Male Unknown by C.J. Griffiths

Male Unknown

by C.J. Griffiths

 

Male Unknown by C.J. Griffiths was published on 11th September 2025

 by No Exit Press. 

My thanks to the author and the publisher for sending me a copy to review and to Random Things Tours for inviting me to take part on the tour.

Synopsis

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?

My Thoughts

 Oh my word. Where do I start with reviewing Male Unknown ? I thought this was going to be a straightforward read with all the classic components of a good mystery . I was wrong. Male Unknown takes you down different psychological paths as the characters, and consequently what you think their role is and who , or what, they are change as you turn the pages. 

It plays with your mind . You think you are secure in what you are learning and so you allow yourself to feel compassion and revulsion depending on whose chapter you are reading. Then, it starts to change , and consequently you start to question what you thought had happened and why. You will question what you are reading and what you have already read and, if you are like me, you will go back and read chapters of it again looking at some of the characters in a different light. 

This is a story where nothing is as it seems , nothing is straight forward and , as it happens, nothing is left uncovered.

Who can you trust ? Who do you believe? Who stands to gain ? Who stands to lose ?

This is a very clever story that will play with your mind from the very first page to the very last drawing you into the life, and past of Edie Carter.

About the Author

C.J Griffiths has spent most of his working life in the NHS, as a paramedic, anaesthetic practitioner and as part of a hospital resuscitation team. During his career he became fascinated with the unique level of trust involved in healthcare and was drawn to explore the darker side of medical ethics in his writing. He is the recipient of the Writers and Artists’ Working-Class Writers Prize and was shortlisted for the CWA Debut Dagger Award. He lives in Buckinghamshire with his wife and children, and when not writing spends his time immersed in books, films and music