidences happen all the time, Chief Inspector. It's because we live in a random universe.", October 20, 2017 This review is from: A Kiss Before Killing: Nothing can keep the doctor away... (Kindle Edition) Well -- imagine my surprise to find that this book is #11 in a long-running series! And I have not read ANY of the previous books. I hate it when this happens! I would have liked to approach this medical thriller with all the background on the characters of Dr. John Eisenmenger and DCI Beverley Wharton. Perhaps I would have understood their relationship better based on their history together. Regardless, without the benefit of all the backstory, I did enjoy this very fast paced and quite grisly suspense novel. There's plenty of description for anyone not too squeamish, but I suspect readers of this genre are familiar with themes of bloody murder and torture. That the "victims" are only torsos when found is a bit off-putting, and that there are so many! There's another series of deaths that are occuring at a statistically higher than usual rate at the Royal Infirmary. Are these all connected somehow? The medical details dovetail nicely with the police procedural. I like that it was told in the alternate points of view of the two main characters. The setting is the UK and it's spring time when Dr. Eisenmenger and DCI Wharton get involved in the cases. It's obvious that the author is himself a medical doctor with personal knowledge about pathologists and hospitals. Lots of dialog and action move the narrative along quickly so I was able to finish this in one sitting. There are loose ends at the conclusion so I imagine those answers will be addressed in the next book of the series. Perhaps one day I'll go back and try at least the first book! Thank you to NetGalley and Endeavor Press for the e-book ARC to read and review. Medical thrillers are my favorite!