Having watched the TV adaptation and listened to Adam in a few interviews and podcast appearances, I was worried I’d know the stories. For the most part that is true, but equally there are many small entries that are just as impactful as the ones you are expecting. 

This being an audiobook, read by the author, helped to highlight the humour. He has great timing, but that timing is not only reserved for the funny. I was left at times with an uncomfortable, voyeuristic feeling when he narrates some of the difficult parts of the book. Maybe it is the duty of a member of society to bare witness to some of the trauma medical professionals endure daily, and if so this book is unflinching in the way it turns on a heel to deal the heartbreaking reality of life and death. 

The final part, detailing the junior doctors strike will make you mad, especially if you remember listening to the way politicians treated them and their plea. But from the perspective of 2024, “post”-COVID, it will magnify that fury. With the existential crisis facing the NHS, this might soon be a quaint history book of the time when the UK had accessible healthcare for all. Reading this book now should come with a warning for overwhelming dread.