Crafting a Medical Thriller that Doesn’t Commit Malpractice

DETAILS: The Florida Gulf Coast Chapter of Sisters in Crime is pleased to announce the featured speaker at the April 5, 2025, meeting will be Joel Shulkin, M.D.

LOCATION: This is a Zoom only meeting. [https://sistersincrime-org.zoom.us/j/92024856842](https://sistersincrime-org.zoom.us/j/92024856842)

DESCRIPTION: The list of medical thriller books is flooded with books portraying surgeons and ER staff and, consequently, scenes in the operating or emergency room. Often this is because when one thinks of medical thrills, they think of life-or-death situations and invasive procedures. After all, what could be scarier to someone not in the medical field than someone invading their body? But some pretty interesting things can happen outside of the OR and ER, and for a non-physician it's easy to stumble over details. This lecture will help authors understand what defines a medical thriller, identify scenes and situations where a medical thriller might occur, identify subgenera that overlap with traditional medical thrillers, discuss common mistakes made by writers when crafting medical scenes, and discuss how to focus on character to drive the story in a medical thriller.

BIO: Joel Shulkin MD is the author of The Memory Thieves series and the award-winning Death Benefits series, as well as various short stories and articles. A developmental-behavioral pediatrician and United States Air Force veteran with a master's in public health, Joel lives in Florida with his wife, twin daughters, and two puppies.
Social Media Links:
Instagram, Threads, Facebook, TikTok: @drjoelshulkin
Bluesky: @drjoelshulkin.bsky.social
LinkedIn: /joel-shulkin-989a122a1