HOW FAR WE FALL

(Michael Joseph £12.99) ThIS instantly intriguing story shines a chilling light on life in a research laboratory.

Albie is a junior doctor and the p rotege of his senior neurosurgeon, Ted. he begins by hero-worshipping Ted but, when their research experiment goes wrong, ends up despising him.

What Albie doesn’t know (and the reader does) is that his wife, Beth, had an affair with T ed before she met Albie.

The plan Beth dreams up to save Albie from the consequences of the botched research is really meant as revenge on T ed, whom Beth believes robbed her of the chance of becoming a mother.

It’s a slightly convoluted plot, but worth staying with and — for added spice — Shemilt is a doctor married to a professor of neurosurgery, so she’s excellent on the cut- throat side of medical ambition.