# Dead Med *By Freida McFadden. Revised edition of her 2014 novel* Suicide Med*. Hollywood Upstairs Press / Poisoned Pen Press, 24 June 2024.* > I did not read the novel. The premise comes from the author's own page for the book. The revision history comes from that page and from the video. The availability facts come from catalog lookups I ran and from the author's page, which I did not follow into the retailers. I could not find a chapter list or any independent review to cite. **Content note:** the author's page warns of suicide and overdose themes and says to see her Content Warnings page. ## 1. Book facts | | | |---|---| | Title | *Dead Med* (subtitle on the author's page: *A Medical Thriller*) | | Author | Freida McFadden | | Originally published as | *Suicide Med* (2014, per the video). The author's page says: "Dead Med was originally published as Suicide Med. Dead Med is a revision with 20% new material." | | Publisher | Hollywood Upstairs Press / Poisoned Pen Press (per the author's page) | | Published | 24 June 2024 (author's page) | | ISBN | 979-8329347371 (author's page, matches the paperback listing I found) | | Pages | 472 on the Amazon paperback listing from my earlier lookup; library catalogs list about 460. I did not reconcile the two | | Audiobook | Unabridged, 10 h 3 min; narrators listed on her page: Patricia Santomasso and Scott Merriman | | Genres (author's page) | Medical thriller, psychological thriller, suspense | | Language | English | **Where it came up.** One mention, as a worked example of revising a book after release: - [I'm an Editor. Please Don't Take Freida McFadden's Writing Advice](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0lB7bAOH9E&t=331s), Alyssa Matesic, at 5:31. Vault note: [[Video Summaries/Alyssa Matesic/I’m an Editor. Please Don't Take Freida McFadden's Writing Advice]] ## 2. Book resources **Free (legal).** In copyright; no legal free full text. - **Library audiobook (Libby/OverDrive).** The Los Angeles Public Library catalog lists an [audiobook](https://www.overdrive.com/media/12006015). I found no ebook of *Dead Med* in that catalog, so check your own library. - **Hoopla.** The author's page lists Hoopla among the audiobook sellers. I did not check whether Hoopla has it. - **Internet Archive / Open Library.** I found no record of this edition in either. **Paid.** - Audible: [*Dead Med*, narrated by Patricia Santomasso (ASIN B0D7WF35B4)](https://www.audible.com/pd/B0D7WF35B4), found in an Audible search; I did not check the price. - Kindle and paperback: the author's page shows Amazon and Kindle links and a "Read FREE on Kindle Unlimited" badge, so it may be included in that paid subscription. I did not open an Amazon listing, so I have not checked price, stock or Kindle availability. I did not sign up for anything. - [Author's page for the book](https://www.freidamcfadden.com/books/standalone-thrillers/dead-med/) (opened; it lists the buy links, including Apple, Chirp and Spotify for the audiobook). **Cover:** none linked. Open Library had no cover for this ISBN. ## 3. Author biography Freida McFadden is the pen name of Sara Cohen, born 1 May 1980 in New York City. Per Wikipedia she studied mathematics at Harvard, attended medical school at Stony Brook, and works as a physician (Wikipedia: neurologist; her Writer's Digest bio: a practicing physician specializing in brain injury). She began self-publishing under the McFadden name with *The Devil Wears Scrubs* (2013) and has published about 30 novels. Wikipedia says *The Housemaid*'s success led her to sign with an agent in late 2022. Source: [Wikipedia: Freida McFadden](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freida_McFadden). Her medical training is the background for this book's setting. See my note on [[Book Summaries/McFadden, Freida/The Housemaid - Freida McFadden|The Housemaid]]. ## 4. Author interviews and talks - [Freida McFadden: On Writing a Long First Draft](https://www.writersdigest.com/be-inspired/freida-mcfadden-on-writing-a-long-first-draft), Writer's Digest, 2022 (I read only the summary and bio; it concerns *The Housemaid*). - [The Washington Post interview, 24 October 2024](https://web.archive.org/web/20241102184307/https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2024/10/24/freida-mcfadden-housmaid-interview/) (archived copy). She says she rarely makes public appearances and finds the spotlight "hard." It is not about this book. - I found no interview about *Dead Med* or *Suicide Med*. ## 5. Summary **Premise (the author's page).** Heather McKinley dreamed of curing sick kids and wearing pink stethoscopes as a doctor. Instead she faces sleepless nights, grueling exams and endless labs, at a medical school whose nickname, "Dead Med," comes from "the tragic history of students overdosing on illegal drugs." She would never consider that, "until her longtime boyfriend dumps her, she finds herself failing anatomy, and her world starts to crumble." On the night before the anatomy final, "a shot rings out through the hallways of Dead Med." A classmate has done "the unthinkable," and "before her desperate 911 call even connects, it will happen again." The page ends: "And the night is just beginning." The page's epigraph is Heather's line: "All I can think about is how pathetic it would be to die in the anatomy lab." **What it is about.** A single-night medical-school thriller. The cover copy puts the pressure of medical training at the centre ("Everyone has a breaking point"). **Chapter outline.** I found no chapter list, and I have not seen the text. **Why it is in the video.** Matesic uses it as evidence against the idea that you can only learn to fix a book after publishing it. She says McFadden's website describes her first thriller, *Suicide Med* (2014), as having "a bizarre sci-fi storyline" and "unnecessary filler." McFadden cut it from about 120,000 to about 90,000 words, re-released it as *Dead Med*, and took the original out of print. Matesic's point: that revision work belongs before release; self-published or traditional, put the best version in readers' hands, get feedback from beta readers, critique partners or an editor before publishing, and "revision is where the magic happens." ## 6. Fact-check Overall verdict: **mixed**. The re-release and the 20% figure are supported by the author's own page. The sci-fi and word-count details come from the video and I did not find them on a page I could open. | Claim | Verdict | Evidence | |---|---|---| | *Dead Med* is a revision of *Suicide Med* with 20% new material | Supported | Author's page, quoted above | | Published 24 June 2024; ISBN 979-8329347371 | Supported | Author's page | | Original *Suicide Med* appeared in 2014 | Per the video | Not on the page I opened | | It had a "bizarre sci-fi storyline" and "unnecessary filler" (video, quoting McFadden's website) | Unverified | I did not find that wording on the book's page | | Cut from about 120,000 to about 90,000 words | Unverified | Video only. Note that a cut of 30,000 words is about 25%, while the page's "20% new material" is a different measure | | Original taken out of print | Per the video | Not independently checked | | Audiobook runtime 10 h 3 min; Santomasso and Merriman | Supported | Author's page; Audible lists Santomasso | ## 7. Citations and references - [Freida McFadden: Dead Med](https://www.freidamcfadden.com/books/standalone-thrillers/dead-med/) (author's page) - [Wikipedia: Freida McFadden](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freida_McFadden) - [Writer's Digest](https://www.writersdigest.com/be-inspired/freida-mcfadden-on-writing-a-long-first-draft); [Washington Post interview (archived)](https://web.archive.org/web/20241102184307/https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2024/10/24/freida-mcfadden-housmaid-interview/) - [LAPL OverDrive audiobook](https://www.overdrive.com/media/12006015); [Audible: Dead Med](https://www.audible.com/pd/B0D7WF35B4) - Video: [I'm an Editor. Please Don't Take Freida McFadden's Writing Advice](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0lB7bAOH9E) (Alyssa Matesic)