‘His Final Patient’ by J.S. Monroe

Published by Head of Zeus,
13 August 2026.
ISBN: 978-1-801109437-1 (PB)

Thanatophobia.  It’s a strange word. The dictionary defines it as a fear of death so extreme that it interferes with everyday living.  Now imagine a scenario where a psychiatrist claims to be able to predict not only the date of a patient’s death, but the actual hour and minute. 

DI Silas Hart is a happily married family man in his late fifties.  He knows he is overweight and keeps meaning to make those life changes that will protect him from his mother’s fate.  She died aged fifty-seven, and deep down, Silas fears that the same thing will happen to him.  Every nightmare he has pushes him closer to this imagined deadline. 

Now he is pitted against the psychiatrist Dr Rory Garstan, a charismatic man who exercises great influence over the troubled and vulnerable people he counsels.  Is Garstan so powerful that he merely has to tell a patient the date and time of his death for the prophecy to come true, or are there other forces at work? Has he actually weaponised thanatophobia? And why does he appear to have Silas in his sights? 

Two deaths shake the foundations of everything Silas believes.  One is a suicide.  A terrified man presents himself at the police station, asks for Silas by name, and then shoots himself.  The other death is far more disturbing. Once again, the man asks for Silas.  The minutes tick past and he becomes more and more agitated, until, without apparent cause, he dies at the exact minute foretold. 

The story unwinds at a satisfying pace, with part of it told in flashback.  The reader is kept guessing until the final unexpected mystery is revealed.  A chilling, immersive and inventive book with an interesting cast of characters, told by a master storyteller.
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Reviewer: Jane Andreoli 

J.S. Monroe After reading English at Cambridge University, he worked as a freelance journalist in London, writing features for most of Britain's national newspapers, as well as contributing regularly to BBC Radio 4. He was also chosen for Carlton TV's acclaimed screenwriters course. Between 1998 and 2000, he was Delhi correspondent for the Daily Telegraph, and he also wrote the Last Word column in The Week Magazine (India) from 1995, when he lived in Cochin, South India, to 2012. His first novel, The Riot Act ,was  published by Serpent's Tail. Dead Spy Runnin', his third novel and the first in the Daniel Marchant (or 'Legoland') trilogy, was published by HarperCollins and has been translated into five languages. Jon lives in Wiltshire with his wife and three children. 

Jane Andreoli. I have been in love with words ever since my mother read me bedtime stories before I could read for myself. As a writer, I enjoy creating mysteries with twists in their tails, and I love a well-crafted plot. My literary heroes are Jane Austen for her superb social observations, Shakespeare for the amazing way he crunched the English language into new shapes to express his emotions, Margery Allingham for her satisfyingly convoluted plots and Phil Rickman for his masterful command of supernatural atmosphere.  I also love Douglas Adams and Sir Terry Pratchett for their humour, satire, and social commentary. I have an honours degree in English, but fortunately that was so long ago that I have forgotten all those pretensions and rediscovered the joy of creative writing.  I am now a published author, currently working on my next book. I have just reached that delicious stage where the characters become autonomous and start making their own decisions.  Anything could happen and probably will.