NOW OUT…
The Committee Will Kill You Now
✨the prequel to The Algorithm Will See You Now✨
a historical medical suspense
Based on the true-life rationing of kidney dialysis in 1960s America, a medical intern in 1992 Seattle tries to leave his painful past behind, only to uncover a shocking truth of thirty years prior and the lasting, generational harm of hidden secrets…
Advance Praise for The Committee Will Kill You Now:
“JL Lycette has done it again–and then some! Her first, futuristic novel was an eye-opening portrait of the harms when the humanism in medicine must bow down to modern technologies–and now, she powerfully takes us into our past to examine how our humanity and humanism has been threatened in medicine for decades. Her second novel is essential, timely, important, and an absolute page turner. JL Lycette is THE physician author we need in 21st century healthcare.”
Avital O’Glasser MD, Author and Editor of
An Evolution of Empowerment: Voices of Women In Medicine and Their Allies, and Editor, Women In Medicine Blog
“In the high-stakes corridors of a bustling hospital, JL Lycette weaves a gripping tale of young doctors on the precipice of life-altering decisions. At the heart of this medical drama is Noah, an intern grappling with the relentless demands of his profession, the haunting specter of a colleague’s death, and the intricate dance of hospital politics. As he navigates the challenges of patient care, peer reviews, and personal dilemmas, Noah’s journey becomes a mirror to the vulnerabilities, strengths, and ethical quandaries faced by those in the medical field. Lycette masterfully captures the pulse of a hospital, where every decision can mean the difference between life and death, and where the weight of responsibility can either break or forge a doctor’s spirit. Amidst the backdrop of medical procedures and the ever-present hum of hospital machinery, the narrative delves deep into the human aspects of healthcare. From the camaraderie and conflicts among peers to the silent battles fought within, the story is a poignant exploration of sacrifice, resilience, and the moral compass that guides each decision. With characters that resonate with authenticity and situations that pulse with tension, “THE COMMITTEE WILL KILL YOU NOW” is not just a story about medicine, but a reflection on the very essence of humanity, ethics, and the fragile balance of life. A must-read for those who seek a window into the world of medicine, painted with hues of hope, despair, and redemption.”
Rajeev Kurapati MD, MBA,
award winning author of
Physician: How Science Transformed the Art of Medicine
“Somehow author JL Lycette has placed her readers firmly on the edge of their seats, again, with her second novel, The Committee Will Kill You Now. The doctors at the local hospital are ethical and trying their best for you, right? Yes, but sleep deprivation, scarcity of resources, and their vaunted reputations sometimes get in the way. Intern Noah Meier confronts his career motivations and personal principles when dealing with the death by suicide of a colleague, his own medical error, and the secretive response by the hospital and his supervisors. In a page turning prequel to The Algorithm Will See You Now, the author uncovers the dark side of medical training and the troubling results that occur when the physicians assume they know what is best for their patients.”
Joan Naidorf DO, author
Changing How we Think About Difficult Patients: A Guide for Healthcare Professionals
(American Association for Physician Leadership)
In Lycette’s novel, a hospital intern struggles with sleep deprivation, a shocking mistake, and a dark chapter in medical history.
It’s 1992, and 28-year-old Noah Meier is just keeping his head above water in his first year at a Seattle hospital. For a medical intern, it’s a year of 36-hour shifts, little sleep, and no life outside of work. His father was a surgeon, and although Noah’s a gifted writer, he gave up his dream of getting a Master of Fine Arts degree to go to medical school, instead. At the hospital, one of his colleagues commits suicide, but Noah has no time to grieve and is immediately back at work. He makes a careless mistake (“What should he do? What the hell should he do? What had he done?”) that results in one his patients requiring emergency surgery. As the fallout from the error upends Noah’s life, he reads an old journal that his father kept, which addresses the birth of dialysis in the 1960s. Only a handful of patients were allowed to receive the treatment at the time, and they were chosen by committee. As surprising connections between the past and the present come to light, Noah must make a major decision about his future. Lycette’s novel successfully immerses the reader in the active hospital environment and the lives of its young doctors. Along the way, it clearly illustrates the industry’s successes and innovations, and provides some necessary critiques, as well. Lycette, a doctor herself, makes the wise decision to center the narrative around only two patients’ stories, which focuses the narrative and keeps it grounded when it could have easily become frenzied. The author also effectively portrays supporting characters and addresses widespread sexism in the medical field, especially among surgeons. Overall, Noah’s story is skillfully written, incisive, and unafraid to confront ethical issues head-on.
A thought-provoking work about young doctors, modern medicine, and ethical quagmires.
Kirkus Reviews
“JL Lycette’s historical medical suspense, The Committee Will Kill You Now, follows the path of an idealistic, compassionate medical intern who, while faced with the murky secretive world that exists within his program, must also deal with a shocking event from the past and its terrible repercussions among his patients. As he grapples with the past and with the truth revealed in the present, he must decide between his career and his humanity. As a physician and a fellow crime writer, this story was so close to my heart and I went through every emotion Noah did. A tense riveting read that kept me glued to my chair and which stayed with me way after the last page. A superlative suspense from one of the best writers I have read in a while!”
Suja Sukumar, author of WHEN MIMI WENT MISSING
“JL Lycette has done it again. The Committee Will Kill You Now is a gripping, disturbing, and challenging look into the life and death problems facing residents and physicians. Even though it takes place in the 1990s, these haunting problems continue even now to face medical students, residents, attending physicians, and administrators alike.”
-Stephen J. Rockower, MD, FAAOS,
Past President of MedChi, The Maryland State Medical Society,
and Host of MedCast
“JL Lycette’s latest book, “The Committee Will Kill You Now”, weaves fiction and non-fiction into a fast-paced narrative about the inter-generational consequences of moral and ethical dilemmas faced in medicine. It’s an insider view of what can happen when the statistics and business of medicine collide with the emotions and imperfections of the humans within the system. As is common in medicine, the story delves into trauma and loss on multiple levels. It may be triggering for some readers. The story is well written and engaging. I finished it within a day. Lycette succinctly captures the essence of her characters and their inner turmoil. While the cast in the book is fictional, anyone in medicine can tell you they’ve encountered these personalities in their career. Lycette’s writing invokes a true sense of the realities of many as they move through the hierarchy of medical training. The book is thought-provoking and, though it’s set in the past, is a testament to the current-day discussions around access to care, physician burnout, and what we, as a society, want from our medical experience – whether we’re inside or outside the system.”
-Charity Hix, MD,
Physician Burnout and Career Wellness Coach for Introverts in Healthcare
“In ‘The Committee Will Kill You Now,’ JL Lycette masterfully navigates the paradoxical landscape of medical training, laying bare the power dynamics and hidden curriculum that often compels young doctors to sacrifice their own humanity, ironically, in a quest to heal others. Lycette’s brilliant storytelling shines a light on the grim underbelly of the medical world, capturing the essence of how many residents suffer in silence, their stories eerily echoing our own. For anyone who has ever braved the halls of medical residency, this novel will make you feel profoundly seen.”
Gabe Charbonneau, MD, Family Physician
& Co-Founder of Medicine Forward
“How can a medical thriller leave you so utterly moved? I was wholly transported in time, space, and situation by Dr. Lycette’s writing, unable to put the book away till I got to the very end. The story of Dr. Noah Meier is so palpable, that I could feel every intended emotion as a reader so profoundly like we were related or maybe he WAS me. This book’s plot is the perfect blend of the realities of evolution in medical training and ethics, the horrors within, the callousness, misogyny, racism, and disregard for physician lives all wrapped up in a gut-wrenching suspenseful storyline. A must-read for everyone in healthcare and for the patients we deeply care for.”
Amna Shabbir, MD, physician, life coach and writer
“JL Lycette has written an incredibly propulsive novel about a dark, little-known era of medical history. She deftly weaves the story of the ‘God Committee’–an anonymous group tasked with choosing which kidney patients would live and die in the early days of dialysis treatment in the 1960s–with the experience of Noah, a family medicine intern in the early 90s who’s trying to cling to his humanity in the face of the inhuman work hours expected of medical trainees. Noah is an engaging and relatable character who deals with challenging issues from medical error to physician suicide, and I found myself rooting for him from page one.
A page-turner with heart, The Committee Will Kill You Now will appeal to both doctors and non-doctors alike, and to anyone who’s ever needed to find the courage to stand up for what’s right.”
Hadley Leggett, MD, author of All They Ask Is Everything
“The Committee Will Kill You Now is an absolute must-read of 2023. In her latest book, author JL Lycette highlights the hard topics of the hidden curriculum and physician suicide. If you have an intimate familiarity with healthcare, this book will take you back to your years as a trainee. If not, you will be captivated by the fictional characters and the world of “hidden rules and silenced secrets” Lycette has created. I found myself nodding my head as characters tried to hide their humanity and vulnerability for the sake of their chosen profession. I shed tears over a whisper shared in an elevator. In this captivating work, Dr. Meier realizes he doesn’t have to choose between being a physician and a storyteller, and I am personally grateful that Dr. Lycette has discovered exactly that and has chosen to share her craft with the world.”
Kate Cozart MEd, PharmD, Author, Things I Wish I Knew About Taming the Inner Critic, and Creator, The Confident Provider Academy
My debut novel: THE ALGORITHM WILL SEE YOU NOW
A speculative medical thriller that examines the frightening possibility of AI determining our life-and-death healthcare decisions
**2023 Screencraft Cinematic Book Competition Finalist**
**2023 READER’S FAVORITE BRONZE MEDAL WINNER: Medical Thriller category**
**2023 Maxy Awards Finalist – Thriller**
**2023 Page Turner Awards Finalist –
Best Debut Novel**
Watch the book trailer for The Algorithm Will See You Now!
Advance praise for
THE ALGORITHM WILL SEE YOU NOW:
“I’ve been waiting for a book like this: a full-frontal assault on the dangers of artificial intelligence and the failures of our mangled health care system, all wrapped up in a clever, ripping thriller. Jennifer Lycette is an author to watch.”
Rob Hart, author of THE PARADOX HOTEL
“In the tradition of Robert Harris’ classic thriller The Fear Index, and Arthur C. Clark’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, JL Lycette’s novel about the perils of flawed, uncontrollable artificial intelligence is an emotionally-charged, cautionary tale about the role of technology in modern medicine.”
BestThrillers.com
“Lycette creates a very near future that readers will find to be fleshed out and tangible in its portrait of a near-future American healthcare system…A futuristic medical thriller with keen medical details and fast pacing.”
Kirkus Reviews
“In her debut, Lycette explores the darkest realities about the healthcare system and what generations of the near future could potentially face if power shifts to the wrong hands. Perhaps even more gripping is how she delves into the ways grief can shape someone, causing them to make questionable decisions in the name of redemption. With nuanced characters and a truly terrifying premise, THE ALGORITHM WILL SEE YOU NOW is an ambitious debut that delivers. “
Heather Levy, author of Anthony nominated WALKING THROUGH NEEDLES
“This exciting thriller finds a physician battling a medical corporation over the future of medicine...Lycette’s likable heroes, and the significance of their mission, carry the story through to its exciting and emotional conclusion.”
BookLife Review
“Both tense and topical, The Algorithm Will See You Now is a meticulously researched and deeply informed novel about the perils of where healthcare is likely heading, and the agonizing human costs involved. There are no easy decisions here, and Lycette paints a wonderfully complex portrait in an exciting debut.”
E.A. Aymar, author of NO HOME FOR KILLERS
“Full of intrigue and smart thrills, The Algorithm Will See You Now is a incisive vision of a tech-driven future, amping up the contemporary horrors of our healthcare system to the extreme. Lycette’s mastery of the medical field shines through, and her empathetic storytelling invites us to examine where we are headed and how we treat each other as human beings.”
Victor Manibo, author of THE SLEEPLESS
“An AI is putting profit over life. And patients are dying. The Algorithm Will See You Now is a tense, terrifying ride that dives into prescient themes of power, control, and the corruption of Big Medicine. Here’s your wake up call. This disturbing future is closer than you think.”
L.P. Styles, author of THE MOLECULE THIEF
A young surgeon’s idealism around the power of artificial intelligence in cancer therapy soon becomes a heart-racing suspense story that raises complex questions about what happens when we allow algorithms to override compassion and empathy in medical choices. Chilling, Orwellian and timely, The Algorithm Will See You Now is a must-read in our tech-driven world.
M.J. Soni, author of DEFYING APARTHEID
“Get ready to be enthralled! Dr. Lycette poignantly lays out the future of healthcare with impeccable lucidity when AI becomes the center stage of medicine. While AI is promised to improve operational efficiencies, streamline tasks and cut down human error, it comes with its own challenges like overlooking personal preferences, fears and economic restraints for patients. A brilliant book with vivid characterizations!”
Rajeev Kurapati MD, MBA, award winning author of
PHYSICIAN: HOW SCIENCE TRANSFORMED THE ART OF MEDICINE
“Bringing the reality of the imminent threat to the healthcare system and the patient sovereignty disheartenment to life… the epitome of patient care sceneries at the end of the slippery slope towards which we are headed.”
Dr. Adam Ray Tabriz, MD
Medium Author,
PHYSICIANS ARE WORKING LIKE ROBOTS FOR ROBOTS
Anthology contributions:
Fiction:
And If That Mockingbird Don’t Sing: Parenting Stories Gone Speculative, by Alternating Current Press
I’m so excited to have a flash fiction piece in this anthology, edited by Hanna Greico
Nonfiction:
An Evolution of Empowerment: Voices of Women in Medicine and Their Allies Kindle Edition
Edited by Dr. Avital O’Glasser and Dr. Shikha Jain
Prevention of Burnout in Medicine: Multimedia Primer and Lifebook
published by Dr. Brown Cares LLC