Author Publishing Tips

A Medical Thriller Author Needs To Be Well Informed!

Novels like Coma by Robin Cook, The Andromeda Strain, by Michael Crichton and Life Support, by Tess Gerritsen have made a major contribution to our continued fascination with medical thrillers. It’s not an easy sub-genre to successfully write in. An author needs to be well informed and prepared to do extensive research whilst the overarching thriller genre suffers from an avalanche of formulaic writing.

Medical Thrillers And Medical Crime

In some ways, thrillers are a balancing act. Readers want plenty of forwarding momentum and action but they’re overwhelmingly drawn to humankind’s propensity for deceit coupled with our inherent need to see good prevail. These are ironclad conventions that have stood the test of literary time but medical thrillers and medical crime or conspiracy thrillers take us that little bit further. Cerebral and suspenseful the good ones elicit heightened feelings of suspense, excitement, surprise, anticipation and anxiety but they are unique in that they often have an unknown element that can’t be quantified. Whether it’s technology, some rare bacteria or manufactured infectious disease, we hope our fearless protagonist will win the day but something without a conscience doesn’t conform to our expectations and this is where bestselling authors work their particular kind of magic.

Tapping into our fear of illness!

For new writers wanting to combine medical writing with the thriller genre, the authors at the top of their game are daunting competition. Many come from a medical background but there is a way of levelling the playing field. Medical thrillers and medical crime or conspiracy thrillers tap into our fear of illness. Whilst a full-on international espionage thriller might feel dispersed and intangible because it’s outside our sphere of experience illness is something that touches us all. We expect to be treated but the fear that we can’t leaves us contemplating our own mortality. Extensive research can make up for a shortfall in an authors medical knowledge but there is no substitute for writing that emphasises our shared fears and humanity. One author who has done just this is J. N. Bedout with his Dystopian novel Health Reformation: Murder, Medicine and Rehab in the Age of Pandemics. You can find our review HERE.

Following in the footsteps of greats like Robin Cook, Michael Palmer and Carol Cassella he has certainly done his homework and new authors venturing into the genre would do well to follow suit. If you are currently in the process of writing a medical thriller or about to pen your opening chapter your thoughts are always welcome and as always we hope our latest post has created a spark of reflection.

Trusted Book Reviews

We work with both traditionally published and “indie” authors who have self or independently published books and our mission is simple. It’s to discover new and talented authors and help them give their work the attention and awareness it deserves. We do this by providing professional and credible reviews which are respected by our readers. Our primary focus is on fiction across all genres, non – fiction with broad appeal and selected poetry.

  • Over 8000 Book Reviews And Counting
  • All Book Genres Reviewed
  • Books Reviewed In 14 Days Or Less
  • The Only Book Review Site To Offer A Book Review Guarantee

Essential Tips For Authors & Top Title Book Reviews

Family Drama and Suspense
Book Reviews
Editorial Team

Family Drama and Suspense

There’s real craft and ingenuity behind Callahan’s prose as both narratively and stylistically she creates meaningful conflict and believable characters underpinned by the requisite degree of emotional honesty that brings them to life.

Read More »
Time Travel Science Fiction
Apocalyptic
Editorial Team

Time Travel Science Fiction

When Jim meets Sophie, a fellow member of the liberation movement ‘The Underground’, his life begins to take on even more meaning. After a failed attempt at infiltrating the Elite leaders ends in tragedy, Jim turns to his scientific studies, specifically a porthole into other dimensions, to right the wrong.

Read More »
Christian Education Books
Book Reviews
Editorial Team

Christian Education Books

An eye-opening look at creation versus evolution, ‘From Goo to God’ tracks many of the blindly accepted evolutionary theories, picking each apart to examine whether they deserve the widely established promotion throughout the whole educational experience of young people.

Read More »
Children's Animal Stories
Book Reviews
Editorial Team

Children’s Animal Stories

Kathleen. W . Franks has managed to capture; the kind that transports its young reader into the realms of their own imagination, complete with secret tunnels, magical creatures and a good old baddie or two!
Right from the off the mystery begins as Franks firmly hooks her readers with strong relatable characters and a gripping plot, with the shape of the novel growing and shifting naturally from her protagonist’s very first experience at his new home.

Read More »

Book Reviews That Readers Trust.

From humble beginnings in 2002 as a book review club BookViral has grown to become the first choice in book reviews for authors around the world and one of the biggest book review sites on the web. BookViral reaches millions of potential readers through best practice SEO and a trusted social media presence ensuring readers get unbiased, critical recommendations they can trust. 

BookViral also offers a full suite of author services, including, book editing services for unpublished and self-published authors, website design and bespoke SEO that help authors get discovered by more potential readers as well as industry influencers, such as publishers, agents and film executives. 

© Copyright 2019 BookViral Reviews. All Rights Reserved.