Weekend Read – The Woman from Death Row by Peter Hogenkamp

Welcome to another Weekend Read blog. My guest today is author Peter Hogenkamp who’s dropped by to tell us about his thriller, The Woman from Death Row. So grab a cuppa, get cosy and let’s get talking to Peter. ☺️

Blurb

Jade Collins grew up on the seedy side of Los Angeles, but her tenacious nature pushes her to strive for a better life. After attending college and earning her medical degree, she feels good about where her life is going. But, bad things happen to good people, and Jade finds herself on death row after killing a man who had been abusing one of her patients.

Just three years after his marriage, Dr. Mark Brand’s wife passes away and his life is sent into a downward spiral. Depression steals everything from him—his medical license, his livelihood and his will to go on. Only a reunion with a powerful man he once knew gives Mark the strength to pick himself up again. He has a new job and a new life, but he is paying a steep price for his second chance. Nothing in life is free and this powerful man has plans for Mark.

The Woman From Death Row buy link

Welcome to my blog, Peter. Can you tell us what five books have changed your life?

Lord of the Rings by J.R.R Tolkien. Before I started the LOTR trilogy, the world was a mundane place where banal things happened once in a while. After I finished it for the first time (I subsequently read it aloud to all of my children when each was in the first grade) the world was a fascinating place where spellbinding things happened all the time. LOTR taught me to see things I never saw before, to realize that magic occurs every day all around us, that heroes exist.

The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert. A friend recommended this book to me, and I thank him every time I see him. I used to think that cataclysm and grand catastrophe were things that only happened ages ago. Now, I know that today is catastrophic and cataclysmic. Right now. This moment. I have said many times that great books change the way you think; extraordinary books change the way you act. I compost, recycle, think about my carbon footprint every day of the week, buy solar panels and an electric car, wash my clothes less (but still occasionally).

Fear is the Key by Alistair MacLean. I read this book for the first time when I was ten years old, and by the time I finished it two days later, I had been transformed into an avid, lifelong reader, especially of thrillers. I read it now and again just for old times’ sake, and I still get the same excitement welling up inside of me. Fear is the Key opened up the world of fiction to me, and I am still thankful.

Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari. I used to be naïve. Then I read Sapiens, which gave me a better understanding of who we (homo sapiens) are, where we have come from, and where we (might) be going. And although this understanding didn’t make me feel better about our past, present and future (no, it definitely made me feel worse, as my blissful ignorance was gone) it did make me aware of the impact of humanity on the world, which has in turn influenced the way I think and the things I do. Read it.

The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum. (Time to end on a lighter note.) I gobbled up this book (as well as the rest of the trilogy and everything else Ludlum wrote) but the reason this book changed my life is because it made me want to become a writer. I read it in 1980 when I was in high school and then proceeded to write a manuscript about a former CIA agent on the hunt for a professional assassin. (Sound familiar?) My manuscript was terrible (my mother subsequently threw it out when I left for college a few years later) but the urge to be a writer stuck. And it is still sticking, 45 years later. Thanks Robert.

That’s a fascinating selection, thanks for dropping by to share this with us, Peter.

About Peter

Peter Hogenkamp is an award-winning physician, public speaker and author of medical fiction and thrillers living in Rutland, Vermont with his wife, Lisa. They have four children who are grown and live out of state but visit (too?) often. Peter’s writing credits include: The Intern (TouchPoint Press, April, 2020); the Marco Venetti thrillers, The Vatican Conspiracy (Bookouture/HachetteUK, October 2020) and The Vatican Secret (Bookouture/HachetteUK, April 2021); republished (DP Digital Publishers, September 2025 and October 2025); the Jade Stryker thrillers, The Woman From Death Row (Tirgearr Publishing, June 2023), A Hill To Die On (Tirgearr Publishing, October 2024) and The Dead Zone (Tirgearr Publishing, April 2026). The Vatican Conspiracy has been translated into German, Die Vatikan-Verschwörung (DP Publishing, June 2026) and Italian, Cospirazione Vaticano (Newton Compton Editori, July 2021). Peter is the creator, producer and host of Your Health Matters with Dr. Peter Hogenkamp, a health information program, which airs on cable television and streams on YouTube. Peter was a finalist for the prestigious 2019 Killer Nashville Claymore Award as well as a top finalist for the 2020 Vermont Writer’s Prize. When he isn’t writing, he can he found in the backcountry of Vermont with his faithful Bernedoodle, Enzo. He can be reached at his author website as well as his Amazon Author page.