The Other Doctor

When locum doctor Jess McBride starts a new post at a Birmingham hospital, she never expects to be held at knifepoint by a man who mistakes her for Zoe Furniss, the consultant she’s covering.

Shaken but determined, Jess accepts an offer to stay with Zoe, a brilliant but enigmatic paediatrician whose past is linked to a tragic event at the hospital twenty years earlier.

Inside the impressive home of Zoe and her husband Scott, Jess senses tension, mistrust and something dangerous lurking beneath the perfect facade of their marriage. And when she meets Zoe’s daughter, Jess realises that the knife attack points to a secret far more disturbing than she could ever have imagined.

But who is lying? And what exactly is Zoe trying to hide?

As Jess digs into what really happened two decades ago, she begins uncovering a truth someone will do anything to protect.

How far will they go to stop her?

And with secrets of her own to conceal, will Jess risk everything to bring the past to light?

THE LOCUM delivers a fast, twist-filled story of hidden identities, buried crimes and a family built on lies – addictive, atmospheric and packed with shocking reveals.

• Blending the atmospheric tension of The Couple Next Door, the forensic intrigue of The Silent Patient, and the emotional intensity of Blood Sisters, THE LOCUM offers a fresh spin on the medical thriller—layering hospital suspense with domestic menace and a twisting psychological puzzle at its core.

• With a propulsive midpoint reversal and a finale packed with reveals, it promises the kind of compulsive, binge-worthy reading experience that drives word-of-mouth sales and keeps readers up through the night.