Title: Male, Unknown

Author: C. J. Griffiths

Genre: Thriller

Publisher: No Exit Press

Publication Date: 11th September 2025

Rating: 4/5

Cover:

Summary:

EDIE CARTER. FORGIVE ME.

The four words carved into the body of an unidentified patient which bring the repressed childhood trauma of young trainee anaesthetist Edie Carter flooding back.

But what terrible secret does the sedated man fighting for his life in her intensive care unit hold?

And when she finds out, will she still want to save him?

Young doctor Edie Carter is bright, talented and ambitious. She is embarking on her dream career in anaesthetics and is engaged to a man who adores her. The one thing she doesn’t have is a childhood. Suffering from traumatic repression, large parts of her past are blank spaces.

When an unidentified patient arrives in her intensive care unit with her name carved on his body, she realises that memories can refuse to stay buried. The man is unknown to Edie, but digging deeper, she discovers that the patient is Samuel Cox, a man imprisoned and brutalised over the last two decades for horrifying crimes he had committed.

As she investigates further, and begins to reveal Cox’s motives, Edie realises that even those she trusts have been complicit in deceiving her.

With the lives of those closest to her at risk, is Edie ready for the truth of what happened all those years ago?

And will she do whatever it takes to keep it hidden?

Review:

This is a book that grabs the readers attention from the start and doesn’t really let up. I found the premise incredibly compelling and was eager to uncover the truth of what was happening and why as things got more and more intense. Main character, Edie, suffers from traumatic repression and consequently seemingly does not remember large swathes of her past. This makes her, in some respects, something of an unreliable narrator which adds a whole extra layer of inscrutability and tension to the narrative. It’s difficult to know who in this story is trustworthy and who has some sort of ulterior motive or hidden agenda – which I very much enjoyed. There are also plenty of twists and turns that I didn’t necessarily see coming, and which continue until the very last page. Overall, I have to say that Male, Unknown is a compulsively readable psychological thriller which could easily be read in one sitting, due to its snappy pace and addictive quality. I would definitely recommend it, an impressive debut. 

★★★★

Thank you so much to Anne Cater of Random Things Blog Tours for inviting me on this tour and organising it. I kindly received a copy of the book from the publisher. My review is entirely my own honest opinion.

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