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The First Patient
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Product Description
From the blockbuster, New York Times bestselling author comes a high-concept, high-octane thriller at the crossroads of presidential politics and cutting-edge medicine. . . .
Gabe Singleton and Andrew Stoddard were roommates at the Naval Academy in Annapolis years ago. Today, Gabe is a country doctor and his friend Andrew has gone from war hero to governor to President of the United States. One day, while the United States is embroiled in a bitter presidential election campaign, Marine One lands on Gabe’s Wyoming ranch, and President Stoddard delivers a disturbing revelation and a startling request. His personal physician has suddenly and mysteriously disappeared, and he desperately needs Gabe to take the man’s place. Despite serious misgivings, Gabe agrees to come to Washington. It is not until he is ensconced in the White House medical office that Gabe realizes there is strong evidence that the President is going insane. Facing a crisis of conscience—as President Stoddard’s physician, he has the power to invoke the Twenty-fifth Amendment to transfer presidential power to the Vice President—Gabe uncovers increasing evidence that his friend’s condition may not be due to natural causes.
Who? Why? And how? The President’s life is at stake. A small-town doctor suddenly finds himself in the most powerful position on earth, and the safety of the world is in jeopardy. Gabe Singleton must find the answers, and the clock is ticking. . . .
With Michael Palmer’s trademark medical details, and steeped in meticulous political insider knowledge, The First Patient is an unforgettable story of suspense.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #130758 in Books
- Published on: 2008-02-19
- Released on: 2008-02-19
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Hardcover
- 384 pages
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
This over-the-top yet endlessly entertaining thriller from bestseller Palmer (The Fifth Vial) pits a country doctor against a conspiracy to kill the president. Dr. Gabe Singleton, an old friend of President Andrew Stoddard, is brought to Washington, D.C., from Wyoming when Jim Ferendelli, Stoddard's former doctor, goes missing. Almost immediately, things fall apart as Stoddard suffers from a random episode of incoherence, and Singleton is shot at while driving in early morning D.C. traffic. Complicating matters is Alison Cromartie, a sexy nurse who captures Singleton's heart. Singleton must figure out who's behind the president's mysterious illness, investigating everyone from the Secret Service agents to the vice president. Citing specific medical and technological processes, Palmer convinces readers that his novel is logical and reasonable, even as he mixes the unlikely with the insanely hyperbolic. The roller-coaster ride of a plot builds to an undeniably shocking conclusion. Author tour. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
“An exciting thriller that is full of surprises…captures the intense atmosphere of the White House.” —President Bill Clinton
“Endlessly entertaining…the roller-coaster ride of a plot builds to an undeniably shocking conclusion.” —Publishers Weekly
“If medical thrillers are what you’re after, Palmer delivers.”—Booklist
From the Back Cover
From the blockbuster New York Times bestselling author comes a high-concept, high-octane thriller at the crossroads of presidential politics and cutting-edge medicine.
Gabe Singleton and Andrew Stoddard were once Naval Academy roommates. Today, Gabe is a country doctor and his friend Andrew has gone from war hero to governor to President of the United States. One day, while the United States is embroiled in a bitter presidential election campaign, Marine One lands on Gabe’s Wyoming ranch, and President Stoddard announces that his personal physician has suddenly and mysteriously disappeared—and he desperately needs Gabe to take the man’s place.
“Endlessly entertaining…the roller-coaster ride of a plot builds to an undeniably shocking conclusion.” —Publishers Weekly
Now ensconced in the White House medical office, Gabe comes to a disturbing realization: The President is not fit to run the country. Worse, Gabe uncovers evidence that his friend’s illness may not be due to natural causes. Who could have administered such a blow? And why? The President’s life is at stake, the safety of the world is in jeopardy, and it’s up to Gabe to find the answers while time is running out…
Customer Reviews
What if the President was Mad?
Dr. Gabe Singleton is sitting in the saddle on his Wyoming spread when Marine One puts down. President Andrew Stoddard has come a calling. His personal physician is missing, he needs someone he can trust to take over and who better than his old college pal. Gabe has reservations, but President Stoddard is persuasive and Gabe accepts.
But a couple days latter, just before a state dinner, Gabe is called to the Residence. The president is having an episode. He appears stark raving mad. After the episode passes, Stoddard begs Gabe to keep quiet about his problem for the good of the country. He wants Gabe to find out what's causing his episodes and Gabe agrees.
But Gabe wants to get to the bottom of why the president's doctor has vanished, so he starts to investigate. Also someone tries to kill Gabe, not once, but twice. Does someone fear Gabe is getting to close? And if so, too close to what? And who can Gabe trust? Nobody it appears.
I will admit at first I found Mr. Palmer's story a bit farfetched. The stuff of this book could never happen, but as I read on I started to think, well maybe. It wasn't long before I was caught in a high power web of lies and deceit. Somebody very close to the President of the United States wants him out of the way and it appears he is very powerful, a man or men with unlimited resources. Someone who will stop at nothing and there is only on person who stands between him and what he wants, country doctor turned investigator Gabe Singleton.
This is Michael Palmer's best book and surprisingly when I finished, I didn't find it so farfetched after all and that's scary.
Review submitted by Captain Katie Osborne
A great spin to take you away!
We read for many reasons. Those who have left rather stinging remarks in their reviews have valid comments. They are perhaps reading for information or enlightenment. Yet, there are other readers who read to escape the routine of their life. They want to fall in love, have an adventure and solve a case, all within the cover of a book. Yes, the plot is rather far fetched but so is Harry Potter and look how many copies it sold! I tend to bristle at technical readers who do not stick to technical media. The categories is NON-FICTION! Dan Brown has received similar comments about his writing. This comments are unfortunate as they may influence an uniformed reader to not purchase Books that are entertaining and escapist. A book that is realistic is called a textbook. They cost ten times what these wonderful little novels do and sell far fewer copies.
All this being said, I feel First Patient has many merits. It has a clever plot. The reader is taken through several twists and is given the surprise ending that thrills us all.
Michael Palmer created some likable characters which are important for our transference into the plot. I think one of the biggest problems a writer faces is creating characters and scenes that are transferring while staying within the confines of what a publisher feels is a marketable length.
I most most impressed by who the villain was. Often, I am ready to put a book aside within the first 50 pages because the writer has given me too much information and I am not inclined to read any further. This was not the case in First Patient.
Anyone wishing to take a small weekend adventure that doesn't use any gasoline or create a motel bill will be satisfied by their First Patient experience.
"...the powers and duties of his office"
There is so much of interest in the field of medicine that it seems a shame to use an obscure element in a medical thriller. Nanotechnology (I don't think that's a spoiler) is on the sensational end of medicine: real but not in our everyday medical lexicon. Yet Michael Palmer used it as his "hook" in The First Patient, and used it effectively.
Palmer's smooth style brought me straight into the story. Gabe Singleton, a Wyoming doctor, was a Naval Academy roommate of Andrew Stoddard who is now the President of the United States. Stoddard pays a visit to Gabe and persuades him to come to Washington as the President's personal physician after the previous holder of that position vanished. Another man might see this as a good career move but Gabe has his "baggage" and goes only as a favor to his friend.
Things get ugly fast when the President has what seems to be a psychotic episode; temporary, but not his first. The twenty-fifth amendment to the constitution is waved about (rules of succession should the president be incapacitated). That night someone tries to kill Gabe at a traffic light. Something's rotten in the state of Denmark and Gabe is determined to puzzle it out. There are two beautiful women, horses, impressive real estate, Washington intrigue, ideology in politics.
Michael Palmer always delivers great writing and a brisk pace. His characters are well drawn: the good guys a little flawed, the bad guys wearing a veneer (in some cases very thin) of civility. My personal preference in a medical thriller is that it be grounded a bit more firmly in the plausible, but this book delivers the goods and is sure to please readers far and wide. Four stars, and it would have been four and a half if I had enjoyed the political overtones more. Recommended for a beach read or a rainy night.
Linda Bulger, 2008
