4.5 stars, rounded up

This was a captivating and heartbreaking novel following Maggie, a medical intern, through her pediatric rotation. She befriends a terminally ill child, Bobby; this novel follows their friendship, the ways they learn and grow from each other, and makes a commentary on medical ethics.

I personally have never been through medical school or been an intern or resident at a hospital, but I did work for 2+ years in the emergency department of a children’s hospital and this novel took me back to my time working in the ED.

While this novel did give me a bit of a Grey’s Anatomy [or insert any of the plethora of medical TV dramas out there] vibe, I found this story to have much more substance by adding commentary on ethics and bureaucracy within healthcare. The fact that the author of this novel is a MD helped make this novel much more realistic; I found the depictions of hospitals and cases to be very interesting and much more accurate than those I have read in the past. Throughout the novel, you get to see many other cases and patients that Maggie worked with, which I enjoyed being able to following along with.

I haven’t seen many reviews of buzz about this book, and I would definitely recommend it to those who enjoy to read medical fiction and/or enjoy Grey’s Anatomy or other TV medical dramas!

A huge thank you to NetGalley and TouchPoint Press for the gifted e-book.

As I read this book, I began to appreciate it more over time. The first half to me personally was a little slow. I felt like the time it took to describe the hospitals, how rotations worked, and the overall monotony of being an intern could have been shortened. I came in with the perception that I would enjoy those parts because I want to become a physician, and I realize that is the reality of what residency and internship looks like, but I really didn't enjoy reading about it. I did appreciate that after the halfway point, things really picked up. When the topic of do not resuscitate and moral topics were brought up, I found that to be much more interesting. Maggie as a character is someone I would strive to be like. It's easy to feel like many of the other residents felt, overworked, tired, not earning enough money, and just trying to get through residency so they can become hot shot doctors in specialized fields like radiology and surgery. However, the problem in that is, sometimes they forget to care about their patients and see them as more than just numbers and diagnoses on a chart. I loved Bobby as a character, he was probably my favorite. He was spunky, but scared as any of us are of dying, no matter what we say otherwise. I think this book talked about a lot of important issues in the health care community and hospitals, especially the heartbreaking situations you have to live with as a doctor. Seeing someone dye before your eyes is never taken lightly. Overall, I did like and appreciate this book. I probably wouldn't recommend it to someone not interested in medicine because the medical jargon is pretty heavy. 


Writing: 6/10
Characters: 7/10
Plot: 7/10
Ending: 7/10
Originality: 8/10
Overall: 35/50
Cover: 5/10

Maggie Johnson has lived the apparently perfect life. A brilliant student who has studied medicine at the best universities and is successfully completing her internship at a run down at the heel hospital in the poor part of New York city before presumptively swanning off to a bigger, better hospital to specialise in radiology and follow into the business of orthopaedics, just as her doctor father had planned for her since she was three years old. But this area of medicine does not set Maggie's heart aflutter. She is drawn to a different stream, that her father deems to be insignificant and not worthy of her time. Maggie works in the charity hospital Our Lady of Perpetual Mercy, otherwise known as Our Lady of the Golden Arches after McDonald's had built a restaurant next to it in 1974. In it there is one patient in particular who has captured Maggie’s heart - Bobby, who is twelve years of age, has been unsuccessfully battling cancer since he was seven and is a ward of the Office of the State Guardian, who is too busy to make the application to the courts to change his position to one of Do Not Resuscitate because she is too busy to fill in the paperwork, and has no one in his life who really gives a damn about him. He and Maggie have built a close relationship in the time she has been his doctor. But Bobby is a financial drain on the hospital, and the CEO of the hospital, Rachel Oberhausen is gunning to change his status and leave Bobby to die. The main storyline looks at the manner in which Maggie and Bobby manoeuvre to try and battle for his right to live.

Labelled as women’s fiction or new adult, is an ultimately uplifting medical story of one doctor truly making a difference in the life of one patient and of the difference of caring makes in the life of the doctor involved. It looks at the stresses a student doctor is placed under. It has a couple of romantic storylines and one of infidelity, and there is a story of domestic abuse and the responsibilities placed on society to protect those that can’t protect themselves. It also presents a sobering look at the pressure of today's society as to the presentation of what success ultimately looks like. It is written in an open manner that flows quickly, never overwhelms the reader with too much medical terminology, but also grants the reader a closer look into the world of medicine. This story is engaging and it is easy to understand why Maggie has made the decisions she has to this point of her life and are pleased to see her start making decisions for her life rather than her father railroading her into the life he deems correct. It is a journey of only a few weeks in her life, but they are tumultuous, powerful and painful weeks that will leave the reader touched to the voyage she makes.

Interestingly, there is a huge mistake on the front cover of this book, in which Bobby is very clearly depicted as an African-American boy, wherein the actual book he is described as a white male, suggesting that the artist didn’t even read a few chapters into the novel before rending the artwork for the book, which is very poor form for both the artist and the editors involved and makes a mockery of the writers' intentions and hard work in creating this moving story.

I'm an avid reader of medical novels. And this one is one of the best I've ever read. The main characters are very well developed, and the pace of the book is good. There's a lot of medical terminology and the procedure's descriptions are accurate and easy to imagine.
Maggie is an intern at a hospital near El Barrio, one of the most vulnerable neighborhoods in New York. Her father is a well known professional and wants her following his steps.
Bobby is a very sick boy who is spending his life at Maggie's hospital. They forge a very intense friendship, and at some point it will affect both of their existences.
The tough thing about medical novels is to give the same intensity to the medical part as to the plot and the characters inner thoughts. In this case, the author arrived to a nice balance between both subjects.
I really liked this book and I hope to read more from this author.

However, I must warn other readers, there are some mistakes in the spelling that need to be corrected.
Thank you NetgGalley for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

First, I want to thank Peter HogenKamp, Touchpoint Press, Xpresso Book Tours, and NetGalley for providing me with this book so I could bring you this review.

Immediately, I was drawn to The Intern by Peter HoganKamp’s book by the incredible graphics on the cover on the book. It captured the book perfectly and tugged on my heartstrings as well. If you know me you know that I am a sucker for a good medical fiction book. It is one of the genres that I crave to read. This definitely satisfied my craving.

Being a former Medical Assistant/Office Assistant I was incredibly impressed with all the medical diagnosis, testing, result, and readings he put into this book. I also appreciated the medical education he gave to his readers on many levels.

I absolutely loved learning about all the different patients Maggie the intern had on a daily basis. Each were unique, had their own back story, and wow did some of them pull hard on your heartstrings big time!! Being the compassionate person that I am I wanted to reach into the book and give some of them each a hug.

My favorite patient had to be Bobby. He and Maggie had a special and unique bond. Both grew as stronger individuals being in eachother’s lives. However, he was one that had my emotions all over the place more than any of the other patients. I needed my tissues when it came to him.

Just by the writing style you could tell the writer was passionate about his characters, the storyline, and has a medical background (or did his research as it was incredibly detailed). It made it all the more fascinating for someone like me who loves the medical industry and the great customer service many get in health care to read.

There were a few surprises in the book I didn’t see coming and was a little shocked by.

Unfortunately, the author had some typing errors in the NetGalley copy I received. Words were not spaced out apart many times and all jumbled together. Many times it was difficult to read the sentence. This was not in the whole book just on a few pages.