A review by lkmreads
Shadow in the Ward by Ari Gray

challenging dark informative reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

I should preface this by saying, it’s a great book, but it’s not a book I would recommend to everyone.

Author Ari Gray brings us into the world of a hard medical thriller set in a not too distant future, where AI is steadily being implemented into and threatening to take over the medical field.
During most of the book we follow mainly Dr. Seth Kelley, an emergency physician who is suffering from burnout, and who is hired into a new hospital that wants to bring AI to the forefront of patient care. Of course, it won’t be smooth sailing as it’s not long before things begin to go wrong…

When I say it’s a book I wouldn’t recommend to everyone despite being good, that is mainly because of the hard-medical side of it. The author goes very deeply into medical lingo and practices, often including long descriptions of what those are. On the one hand, it’s both interesting and I appreciate the author not just tossing medical words and leaving us stranded; on the other hand, this slows the pace down greatly as the descriptions (although very good and deep) take up a lot of time. A slow pace is not necessarily bad, but if you’re looking for a quick, snappy medical thriller, this won’t be it.

Ari Gray doesn’t stop at the medical descriptions, the author also delves deeply into how the AI works within this universe, and touches on the subject of AI sentience, bringing his own opinion on the matter to the table.

The descriptions, albeit long, were very enjoyable: some were quite dark and gruesome, some visually interesting (I really enjoyed the description of the machines), but just a few of them maybe went a bit too much into the hard medical side to my taste, making them feel a bit textbook like. 

Dr. Seth Kelley is of course not alone in his fight, having a coder and medical student at his side as they attempt to protect humans from rogue AI.Of the characters, I felt like the one with the biggest change arc was Daria, but all of them had a reasonable depth to them, making them very human. 

As the novel takes you through this tale of survival, it of course offers plenty of commentary not only on the perks and downfalls of AI, but on the state of the medical field as a whole. 

Overall a very enjoyable read! I would give it a 3.5 rounding up to 4, because I did enjoy it, but it’s just a very technical book at parts, and slow paced because of it.
Recommended best for people in the field or who like very hard science books.

 
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