If you are from the UK, it's most likely that you are familiar with Jed Mercurio's work as a writer of TV drama serials. He's known for taking a bleak view of the institutions in which his dramas are set (the police, the health service) and for fast-paced writing that's strong on plot. This book pre-dates much of that success, and was itself adapted by the author into a successful TV series.

It shares some characteristics with Cardiac Arrest, his first TV series written whilst he was still a working junior doctor in the UK. Both portray the working lives of those in health services in a way that's very different from the perspective of the outsider, and with a tone that some find callous or brutal. They aren't either of those things - they are sympathetic and honest portrayals of the difficulties faced by doctors and nurses in a system that sometimes seems designed to fail both them and their patients.

'Bodies' follows the life of its protagonist, a male junior doctor, from his first day on the ward after graduation from medical school. It is strong on how frightening the experience can be, on how one can have both strong emotional involvement with patients whilst also having to maintain a disconnect from emotions for the sake of one's sanity. It illustrates the difficulty in separating honest mistakes from negligence and the consequences of both for patients and staff. Through the strains of the protagonist's relationship with his partner and wider circle of friends, it also drives home how isolating it can be for someone in medicine not to be able to discuss the problems of their work with people who can appreciate them.

In one sense this is an easy read; it's a page-turner and the prose just flows. In other ways it certainly isn't. You feel for all those involved and things don't really go well for anyone. It's worth reading, but it isn't for the easily upset. ( )

I've been trying to track down a copy of this book since I saw the TV series (starring the delicious Max Beesley). It took a long time, but boy, was it worth it.
- Warning: spoilers-

The setting is different from the TV show (gen med/A&E from ob/gyn), but once you've started reading, you'll see why. This book is frank and stark enough to cause a revolt with all the things that happen- doctors that are incompetent, interns thrown into the deep end, self doubt, drug use, suicide, random sex (and that's just the doctors). The author leads us to think that doctors are like other mere mortals- they screw up big time as well. Only the implications are more life and death based. But the effect that the mistakes have on the individual is huge. This book really blows open the hospital culture, which is sadly, only just starting to change.

Please avoid this book if you can't handle blunt descriptions of sex, bodily fluids and injection procedures. For everyone else, it's a must read. ( )

This book really opened my eyes to hospital life for a doctor. It seems to be a fairly honest account of life in a hospital from a doctor's perspective, and what it's like when mistakes happen. It was turned into a series by the BBC which I thought was also very good. ( )