A Particularly Nasty Case cover art

A Particularly Nasty Case

The ‘outrageously funny’ debut thriller, from the author of This is Going to Hurt

 Preview

Get 30 days of Standard free

£5.99/mo after trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options

A Particularly Nasty Case

By: Adam Kay
Narrated by: Andy Serkis
Try for £0.00

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £21.54

Buy Now for £21.54

THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

'Moving and outrageously funny' DAWN FRENCH
'Viciously funny - I'm still laughing' IAN RANKIN
'A work of fiendishly plotted genius' LUCY FOLEY

When a toxic hospital consultant dies of a heart attack, fellow doctor Eitan Rose smells foul play. Nobody else does though, including some quite crucial players like the police and the coroner.

But Eitan just won't let it drop, and his friends and colleagues become increasingly concerned about his mental health as his chaotic investigation and equally chaotic life spiral out of control. Is he making a career-ending mistake, or could there genuinely be a killer stalking the wards?

A deathly funny mix of mystery, murder and medicine, A PARTICULARLY NASTY CASE is the brilliantly original debut novel from Adam Kay, BAFTA-winning author of multi-million global bestseller THIS IS GOING TO HURT.

Praise for A PARTICULARLY NASTY CASE

'Brilliant. It will make you laugh and weep' Reverend Richard Coles
'Amazing. I was gripped right up to the last minute' Joanna Lumley
'Wild and funny and filthy and hilarious' Russell T Davies
'Very funny, very rude and very moving' Kate Mosse
'Will have you snorting with laughter' The Sun
'A compulsive page-turner shot through with brilliant comedy' Frank Skinner
'A great addition to the genre' Literary Review
'Biting and bleakly comic' Observer
'A thrilling, twisting mystery that kept me guessing until the very end' Chris Whitaker


Readers love A PARTICULARLY NASTY CASE

'Best thing I've read in years' ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
'A rollercoaster of a read. Entertaining and thought-provoking' ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
'Brilliant, funny and dark' ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
'A must-read, hard to put down' ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
'Loved it. Very well-written and incredibly funny' ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
'Outstanding. Brilliant characters, insightful and poignant' ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Amateur Sleuths Best of 2025 Editors Select Genre Fiction LGBTQIA+ Creators Literature & Fiction Medical Mental Health Awareness Mystery Thriller & Suspense Funny Witty Heartfelt
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1

Critic reviews

'Brilliant, hilarious, ingenious and imaginative. It will make you laugh and weep'
'Amazing: so clever and funny. Medical knowledge twines the plot together like poison ivy, and I was gripped right up to the last minute'
'A thrilling, twisting mystery that kept me guessing until the very end. Of course it's impossibly funny, but it's also deeply moving and often heartbreaking'
'Olympic-level black humour and blindsiding plot twists'
'Multilayered, deeply compassionate, righteously angry and uproariously funny - absolutely brilliant'
All stars
Most relevant
Absolutely adored this and listened in a day. not sure why there are some negative reviews it's a good listen and the storytelling is enjoyable. I personally thought the narrator was fabulous although obviously this can be personal preference.

Another fantastic book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Adam Kay's flippant humour is all that carries this story and even THAT becomes wearisome and pretentious after a time.

It follows a cocaine-addicted and self-obsessed 'protagonist' with flexible boundaries as he invasively pries into the circumstances of his boss's untimely death.

There are no stakes; nothing driving the story forward besides morbid curiosity. Maybe there's an exciting twist but a story should be AT LEAST as much about the journey as the destination.

Hard to care

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Didn't particularly like the protagonist. Found him annoying. Was also made me cringe a bit.

Outrageous

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I loved ' This is going to Hurt' , but disliked Undoctored so much I thought it would be unlikely I would read any more Adam Kay. However, I saw a review and thought, I owed him a 2nd chance, on his 3rd book.

This was from the outset a very funny laugh out loud book, I kept telling my wife, "It's not my type of book, but it is brilliant". A murder mystery with lots of twists and turns, and a character so damaged yet likeable. It also one of those I may now read the printed version, a little further down the line.

Andy Serkis's reading is one of the best performance I have heard from any audiobook, and the writing is pure magic. If the NHS is really like this,(and I think it probably is), we are all doomed.

Thank you, Adam Kay for restoring your faith in me, and yes I may go and re-read Undoctored, perhaps I was in a bad place?

Adan Kay gets a 2nd (3rd) Chance

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Smatterings of Adam’s well-known humour, alongside a dark story of hospital skullduggery. Brought to life by Andy Serkis.

A good listen

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews