Medical dramas have captivated TV audiences for years, with shows like ER, Grey’s Anatomy, General Hospital, and The Pitt. Those TV shows take viewers inside hospital settings and showcase the inner workings of the medical field very few actually get to experience.
In these medical intrigue novels, readers are taken behind the scenes into hospitals or emergency rooms to see what doctors and nurses experience. There are also novels that feature medical diagnoses that create heartbreaking decisions or life-changing opportunities.
Browse through this list of novels and series to see which of these medical dramas will appeal to you the most!
If you’re participating in the Crazy4Fiction Reading Challenge, pick a book to fulfill the plot with medical theme prompt!
Every Given Day
By Cathy Gohlke
The Spanish flu; diabetes and the discovery of insulin
Schoolteacher Gwendolyn travels to her sister Marion’s stately home to tutor her young niece and nephew, kept from school by the Spanish flu outbreak. When the deadly flu claims victims among the family and mansion staff, Gwen and her nephew, Alistair, are forced to accept terrible losses caused by the epidemic followed soon after by his own fatal diagnosis of juvenile diabetes.
When a compassionate doctor becomes both an advocate and friend, chasing down every promising medical development in the race for a cure, Gwen clings to each shred of hope.
The Crisis Team series
By Candace Calvert
Emergency medicine
Written by a former ER nurse, Candace Calvert takes readers into the medical and relational drama of the emergency room with this medical romance series. In By Your Side, ER nurse Macy is determined to help a young woman in trouble, even when she butts heads with deputy Fletcher. In Step by Step, ER nurse Taylor needs to work with crisis chaplain Seth when a community crisis hits close to home. And in Maybe It’s You, ER nurse Sloane and volunteer crisis responder Micah bond over painful pasts.
Falling for You Again
By Catherine Palmer and Gray Chapman
Dementia/Alzheimer’s
Charlie and Esther Moore have been married nearly fifty years when the contented life they’ve built together begins to crumble. Esther has been forgetful recently, but it’s rarely a problem until the day she puts her car in drive instead of reverse, flying off the end of the carport and into the backyard. Esther’s accident and declining health shatter their reverie, and the couple must come to terms with all the paths their lives have not taken if they ever hope to pull their marriage out of winter.
The Grace Medical series
By Candance Calvert
Emergency medicine
In these novels, Candace Calvert’s own experience adds realism to the medical drama the characters experience. In Trauma Plan, chaplain Riley is determined to return as an ER nurse, but Dr. Jack stands in her way. In Rescue Team, a missing persons case threatens what nurse Kate and search-and-rescue hero Wes have found together. And in Life Support, a hurricane is heading right toward nurse Lauren and PA Elijah.
Every Waking Moment
By Chris Fabry
Dementia/Alzheimer’s
Devin Hillis is a struggling documentary filmmaker who stumbles onto the story of a lifetime while interviewing subjects at an Arizona retirement home. One of the employees—a seemingly ordinary young woman named Treha Langsam—has no family and little memory of her childhood. She does, however, possess an extraordinary gift for connecting with dementia patients. Even more gripping is the story that begins to unravel when a cryptic letter from one of the home’s residents reveals clues to Treha’s shrouded past, setting into motion a chain of events that captures national interest.
The Shadow of Your Smile
By Susan May Warren
Memory loss
After twenty-five years of marriage, Noelle and Eli are contemplating divorce . . . just as soon as their youngest son graduates from high school. But then an accident erases part of Noelle’s memory. Though her other injuries are minor, she doesn’t remember Eli, their children, or the tragedy that has ripped their family apart. As she tries to regain her memory and slowly steps into her role as a wife and mother, Eli helps her readjust to daily life with sometimes-hilarious, sometimes-heartwarming results. But can she fall in love again with a man she can’t remember? Will their secrets destroy them . . . or has erasing the past given them a chance for a future?
The Touch
By Randall Wallace
Cutting-edge surgery
Andrew Jones was once one of the few surgeons in the world to have that rare, God-given ability called The Touch. But after failing to save his young fiancée, Faith, at the scene of a car accident, Jones abandons his gift and shuns the operating room.
Lara Blair owns a Chicago-based biomedical engineering company developing a surgical tool that will duplicate precisely the movement of a surgeon’s hands, reducing or eliminating failed surgical procedures. Lara has pursued the best surgeons in the world to test this surgical tool, and all of them have failed.
As Lara pursues Jones’s skill for her project, Jones’s stubborn resistance cracks, and he begins to open up to her about the wounds that still haunt him. But when Jones discovers the urgency behind Lara’s work, he must choose to move beyond his past. As each is forced to surrender secret fears, they are bonded together through the lives of the people Jones serves and by the healing secret that Faith left behind.
The Mercy Hospital series
By Candance Calvert
Emergency medicine
In these novels, readers feel like they are “scrubbing in” to the medical crises these characters face with the realism Candance Calvert brings. In Critical Care, nurse Claire is forced back into the ER, where she clashed with Dr. Logan. In Disaster Status, when a hazardous material spills nearby, charge nurse Erin and fire captain Scott must find a way to work together. And in Code Triage, Dr. Leigh and police office Nick are trying to save their marriage when the hospital goes on lockdown.
Wish
By Jake Smith
Cancer
James McConnell’s one wish is that his nine-year-old son will finally be healthy enough to play a game of catch. Then he and his wife, Emily, receive news they’ve dreaded: Aaron’s cancer has relapsed.
As the family steels themselves for a draining treatment regimen in yet another hospital, Aaron receives the gift of a lifetime—a personal visit from one of his favorite professional baseball players—and the chance to make a bold request, his wish: to see his dad play in one major league game.
A former college standout, James fears he doesn’t have the talent it takes, even for one game, and that he’ll miss what could be Aaron’s precious last weeks. Yet how can he refuse his dying son’s wish?
Dry as Rain
By Gina Holmes
Concussion/Memory loss
Like many marriages, Eric and Kyra Yoshida’s has fallen apart slowly, one lost dream and misunderstanding at a time, until the ultimate betrayal finally pushes them beyond reconciliation. Just when it looks like forgive and forget is no longer an option, a car accident gives Eric the second chance of a lifetime. A concussion causes his wife to forget details of her life, including the chasm between them. No one knows when—or if—Kyra’s memory will return, but Eric seizes the opportunity to win back the woman he’s never stopped loving.
