The blurb got me on this one.

Emma Duncan wakes up in a hospital and she's only positive of three things - her name is Emma, someone tried to kill her, and she has no idea who it was. Trapped in a hospital bed with little to no memory of her past, and is told by doctors that the bandages over her eyes are to protect them as her visual cortex has been affected by swelling in her brain. The doctor assures her its only temporary, but as days pass, Emma isn't so sure. She's trapped in a hospital bed and is completely at the mercy of the people around her. When her husband eventually visits, she discovers they divorced nearly three years ago and it makes her wonder what else she has forgotten.

Ok. Premise? Sold. I'm in, 100%. The book started out so, so strong. But then it...fell off. As the reader I had to do a lot of work to keep up with what was going on as there wasn't always the best delineation between what was happening in the present and what was Emma's remembering/dreaming of the past. As the story moved forward, it got harder and harder to suspend my disbelief that what was happening could ACTUALLY happen to/with someone. There were so many moving pieces, and i have a very hard time believing any nurse worth her salt wouldn't ask questions about what was going on with Emma.

I will say the reveal surprised me, but I don't know if that was because it was truly surprising or if I had just forgotten the person in question existed.

This book gave me some PTSD as I have suffered from a TBI and lost some of my memory. Other than that the book was extremely fast paced and it was very hard for me to put down.

It took me a while to get into this book and really understand how it was going to resolve. The first half was about set up and the final half was so good. It kept me totally engaged and I wanted to know what was going to happen - no I didnt guess until near the end.

Another one of Leslie’s books I flew through. This story really sucked me in. Even though I figured out who the attempted murderer was fairly early in the story, there were still so many twisted parts of the story that I needed to keep reading to see how it all came to a head.

Emma wakes up in a hospital bed knowing someone attempted to kill her, but has no idea who that is. She doesn't remember that she's divorced, or why. The only way for her to get answers is from her visitors and the doctors and nurses who come to her room.

Thank you Bookouture and NetGalley for my ARC of this book.

I’ve never read a book by this author before but I have read friends reviews from one of her other books which was encouraging.

When I saw this one come up I thought it sounded really good so looked forward to starting it.

I can’t help but feel I’ve read other books with this type of them and did it well holding my attention.

This one was pretty hard work from a readers point of view, the line between past and present was not always distinct and some things should have been so exciting….tense….however, it didn’t come across that way to me honestly.

Hard review to write because it had such potential to excel.
I’m no expert I just know that as a thriller it wasn’t tense enough for me.


Conclusion

Was good and had the potential to be better.

2.5 🌟

The blurb sounded interesting and it started off strong but it was short lived. There is a dual storyline switching from past to present but it didn’t really work. It was done without notice which at times made the storyline hard to follow. The first half of the listen was very slow whereas the second half really ramped up the pace but it just got too far fetched and ridiculous and it really lost me. This one fell short unfortunately and just didn’t work for me.

This book was described as “A completely unputdownable psychological thriller with a breathtaking twist” normally I would take this with a twist of salt but in this case it’s true this story is so dark I wouldn’t go to sleep without knowing what’s going on. When Emma wakes up she finds herself unable to see and move in a hospital after a brutal attack. She can only remember bits and pieces but knows someone tried to murder her, the only issue is she doesn’t know who. Day by day she seems to not be improving and can’t seem to hold on to the fragments of her memory. Small things come back and she slowly has to relive the worse moments of her life to try and get back to the present day and what could have happened to her. Frustrated at her slow progress and feeling despondent that she still can’t see can she trust the people around her to be looking after her best wishes and will the truth be even darker than she could have ever imagined. This book is out now and should not be missed!

The Hospital is an intense psychological thriller. Emma has a serious accident and finds herself in the hospital. Her memory is impacted and she struggles to remember different things. As Emma remains in the hospital, she works to piece together the truth. It is a tedious process for her to determine what is real. Emma comes to rely on the nurses and doctor who work with her to help her heal. She does not know who she can trust from her past. Emma is determined to get some answers. Each day, she makes more progress towards uncovering the truth. Although, Emma encounters a few setbacks during this story, she does not give up.

This story was set up in a way that made it easy to view the situation from Emma's perspective. I liked how the author slowly revealed new details. I particularly enjoyed how this book had some parts that made the reader second guess what was really happening. When Emma is questioning things, it is easy to wonder about the truth. Throughout this story, I tried to figure out what was really going on. I quickly realized that many things were not as they seemed and the truth wasn't really clear cut. I was engaged throughout this story and found myself rooting for Emma. This hospital based thriller book did not disappoint me. This story is one that I will be thinking about for a while to come.

*4.5 Stars*

Copy kindly received via NetGalley for an honest review.

A really good storyline to this novel. Emma went through a lot of things in both her personal and her work life that weren't good. They were things you could picture happening in the real world. I really liked the ending and thought some people got what they deserved. Emma found out who she could trust and who she couldn't.

First, I want to thank Leslie Wolfe, Bookouture and NetGalley for providing me with this book so I can bring you this review.

OMG!!!! I have been craving a good medical psychological thriller and wow Leslie Wolfe did not disappoint!!! The Hospital is one of the best books that I have read in this genre in a long time!! Leslie’s storyline was so wickedly intense, insanely fast paced, totally addicting that I binged read it in one sitting. This is one book you will want to put on your TBR list and bump it to the top.

Oh the detailed raw emotional filled scenes in the first chapter felt like I was watching a Netflix series that you can’t stop binging on!! I was literally glued to my kindle on the edge of my seat scared to death what happened and what was happening to Emma!! So many questions as to why she was in the hospital and who in the world did this to her!! I needed to find out!

The Hospital you have Emma’s point of view and then you have this very creepy mystery person that chimes in. This person gave me the creeps!!

Leslie did some great research as she addressed an important topic of traumatic brain injury and anterograde amnesia and how it affected Emma. I appreciated how Leslie explained the medical terminology and testing for those who may not have the medical background.

Oh how I was so glad Emma reached out to her Mom. I know how difficult it was but she was able to get some eye opening answers she so desperately wanted and needed!!

I’m a huge fan of all things in the entertainment world so I enjoyed learning who Steve was and who Emma was prior to her attack. However, the more I learned about Steve the more he was not my favorite person.

Oh this book was wickedly twisted and so good!!!

Emma wakes after a brutal attack with little memory. She is told she was attacked and begins to question everyone: her friends, her caretakers, her exes, strangers. This fear of everyone around her is compounded by not being able to see. The doctor has her head bandaged and her eyes wrapped for her protection. Emma is depending on her hearing and sense of smell to figure out who attacked her and get better.
The first third of this book I felt like I was just trying to get my bearings, much like Emma, figuring out who Emma was and her life before the attack. The middle part of The Hospital I was certain that X character was her attacker. Next chapter, no, it's gotta be Y. And on it went. Emma got stronger with each possibility of who her attacker might be, and I got more suspicious of everyone in her life.
Emma's resolve was beginning to really shine in the last third of the book - to the point that I had to finish. I stayed up way past bedtime to finish this story because I had to know.


And I am glad I did. Leslie Wolfe had me hanging on to the final page. It was not the ending I was expecting in many ways.

*Thank you to the publishers & #NetGalley for the advanced copy to review!*

"The Hospital" was a captivating read that kept me on my toes with its surprising plot twists. I thoroughly enjoyed the unpredictability of the story's path.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for my ARC.

So I love a thriller as much as the next girl, and I'm all for getting way too invested in made up characters and their fake situations.... but.... this takes a lot to believe in half of it. I mainly just kept asking like.... but how is that possible?! And I'm still asking that lol. Its well written and the characters were unique and well fleshed out. The plot.... hmm..... its great if you don't try to work out how it would ever be possible to play out that way! There are some wee twists and turns though, I was actually so so curious throughout to see what had happened and how it was all going to play out and the way it did? Well. At least it had an ending rather than a cliff hanger I guess

After reading The Surgeon by Leslie Wolfe I was so excited for this release and it did not disappoint. I love a gripping, dark thriller and was hooked instantly and I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. I think this book is a perfect mix of betrayal secret and lies, it leaves you doubting everything you are told and I don’t think I will forget that ending for a very long time. If you like a twisty thiller then I think this will be perfect.

The blurb was appealing but this thriller was ultimately disappointing.

A woman wakes up paralyzed, blind, and without most of her memories. She believes she is in the hospital because someone tried to kill her. Emma can’t remember who hit her over the head and it seems that her traumatic brain injury is also making her completely helpless. She suffers severe anxiety over her situation as a parade of nurses and her doctor care for her.

I really struggled with this one. I like medical thrillers, but other than some brief use of terms it was not actually that type of book. The situation Emma was in seemed so implausible and the tired trope of amnesia just ruined my attempts to seek any bit of realism. I did not care for any of the stereotypical characters in the narrative and the pacing was slow and uneven. I was not at all surprised by the climax or conclusion and found it quite predictable. I’ve read other books by this author and will probably try her again in the future.

I should note also that I listened to the audiobook narrated by Tanya Eby and I did not like her voice at all and it barely changed with the different characters. I followed along in the e-book ARC as that usually enhances my reading experience but it didn’t work this time.

Emma wakes up in a hospital seemingly blind and with no memory of how she got there other than a vague memory of running away from someone. As she starts to recover and regain some memories, they don't seem to match her current reality. In this psychological thriller, you will be left guessing with every turn and have difficulty putting it down.

For Fans of:
🔍Criminal Minds
🔍Freida McFadden
🔍Fast-paced Thrillers

Another great read from Leslie Wolfe and available on KU now! Thank you so much NetGalley and Bookouture for this ARC, all opinions are my own.

𝐈'𝐦 𝐄𝐦𝐦𝐚 𝐃𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐚𝐧, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐝. 𝐈'𝐦 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞. 𝐈𝐭 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐢𝐭, 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐟 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐧 𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭.

I was a fan of this author's previous work, so I started this one with high hopes. Ultimately, the plot was too convoluted for my taste.

Emma knows someone tried to kill her, and that's pretty much all that she can remember. She wakes up, unable to move or see, in a hospital. As much of the story unfolded through Emma's thoughts, I felt my attention wandering. I would have much preferred flashbacks instead of this wholly unreliable narrator that I couldn't garner any sympathy for. There are also a lot of characters whose motivations didn't make much sense to me as well.

Although this one was a miss for me, I'll check out the author's next release. Thank you to Bookouture for the review copy. This book published May 24, 2024.

Wow, what a scary situation to be in! Emma not only lost her memory after she was attacked, but her eye sight too, and her ability to walk. She is completely reliant on her friends and the staff at the hospital who are doing their best to help her recover her memory.

The beginning and middle of the book did a good job of setting up an unsettling vibe, leaving plenty of room to guess what was happening. For the great set-up though, the twist felt a bit disappointing.

It’s so hard to say what I thought with this one without giving away a major twist, so I’m going to try without giving anything specific away.

The twist required suspension of belief. There were too many people involved for something not to go totally wrong. I think if it had just involved Emma and the person(people) directly involved, it would have seemed more authentic, and not left so much of a trail. I can’t see anyone trying to kill someone and then trying being able to get away with what the antagonist did.

Despite that one twist, the writing was good and the story was bingey! I also mostly liked the main character, Emma.

I would definitely read more by Leslie Wolfe, and would recommend checking this one out if you like a good popcorn thriller in a medical setting!

Having previously read and enjoyed Wolfe's earlier book The Surgeon, I knew The Hospital wasn't going to disappoint.

It's a moderately paced thriller with several red herrings and twists aplenty throughout.

Narrated from Emma's POV and a person of unknown identity, The Hospital is an intense and addictive thriller that I couldn't put down.

That must have been so scary for Emma - waking up in 'hospital' and realising you were unable to move and see, and having to rely on the narrative of others and trust in them to tell you the truth.

A great cast of flawed characters, a brilliant plot and an unputdownable thriller, definitely one to recommend.

I really hate to give harsh reviews and I teetered between a 2 and 3 star review. I was interested and sucked in by this story. It was a little slow at times but I was SO CURIOUS what on earth was going on and who put Emma into the hospital. Things started unraveling slowly and I just wanted to finish. Then I got to the end and was utterly disappointed. It was unrealistic and quite ridiculous. I don't want to say why to avoid any spoilers. I really had high hopes for this book and I had it at 4-5 stars until that ending. I liked the authors writing and I would give her another try if someone recommended another book by her but I'd be hesitant to pick out something on my own. I see other reviewers gave it a good review and I'm sure many would enjoy it. It just wasn't the right book for me. :(