There’s an irony to this blog post.
When Victoria Purcell at Simon and Schuster kindly sent me a copy of A Second Act by Dr Matt Morgan I was completely intrigued. You see, my father-in-law suffered a cardiac arrest and was resuscitated, but was declared brain dead. He was in America on holiday at the time. My husband and I were told he’d be kept on life support for 24 hours but then we would need to give permission to turn the machines off.
When we rang the hospital the next day, reluctantly prepared to give that permission, we were told he was sitting up in bed asking, ‘Linda. Steve. Yes. No.’ He was alive and actually not much worse than he had been prior to the cardiac arrest, living with the effects of two previous heart attacks and a disabling stroke. It appeared it was previous stroke damage that led to the ‘brain dead’ diagnosis. His response, once we’d managed to return him to the UK via air ambulance, was to continue to travel and to make the most of life.
All this meant I was really interested in reading A Second Act.
And here’s the irony. I had hoped to post this review earlier, but four deaths of family and friends so far in 2025 have made life tricky…
A Second Act was published by Simon and Schuster on 16th January 2025 and is available for purchase through the publisher links here.
A Second Act
I’ve worked as a doctor for over twenty years, caring for patients who are in the thick fog between life and death. I’ve met hundreds of people who have died, were resuscitated and lived. I’ve long thought that these are the people that we should be listening to, not influencers or business gurus. They know what really matters.
Dr Matt Morgan has met hundreds of people who’ve come back from the dead. Their hearts stopped, their bodies unresponsive, rescued from the brink of death by the modern intensive care techniques he specialises in.
People like Ed, who was walking through a park when there was a bang, a bright light and then nothing. Ed had been hit by a bolt of lightning – 300 million volts, enough to power a city for a day, coursed through his body, short-circuiting his heart. Ed was given life-saving CPR and he survived. He lives a little differently now, every day knowing the thin margins that separate life and death.
In A Second Act, Morgan introduces us to patients who’ve experienced hypothermia, overdoses, heart attacks and transplants to see how their lives have been transformed by the second chance they’ve been given. He shares the lessons they’ve learned, along with his own realisations about life and how to make the most of it. Life shouldn’t be wasted on the living.
My Review of A Second Act
An insight into, and provided by, those who have clinically died but have had a second chance at life.
Written in a highly accessible style which hooks in the reader from Prologue to Epilogue, A Second Act is a fascinating book. There’s an intimacy as Dr Matt Morgan uses the first person to frame his case studies, but it’s so much more than that. There’s a real feeling that this is a man who has truly listened to those he’s spoken to about dying and being resuscitated. We learn about the author as well as about those whose stories he is relating.
A Second Act transcends any macabre interest in, or fear of, death so that it provides comfort and positivity as well as interest, making it hugely impactful. Indeed, I found so much here that I could take personally from the writing. Filled with sentences and comments that feel as if they have distilled philosophical thinking and advice into portable slogans, A Second Act entirely avoids truism and is a powerful reminder of appreciating who we are and what we have in our lives. It reminds us to look, to listen and to understand what is really important. At the same time Dr Matt Morgan doesn’t shy away from the challenges and difficulties some experience after their clinical deaths. This makes the book so realistic and important.
I’m not able to say too much about those who’ve experienced death here as it would spoil the discovery of their stories for other readers, but I wept for some and rejoiced for others. I loved every moment of their company and felt privileged to have met them vicariously through A Second Act.
A Second Act is a fascinating, moving and life affirming read that is also realistic and informative whilst managing to be both personal and universal. It’s a book about death that gives readers the permission to live life to the full. Wise, motivational and hugely important, it might even have you hosting your own funeral. I thought it was excellent and cannot recommend it highly enough.
About Dr Matt Morgan
Image courtesy of Jake Morley
Dr Matt Morgan is a British intensive care doctor. His open letter addressed to patients during the 2020 COVID pandemic has been read by over half a million people worldwide and viewed by over two million times after featuring on the Channel 4 news. His articles have featured in the Guardian, the Telegraph, the Daily Mail, the Sunday Mirror and Huffington Post. A regular writer for the internationally acclaimed British Medical Journal, his article ‘A letter from the ICU’ is one of their most popular ever opinion article, read by over 130,000 people in 2020. His first book, Critical, has been translated into four languages. He lives in Cardiff with his family, enjoys long dog walks, photography, cold beer and even colder ice cream.
For further information follow Matt on Twitter/X @dr_mattmorgan and find him on Facebook, Instagram and Bluesky.
