She Treads Softly: The Surgeon

Thursday, October 9, 2025

The Surgeon

The Surgeon by John Nicholl
10/19/25; 266 pages
Boldwood Books

The Surgeon by John Nicholl is a highly recommended disturbing psychological thriller following a man out for revenge.

Professor Alexander Aitken was a consultant surgeon but he has been in jail for five years for killing Holly Larkin, a murder he didn't commit. He was never caught for the murders he did commit. Now he has had time to plan his revenge so when the real perpetrator comes forward, and he is released it is time to set his plans into motion. Detective Inspector Laura Kesey is high on his list of those who must pay.

This is a dark, disturbing thriller which moves at at an even pace and the tension increases incrementally. This is a really unsettling novel that is quite graphic at times. The suspense and the tension build throughout the novel to a satisfying conclusion. It is a short novel, which makes it a fast read. This was good for me because I felt it was too gruesome at times.

The narrative is told through multiple first person points-of-view through different characters in each short chapter. This writing choice allows you to understand what each character is thinking along the way and helps with character development, portraying each one as an unique individual with strengths and weaknesses. The multiple viewpoints wasn't entirely successful for me, I felt like there were too many viewpoints, but it did add depth to the characters and didn't detract from the story.

The Surgeon by John Nicholl is a good choice for those who enjoy a revenge based psychological thriller. Thanks to Boldwood Books for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

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John Updike's six rules for reviewing:

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation--at least one extended passage--of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser.....Review the book, not the reputation.... Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.