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Dead Med

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From #1 New York Times bestselling author Freida McFadden comes an electrifying medical thriller, Dead Med, originally published as Suicide Med.
"All I can think about is how pathetic it would be to die in the anatomy lab. The last thing I want is to become one of the dead bodies."

When Heather McKinley dreamed of becoming a doctor, she imagined curing sick kids and sporting pink stethoscopes. She never anticipated the sleepless nights, grueling exams, and endless labs. And she certainly never knew that her medical school earned the nickname Dead Med thanks to the tragic history of students overdosing on illegal drugs.

But Heather would never consider doing anything like that. That is, until her longtime boyfriend dumps her, she finds herself failing anatomy, and her world starts to crumble.

Everyone has a breaking point.

Then, on the night before the final exam in anatomy, a shot rings out through the hallways of Dead Med.

The school has claimed yet another casualty. One of Heather's classmates has done the unthinkable, and before her desperate 911 call even connects, it will happen again.

And the night is just beginning.


Dead Med was originally published as Suicide Med. Dead Med is a revision with 20% new material.

468 pages, Paperback

Published June 24, 2024

About the author

Freida McFadden

43 books97.4k followers
#1 New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Publisher's Weekly, and Amazon Charts bestselling author Freida McFadden is a practicing physician specializing in brain injury who has penned multiple Kindle bestselling psychological thrillers and medical humor novels. She lives with her family and black cat in a centuries-old three-story home overlooking the ocean, with staircases that creak and moan with each step, and nobody could hear you if you scream. Unless you scream really loudly, maybe.

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5 stars
828 (37%)
4 stars
796 (36%)
3 stars
452 (20%)
2 stars
91 (4%)
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19 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 149 reviews
26 reviews1 follower
June 29, 2024
I love Frieda McFadden. I've read all of her books. There is only one I couldn't complete, and that was "Brain Damage.""

I actually abandoned this book because it was all too familiar. It was way too much like "Suicide Med." Even the characters were the same. I'm confused as to why Frieda McFadden would write a book so closely resembling one she already wrote. I enjoyed "Suicide Med" but I just couldn't see myself basically reading the same book with a different title.
Profile Image for Sherri Thacker.
1,455 reviews314 followers
July 6, 2024
Dead Med by Freida McFadden is a revision of her 2014 version of Suicide Med. I did read the first one and I’m one of those who cannot remember many books once I’ve read them. So with that being said, I loved this latest by Frieda and had a hard time putting it down. Per Freida’s own words “This is a remake of Suicide Med. I changed 25% of the book and cut the length of the book by 20% and eliminated a strange plot point.” So I loved it! But then I am a huge fan of Freida McFadden and I love everything she writes!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Rachel the Page-Turner.
495 reviews5 followers
July 8, 2024
DeWitt Medical School is nicknamed “Dead Med” because over the past few years, there have been quite a few deaths, many being drug overdoses. Some students even jokingly say the professors make classes so difficult that everyone is forced to resort to amphetamines to get by. They even have a wellness counselor, Dr. Patrice Winters, that all students are mandated to see. The drug epidemic at the school is the primary mystery/thrill, but we have some excellent characters as well, most of whom are in the same group in their anatomy lab. I love the way this book is laid out; sometimes that makes a big difference and this author never misses. We have several different parts, each narrated by our main characters:

-Heather, who feels like she’s in over her head at DeWitt. Her long-distance college boyfriend broke up with her after only a few weeks apart, and she can’t seem to understand anatomy. She’s struggling and questioning if she’s really cut out to be a doctor.

-Abe is a giant teddy bear of a man, making his way through med school by working at a clinic as well as trying to keep up academically. He is immediately smitten by Heather but her boyfriend was in the way, at first. Soon she’s available…but he quickly screws things up and has a hard time getting over it.

-Rachel is bored and doesn’t like anatomy class but she’s hoping her penchant for sleeping with her professors can at least help her pass. She finds her roommate Heather, who hums a lot, very annoying; she feels the same about most people, as she’s more on the dark and brooding side.

-Mason is the sexy and charming fuckboy whose parents have a lot of money and a lot of pull. His father is a world-famous cardiovascular surgeon who expects nothing but perfection from his son. It’s not exactly a psychologically healthy thing for Mason, nor is his inability to sleep.

-Sasha is a quiet girl, studious and serious about school after an accident as a child. She wants to make her Russian family proud by becoming an American doctor, and desires to be first in the class, but she is always coming in second to Mason no matter how hard she studies.

-Dr. Conlon is their anatomy professor, who happens to be disabled. He left medical school after his injury, but it’s clear that teaching anatomy is his life.

Between this group of exhausted and stressed out people and the mystery of who is behind the spread of drugs on campus, this was a very fun book that needed to be read in one sitting (and the epilogue was perfect, as per usual!). I’m very close to finishing Freida McFadden’s books, and “Suicide Med” was going to be next. Then this came out, and after a bit of Googling, it sounded like Freida wanted people to read this remake first. I’ll still read Suicide Med; I’m interested to see how it compares to this one. Dead Med is great, though! 4.5 stars, rounded up.
Profile Image for Aaron Wilson.
37 reviews
July 5, 2024
Loved the original and the revised edition was just as good. Everything felt a little more concise and better put together - very glad to have got a redo of it!

Can’t wait for The Boyfriend in October - I can’t get enough of Freida’s books!
July 2, 2024
This book was wow. SO first why so many god damn POV's. Also let me go over all the POV's. So you have this airhead Heather who is so boring and annoying and she is dating some ass named Landon they break up she gets with her lab partner Abe she finds blood on his scrubs they break up. Then you have Abe who was kinda cool but obsessed over Heather for some reason ok and he works at this clinic where all the drugs are coming from into the campus and learns the counselor lady is selling them to vulnerable students. He kills some guy out of self-defense and then is worried he is going to be arrested??? It was self-defense omg. Next you got Rach who to me the most interesting but the longest POV. She is struggling with anatomy so she hooks up with her anatomy professor and they fall in love. Honestly, she was funny and really just sarcastic which is a breath of fresh air from those 2 idiots above. Some guy kills him and she is all sad. And then you got the school hottie, Mason. Mason has these strict ass parents so he always strives for good grades and studies constantly. I can relate to wanting to be the best lol and competing with the other top person in your class. Anyways he starts hooking up with this Sasha who is also top in the class. He starts to go paranoid thinking everyone is after him because Sasha has been drugging his coffee? Kinda repeated from Ward D also by Freida but ok. He kills Rach's lover or the professor and kills the guidance counselor who was selling the drugs though he doesn't know that he just wants to get rid of any witnesses. He thinks Frank their cadaver from the lab was killed by the professor. Ok then here is where it get's weird so he is clearly out of his mind due to the meds Sasha was slipping in him so he gets arrested?? No Dr for him ig. Which tbh he has the drive to be a really good Dr so idk why Freida kinda killed him off like that but whatever. Then we have Sasha's POV and she is all like broke and wants to be a Dr because her dad was ill and the Dr's didn't take good care of him. She then finds out Rach's secret and blackmails her for the final exam answers. Finally, Airhead and Abe get back together. Rach becomes a physc doc and Sasha works at the E.R. And we learn that Rach is trying to poison Sasha's drink?? WHY?? Is it because of what happened 7+ years ago?? Why does she have this grudge? So this book was good but some plotlines were repeated like a student and teacher being together was in The Teacher by Freida and then someone drugging someone's drink to have hallucinations was in Ward D. So kinda meh but pretty good though Heather was so unnecessary and her's was wayyy to longgg. Talk about Paula's POV and why she risked her career and life to sell drugs to kids. Anyways 5 stars and Freida always delivers. Poor Frank xoxo
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Kelli Daugherty.
362 reviews8 followers
July 3, 2024
This book was originally published as Suicide Med. the author revamped the story, changed some things, and shortened it a bit. It’s much more streamlined without all the filler. Still a good story, but I felt like the premise of Suicide Med worked better than the supposed overdoses in Dead Med. I do think the weird storyline being cut out from SM was the right call. Kudos to Freida McFadden for knowing what didn’t work and being willing to improve.
Profile Image for lex.
626 reviews149 followers
July 11, 2024
✩‧₊ 1.5 stars ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

・ 。゚☆:Dead Med *.☽ .*:☆゚

⁺₊★·.´🎧✩°。 0:56 ──♡───── 3:32 ⁺₊🎧★·.·´

Note:I’m a romance avid reader so this is all new and interesting to me .

🎶 They think she did it but they just can't prove it. They think she did it but they just can't prove it 🎶

When Heather McKinley (h) starts medical school, she's excited to pursue her dream of becoming a doctor, but soon finds herself struggling with the demands of the program. After a failing grade in anatomy, Heather's world begins to unravel. Heather is faced with a new reality: at Dead Med, the medical school with a notorious reputation for drug use and tragedy.

─── ・ 。゚☆: THOUGHTS *.☽ .*:☆゚. ───

Mason is taken away in handcuffs, mumbling to himself the whole time. He’ll never be a doctor.


The way this book was organized was really weird. I honestly didn't expect multiple POVs. I was already getting comfortable with Heather and Abe and thought the whole book was going to be about them. However, it took a turn as soon as I saw Rachel's point of view and her relationship with Matt, and then it shifted to Mason and Sasha. Make up your mind‼️‼️‼️! I really wanted dual POV because it didn't give me enough time to care about what happened to all of them.

If I'm being honest, Abe was being very suspicious and he was a bit too cheesy with falling for Heather as soon as he saw her. Dude, get a grip! He was too cheesy. The plot didn't make sense to me. Was this book all about the professor who was selling drugs to students? I didn't care. Was the professor not involved the entire time? Wow. Honestly, Rachel and Matt were low-key the most interesting part, but too bad he died. I don't fault Mason; yes, he committed murder, but he was experiencing intense paranoia, and honestly, he just needed help. If someone had talked to him or encouraged him to sleep 😶🎤, I don't think he would have been that delirious. I think it got to a point where he didn't know what reality was and wasn't sure who he was safe to talk to.

Why should I help him? Nobody ever helped me. He looks back up at me, the desperation plain on his face. He’s having his first lucid moment in a long time, and he’s realizing what is happening to him.

It’s almost heartbreaking.


Almost.


I thought it was completely obvious that Sasha would be the main villain, considering she's super quiet and those are often the ones you have to watch out for ❓❓❓ I hope she gets what's coming to her; I truly despise her for what she did to Mason. He wanted to be a doctor, and he wasn't using connections to get ahead; he genuinely worked harder than anyone in the group. Was that a crime? She made him feel insane, and he lost it; he didn't deserve that, and I'm upset that she ruined his future over something as petty as feeling mediocre in her field. Get a grip ‼️‼️‼️! I genuinely believe she's the worst person in this book because why would you do that to someone who is genuinely just an ambitious person? Yeah, he might've been a flirt and a little bit of a jackass, but he just wanted to be good enough for his family at all. I hope what she did haunts her forever, and it's interesting to see that the same thing is happening to her - it's kind of poetic. I love karma.

The student who killed the professor was sentenced to life in prison—first-degree murder charges, I guess. They thought part of the reason he did it was because he’d been abusing drugs


It just makes me angry that he lost everything just because of one girl 🤬🤬🤬, and it's crazy too because I think he was generally starting to like Sasha and he would never have suspected her of doing anything like this. He genuinely believed that he was going insane and that the teachers around him were plotting together to get rid of him. I understand how someone could go insane with thinking that there's someone else out to get you. Mason was, quite frankly, the one who was the most tolerable😔✋🏽 - he was smart and hot. Was that really a crime? He was too perfect for Sasha to be out for him; I hate her.

─── ・ 。゚☆: OVERALL *.☽ .*:☆゚. ───

I hated this book, honestly ‼️🥊. I wasn't having fun; it was all over the place. I don't like multiple POVs. I like being in one person's mind or dual. This was not it for me. The story was being told over and over again, and at one point, I didn't care about what happened in that freaking school. 🏫
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Sam.
57 reviews11 followers
July 11, 2024
3.25⭐️ disclaimer: I did not read Suicide Med, only this one! which Freida said she revised and rewrote 20% and then re-released it under this new title, Dead Med

I really don’t know how to feel about this book??? I loved the short chapters, the multiple POVs, the med school setting, and all the little ways the plot came together like pieces of a puzzle falling into place but it was also just kind of anticlimactic to me

also soooo much time was spent on POV characters in the beginning that really amounted to very little

the typical Freida epilogue was good but didn’t hit AS hard as I was expecting
Profile Image for Kellie M. Hardison.
195 reviews2 followers
July 6, 2024
Ok. SO. First off, this was a 5 star read for me the majority of the book. I looked forward to going to bed and reading this book every night. I loved the 6 different narratives of the same situation. I loved the twists and turns and builds. But the ending was…soft? I don’t know how to describe it. I was waiting for some huge reveal and it seemed to be multiple small reveals. The last sentence was intriguing and left me thinking. You know what? I did enjoy this. I’m going to give it 5 stars on Goodreads since my score is 4.5.

I also read she has a prior version of this book (Suicide Med) that she pulled and replaced with this condensed (still 400 pages) version. I’d love to get my hands on the original.
Profile Image for Lori Albertson.
308 reviews16 followers
July 1, 2024
Freida McFadden does it again! I loved the way the story was told (retold) by each of the main characters. McFadden does such a good with the characters that you care about each of them (unless you hate them)!
Profile Image for Auntie Aim.
130 reviews
July 6, 2024
3.5 This was a very interesting take on telling a mystery. There are 6 POVs but the way it is told it is not confusing. I enjoyed this one. Something about the way the author offers up every thought gets repetitive for me. I recommend for the story and the fresh take.
101 reviews2 followers
July 8, 2024
3.5 ⭐️

I haven’t read suicide med so I’m not sure how much this revision differs from that book, but I do like how fast paced it was and how we got all of the different medical students’ POVs that all led up to the same event. It was pretty cohesive in that way, however everyone in this book is so selfish and stupid. I don’t understand how they even made it to medical school to be acting this way. There are a few small plot twists, nothing that is a huge shock factor however they all make sense at least. The epilogue was good because the bad guy has what is coming for them but I just felt like some of the characters genuinely deserved better 😭. Overall, decent read.
Profile Image for Nicole Hancock.
192 reviews
July 10, 2024
This is an updated version of Suicide Med that the author prefers us to read (approx 20% has been changed).

Not a typical Freida book, but since she is a physician, I can see where the desire to write a book about med school would come from!

We read from the perspective of several characters, but not in ping ponging alternating chapter style—more like 15% chunks per character. Each character adds more info to the story we already know.

There’s murder, drugs, sabotage, psychosis, affairs—like a Sweeps Week episode of Grey’s Anatomy. Started slowish but def picked up about 25% of the way in.
Profile Image for Maleah Kenney.
93 reviews3 followers
July 8, 2024
Wow. I’ll preface this by saying I have NOT read S-Med, so I don’t have that to compare to (although I do plan to read it in a few months), but this story was just about as top tier Freida as it gets. I have never hated a character more than Sasha-and that’s saying something. So to have her finally get her payback at the end from Rachel? Absolute perfection. I loved the multiple POVs throughout as well-showing the varied perspectives of situations through different eyes. I really wish more books were written this way. HIGHLY recommend.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 2, 2024
Another Freida banger!! I think I especially loved this one because the entire book took place at a medical school which was reminiscent for me. Also loved the way the story was told through the perspective of each character to gain more storyline. The only thing I will say is the ending felt a bit abrupt and I would have liked a little more.
Profile Image for Megan Stacy.
15 reviews1 follower
July 10, 2024
4.5⭐️
Frieda’s books make me want to squeal. Knocked off .5 bc the different parts made me want to bang my head off a wall, but only bc I’d get so involved in the previous one then cut. This book was written in a way I didn’t expect, as it jumped from perspective to perspective it gets you in your feelings for each character.
Profile Image for Rancy.
47 reviews
July 2, 2024
Ok, um, what ?? Idk how I feel about this. There's so many (five) different POVs that I was getting confused because of different information happening at the same setting of a previous POV.
But that also made me think about how different people's lives are.
Profile Image for Hayley Adams.
1 review
July 2, 2024
I absolutely loved this book!! I enjoyed how it was divided into the different perspectives of characters to really get an understanding for their point of view. It came together so perfectly at the end and had me rapidly flipping pages the whole way through. Freida does it again!!!
Profile Image for Dorothy.
18 reviews
July 5, 2024
I really enjoyed Freidas new book Dead Med.
I loved every character and how it all connected. It felt slightly different to her usual reads, but I actually really enjoyed the fast paced character chapters.

The twist was very good. Epilogue left me questioning everything and wondering if this may be part of a series?

I overall really enjoyed it and would give it 4.8 stars in total
4 reviews1 follower
June 30, 2024
Slightly better than suicide med. I was excited when I heard the author had updated the book and removed some weird plot lines from the original because this was one of her books I really didn't enjoy and I do typically enjoy most of them! However, this was still very disorganized and redundant much like the orginal. Overall, definitely one to skip by this author.
Profile Image for Tanya Wyss.
2 reviews3 followers
July 1, 2024
I have read almost all of Freida’s books and have enjoyed all of them - except this one. I did not enjoy the writing at all and how it told the same story over and over by each character. It got incredibly redundant and the ending was awful and random.
Profile Image for Angelica✨️.
31 reviews3 followers
July 3, 2024
I enjoyed it however I felt some things were a little predictable
31 reviews
June 30, 2024
A pretty good read and a faster/more concise read than S Med. I like the changes that freida made, it does make the story flow better.
Profile Image for Nikki | graciouslybooked.
359 reviews63 followers
July 1, 2024
Absolutely loved this book! I loved how the character’s chapters were written. This was a really good suspenseful story.
Profile Image for kristy_reads_.
212 reviews
July 2, 2024
Loved this book! Started reading it on a beach vaca and finished it the same day. Lots of characters but easy to keep straight. My OCD loves the way she did the parts per person. Really liked hearing how everyone was doing in the future!
Profile Image for Samii.
24 reviews12 followers
June 30, 2024
First Freida book I have read in two days!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 149 reviews

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