Darcy is a nurse who has been assigned to a new patient with another nurse, Pippa. Something doesn't seem right about Scarlett and her husband Adrian. Darcy is not sure that Scarlett's fall was an accident so despite Pippa's advice on not pushing it, Darcy begins her own investigation that leads to something bigger than she could have imagined.

The story started somewhat slow for me but then the plot twist happens in the middle and it just speeds up through there leaving you not wanting to put the book down.

Thank you Negalley, the publisher and author for my ARC!

The Perfect Nurse was an excellent read and was gripping right from the very start, keeping me guessing the whole way through. It moved at a perfect pace that kept me invested throughout without ever getting bored of waiting for something to happen. The writing style made for a nice easy read that flowed well, and every chapter ended with me needing to read on. The plot was full of twists and turns and at no point did I successfully guess what was going to happen next, which is an instant positive for me. I finished the book within 24 hours which I think speaks for itself, I would highly recommend it!

Daniel Hurst proves once again why he's an auto read author for me. "The Perfect Nurse" did not disappoint. While initially slow to build momentum, the story quickly evolves into a whirlwind of plot twists and suspense that keeps readers on edge until the final page.

I went into the book blind and was pleasantly surprised by the story. However, this one has a slightly misleading synopsis so alter your expectations accordingly. The twists are so worth it!

"The Perfect Nurse" kept me engaged and kept me guessing until the end. The suspense built throughout the story and the ending left me reeling! 😱🤯

Overall, "The Perfect Nurse" is a quick yet engaging read, perfect for fans of psychological thrillers and suspenseful mysteries. Hurst's ability to deliver compelling twists earns this novel a solid 4-star rating, promising an entertaining escape into a world where nothing is as it seems. Thanks to Bookouture, NetGalley, and the author for this ARC. I cant wait to dive into the next book in the series!

The king of kings. I absolutely love this author and he writes amazing books this one was incredible of course!
Thank you NetGalley for letting me read this I’m so glad I was able to

The Perfect Nurse is a slow burn thriller. Things are revealed very slowly. Certain reactions to circumstances seemed unrealistic at the start but by the end, it all makes sense and comes together. There are so many turns throughout that I didn’t anticipate the big twist at all. I liked the way the action picked up at the end. I am thrilled that this is a series and book 2 will be out next month!

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Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the eARC. This is the first book I have read by Daniel Hurst and it will not be the last! I give this book a solid 4 out of 5.
Darcy is a nurse working with her coworker Pippa with a company that does home nursing visits. They both see a new patient in a nice neighborhood. As soon as Darcy steps into the house she gets this weird feeling that she can't shake. Something is up with this couple. Is there abuse? Is this fraud? Is there something really medically wrong with this woman? Are they faking it? Darcy does everything she can to reveal the truth, but in doing so she reveals the truth and deep dark memories within her own life.

This book took me on a roller coaster for sure. The beginning was confusing in that I could not grasp the occupation of Darcy and Pippa. As the book went on I realized what was happening and why it was so vague. I enjoyed every reveal and suspense moment in this book. The parts where people were in her house when she was not there really got me. As a reader, I am like girl you need better locks on your doors and windows because it is one time too many! Even for her to have the guts to do her nightly walks even after the following. Wow! Couldn't have been me! One time too many, I will be in my house walking on a treadmill or something. Scary! I wish there was more of a closed loop on Eden and Darcy's relationship. It felt very open and questionable on whether their friendship was authentic as the other characters made it out to be.

Slow burn thriller while you get to know the characters and backstory and then the plot starts to accelerate just when I thought I had the answers the next page out that to wrong . The ending was unexpecte and a major twist. This book is a an adictive and nail biting and has had me sitting on the edge. a cliff hanger at everyone chapter ending and wow wow o wow I was not expecting what happened in the end . You never know if u can’t trust the people you know you should be safe to.

3.5 stars
thank you to netgalley for giving me an e-arc! 'the perfect nurse' releases on 01/07/24
in this book, we follow darcy. darcy is a nurse that goes to peoples homes to care for them. with her crisp, white nursing uniform & good law abiding citizen characteristics, on the outside, she looks like the perfect nurse. but what went wrong that lead her to be covered in blood that doesn't belong to her & lead her to frantically burn her nursing uniform?
this book took me a little while to get into properly. i would say the first half was more slow & building up to the plot twists that occurred in the second half of the book. the second half was more much more interesting and kept me on the edge of my seat!
there isn't much i can say without giving away any spoilers but i would definitely recommend going into this blind! i personally think it's much more enjoyable and unpredictable that way!
while the twist in this book was completely unexpected and i didn't see it coming at all, it didn't seem to have that mind blowing element that daniel hurst's other books have? it felt slightly underwhelming! that could very well be because i'm used to his books now. for new hurst readers, i can see how this would be an incredible book to start off with!

I know beach read to some means a summery love story, but I love a good thriller as part of my summer reading.  You know like how the blockbuster movies are always released in the summer.  This one fits the bill for me.

It starts out a little slow as the story is set and then jumps to full speed as it all unravels.  A popcorn thriller at the top of its game.  Is it the most believable book I've ever read? No.  But did it pull me in and entertain me until the very end.  Definitely.  

I didn't really connect with Darcy as an adult who cannot seem to set an alarm and get up.  Then she ends up overly paranoid at just about everything.  But I still wanted to know more about her and the mysterious couple she is charged with helping.  As a reader I knew something didn't add up, but I didn't know what the solution could be.

It is full of twists, which most I did not see coming.  Hurst always writes smart thrillers that take the reader on a ride by pulling me in and then giving me enough to "solve" things.  He then goes in the opposite direction to pull off the switch.  The facts are always right there in front of me yet, I go down the path following the wrong clues.

And it looks like this is the start of a new series and I can't wait to see where this one heads next.

Daniel Hurst returns following The Family Trip and the Doctor's Wife series with THE PERFECT NURSE (#1), the first installment in a new series that promises to deliver the same suspense and mystery that fans have come to love.

Set in Chicago, Darcy, a troubled nurse, seems in a daze with no clue about her past. The plot thickens as she gets glimpses and flashbacks of a frightening past, certain people, a traumatic event, and secrets she possibly needs to keep buried. This twisty new series is sure to keep you on the edge of your seat, craving for more.

Who wants to keep her quiet? Does she know too much?

About...

Darcy, the perfect nurse craves sleep, but she is afraid of the nightmares. She is not sure why she has to rely on sleeping pills every night, which leaves her groggy the next day.

Her co-worker Pippin is lovely, energetic, and always there to help. She arrives at Darcy's house to make her coffee and makes sure she has on her scrubs and is ready for the day.

Darcy and Pippin, two friends and nurses, have a new assignment. They are to provide in-home health care for a woman, Scarlett, who was injured in a fall at her home and left with some brain damage. Her husband, Adrian, cares for her, but he needs a break and thus hires the in-home care nurses.

However, soon, Darcy feels something is off about the couple. Did her husband push the woman? Is the woman scared of her husband? Did she really have an accident? Can she trust her husband? She can never get the patient alone without the husband being around to question the woman. Pippa thinks she is worrying uselessly.

Then Adrian asks her if she would be interested in overnight shifts for extra money. She thinks this might be a way to investigate further and see what is happening behind closed doors. She really gets suspicious when Scarlett tells her to lock her door at night. Then she starts sleuthing. Things are strange? What is going on with this couple? Who are they?

NOTHING OR NO ONE IS AS IT APPEARS.

Just when you think you have it figured out, the author takes a 180-degree turn, and the storyline takes a different direction. This unpredictability gives readers a jaw-dropping twist leading down a secret past that becomes even more sinister. You'll be left in awe, eagerly turning the pages to uncover the next twist.

My thoughts...

Daniel is the king of revenge plots, and in THE PERFECT NURSE, a suspenseful, twisty kickoff to a new series, where you have unreliable narrators, nurses, an estranged best friend, a doctor, a neurosurgeon, a patient, an unknown family, memory issues, flashbacks of a haunted past, secrets, and an accident?

What happened in the past that haunts Darcy? She cannot remember, but she gets glimpses, and she is afraid she has broken her duty as a nurse. Or maybe she simply knows the truth, which may be more frightening than death. She is worried this is not over when things begin to surface. She must escape.

Who is Pippin, Adrian, Scarlett, Eden, Melissa, and Laurence?

Is Darcy innocent? Does she know things? Did she witness something terrible? Is forgetting a gift? Instead, she is desperately trying to remember every single detail of her life before the accident.

Who was she trying to run from? Had she left the hospital to work for private in-home care? Getting back her memory may be worse than not knowing. These characters are so intricately woven into the plot that you'll be deeply invested in their stories.

Who is the villain, and who is the victim? Was she a witness and a co-conspirator? Did she participate in a murder? She only knows she is a nurse, an everyday woman, not some evil, callous witch. Is she a perfect nurse?

What is Darcy's dark secret? She needs to run, but she cannot remember half of it. Is she a murderer?

Read to find out, get the cliffhanger, and continue the mystery in this fun and twisty maze of questions in book #2, The Nurse's Lie, coming August 1, 2024. I will be anxiously awaiting to learn more about Darcy and Pippa!

Recs...

THE PERFECT NURSE is recommended for fans of Daniel Hurst and authors Valerie Keogh, Teri Terry, Leslie Wolf, K.L. Slater, and Freida McFadden.

Thanks to Bookouture for an advanced reading review digital copy via NetGalley for an honest opinion.

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Pub Date: July 1, 2024
My Rating: 4 Stars
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The book starts a bit erratic. We meet Darcy, a nurse treating a wealthy family that hired two nurses to support the wife after an accident. The wife, Scarlett, had suffered a fall inside the house and now had memory lapses. Darcy suspects the husband had something to do, but we get little evidence supporting this theory. Initially, it was hard to follow due to her behavior and the lack of evidence to support Darcy's theory; however, in the middle of the book, we get a plot twist. The reveal opens a sea of possibilities, and it gains some momentum.

While I enjoyed the plot twist and where the story went after it, it left me wondering how Darcy would remember certain things. This action by Darcy drove the story, and simultaneously, it was juxtaposed with the plot twist reveal. It is easy to see a second part of this book since we are left with many areas that could be explored.

The book is good, and I would recommend it. Just know that it starts slow but builds midway, and you will only be able to put it down once you figure out how it ends.

The Perfect Nurse is a quick suspenseful read, full of twists and turns. The suspense is slowly built, which adds a lot to the story itself.
In this book, we follow Darcy, who seems to suffer from paranoia and is also dependant on sleep aids and sedatives in her everyday life. Darcy is a nurse and is passionate about her job, but lately she has been feeling like she might need a change. One day, she is called to care for an elderly couple, with the wife suffering from the early stages of dementia. All is going well, until Darcy gets suspicions that the couple may be faking the whole thing. She is determined to find out what is really going on, and when she finally does, the truth is quite shocking!
As entertaining as it was, this book was a 3 star read for me. The first half seemed to drag on a bit, whereas the second half was where the action started. I guess you could consider the first half a slow build-up. At some point, it did start to feel like a different story, which caused me to have mixed feelings. I would have also preferred Darcy's truths being revealed more towards the end of the book as opposed to midway. Aside from that, the story itself was great! After reading the blurb, I admittedly had something completely different in mind, but the plot was still great. My jaw dropped at the big revelation, and by the end of the book, I was ready for the next one!

Thank you NetGalley, Bookouture, and Daniel Hurst for this riveting ARC!

I really enjoy Daniel Hurst books, and this one is no exception. The Perfect Nurse is a fast, suspenseful, twisty read. 4 stars!

Darcy Miller is a home healthcare nurse. At her newest assignment, something seems off ... has she met these people before? She senses that the people around her aren't telling the complete truth. But what exactly is going on? And then at home and in her neighborhood, she feels that she is being followed and that someone has been in her house. Is she in danger? Who can she trust? The Perfect Nurse is a fun, yet tense and tragic book. There is a big twist in the middle with even more to follow. Hurst does a great job of building the excitement and pressure as I often felt like something scary was about to happen. Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the digital ARC.

The Perfect Nurse is the second book I've read by Daniel Hurst and I was so excited going in, but ended up disappointed.

The writing felt very mechanical and didn't flow naturally, so it was hard for me to relate to the main character. Although I love a twisty thriller, I felt the twist started a completely new book than the beginning. It made it seem like some of the things certain characters had previously said/done were minor plot holes and weren't addressed in later chapters.

Overall, I would give this book 2.5 stars because I did enjoy parts of it. But if you've never read Daniel Hurst before, I would start with another title of his.

The first half of the book dragged on for me. The Perfect Nurse is written in first person from the viewpoint of Darcy who is portrayed as extremely paranoid, sleep deprived and possibly drug addled. Around the halfway point the reader starts to be provided with some answers and the pace of the plot starts to pick up. I found the second half of the book much more engaging than the second half. Unfortunately this just didn't turn out to be the thriller that it was intended to be.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Thank you Netgalley, Daniel Hurst, and Bookouture for the ebook! I don't know what I was expecting but this book definitely gave me some shocks and twists!! Even though I guessed the plot, I still enjoyed the story thoroughly! It was unique and had me turning the pages in the late hours!

Daniel Hurst is King of the twist! Seriously, I did not see several of the twists coming at all! Either he is very devious or very clever, I'm still deciding. But what I do know is that he absolutely pulled the wool over my eyes in this addictive, jaw dropping, and twist filled read! The Perfect Nurse kept me on my toes, turning the pages, and glued to the pages!

Darcy is a nurse who has been hired to take care of a woman who suffered an injury in her home. As Darcy and her co-worker, Pippa begin their nursing duties at the woman's home, Darcy can't help but think something isn't quite right. She is not sure what that might be, but she is determined to figure things out!

Oh baby! I had no idea where this book was going when I picked it up. I came up with a theory and then *BAM* I was left reeling after a completely shocking twist. My mind was reeling, and I was on the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen next. That was the first twist but will not be the last. Hurst had quite a few up his sleeve and I enjoyed every one of them.

The Perfect Nurse is the first book in a new series by Daniel Hurst. It is off to a great start, and I can't wait to read the next book in the series!!

Dramatic, shocking, jaw dropping and riveting.

Daniel Hurst is back with a new series - The Perfect Nurse - and it promises to be a ripping read! It is very suspenseful getting to the point where the reader knows what is really going on but then it picks up speed and runs away as only this author can do! Looking forward to #2 in the series!

Manu thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for this ARC!

I have liked some of this author's previous books but this one didn't quite work for me. It starts out with Darcy, a nurse, groggy after taking several sleeping pills and stumbling out of bed when someone is pounding on her door. The person at the door is Pippa, a nurse that Darcy is partnered with on. job to be a home health care nurse for a wealthy woman. We find out the woman has sustained a head injury after a fall and has shown signs of brain damage. Her husband, a retired health care administrator has hired the nurses to help out with the daily care of his wife. Only Darcy suspects something else is going on and she thinks this couple are not what they seem.

There are some huge plot twists in this book and usually they are fun and unexpected but they just don't work for me. Introducing Darcy as addicted to pills and unable to take care of herself gives it away that something is wrong with her. The story is set in Chicago but it is obvious the author is British as the conversations and details don't seem American beginning with Darcy starting almost every sentence with "erm". I was intrigued enough to see where this was going but the story never made sense to me and I doubt if I would read further installments in this series.

Some lingering questions: Why was Darcy told to lock her bedroom door from the inside? That just doesn't make sense. Why wasn't she under some kind of guardianship? She obviously could not take care of herself. How could she support herself if she just drove off? She would likely be putting herself in harm's way again with the pills and drinking. Pippa was supposed to have a husband and son but spent all her time with Darcy. Why wouldn't she want to see her child? How was Darcy paying for taxis and online purchases? Was she getting fake checks from the nursing agency? If she couldn't remember any details from her past, why wasn't she on medication and in therapy? It seems like it would be difficult to live on your own in that condition. Thank you from NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this ARC for review.

This book was really gripping and kept me at the edge of my seat! It had me questioning if the lies and deceit were going to keep coming. These twists went places I would’ve never expected. The only thing I wish was different was that we found out a tad more throughout the middle of the book and not just the end. Otherwise, great thriller that makes you think!

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC.