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Summary
Summary
A massive cover-up gone awry
A prominent physician accused of murder
Uncovering the truth could put the entire country at risk
Dr. Gary McHugh, known around Washington, D.C. as the "society doc," calls his longtime friend Dr. Lou Welcome in a state of panic, certain he is about to be arrested for murder. McHugh was found in an alcoholic blackout in his wrecked car after visiting a patient of his, the powerful Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Elias Colston. Soon after McHugh leaves, Colston's wife returns home to find her husband shot to death in their garage. McHugh has no recollection of committing the crime and no one who would possibly believe in his innocence, other than Lou. As more facts come to light, even Lou has serious doubts. But something about McHugh's story nags at him and as he looks into matters, pieces of the puzzle don't point to his friend's guilt so definitively.
With the help of Sarah Cooper, an ambitious attorney with her own reasons for hating doctors, Lou finds himself at the center of a deadly, high-level conspiracy where the difference between right and wrong is a matter of interpretation, and the words "whatever it takes" have a chilling meaning. If Lou and Sarah don't uncover the real reasons Colston is dead, they may not survive themselves, and the entire country could be at risk for attacks that could destroy the very fabric of national security.
Once again, bestselling author Michael Palmer proves that he is the king of suspense in this page-turning thriller, Political Suicide , set at the crossroads of politics, the military, and medical science.
Author Notes
Michael Palmer was born in Springfield, Massachusetts on October 9, 1942. He graduated from Wesleyan University in Connecticut and Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. He trained in internal medicine at Boston City and Massachusetts General Hospitals. Afterwards, he conducted research for the National Air Pollution Control Administration in Cincinnati in order to fulfill his two-year military obligation. He spent 20 years as a full-time practitioner of internal and emergency medicine and is currently an associate director of the Massachusetts Medical Society's physician health program.
His has written numerous books including The Last Surgeon, The Second Opinion, The First Patient, The Fifth Vial, The Society, Fatal, The Patient, Miracle Cure, Critical Judgment, Silent Treatment, Natural Causes, Extreme Measures, Flashback, Side Effects, and The Sisterhood.
Palmer died at the age of 71 on October 30, 2013 after suffering a heart attack and stroke. His novels Resistant (released May 20, 2014) and Trauma (released May 12, 2015) were released after his death.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Bestseller Palmer soft-pedals his usual medical agenda in his disappointing second Dr. Lou Welcome thriller (after 2011's Oath of Office). Lou, who was once in treatment for amphetamine and alcohol dependence, receives a distress call from a close doctor friend, Gary McHugh, whose struggles with alcohol Lou has been overseeing at the Washington, D.C., Physician Wellness Office. The police are about to arrest Gary for the shooting murder of Congressman Elias Colston, the chairman of the House Committee on Armed Services, with whose wife, Jeannine, Gary had been having an affair. Gary, drunk, had gone to Colston's Maryland home to see Jeannine, but found Colston's body instead. Lou, who sets out to exonerate his friend, even though Gary's lawyer warns him off the case, stumbles into trouble and lucks his way out in an investigation that points to a supersecret mission known as Operation Talon. The unoriginal military action scenes will leave fans of that subgenre rolling their eyes. Agent: Meg Ruley, Jane Rotrosen Agency. (Dec.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Political, legal, military and medical mayhem all rolled up into a bite-size package--well, for those who take big bites, anyway. The too-perfectly named Louis Francis Welcome, M.D., who figured in the prolific Palmer's last novel, Oath of Office (2012), has his work cut out for him. Formerly an emergency room doctor, his practice now involves leading addicted docs through the cure. "What I have is a handful of doctors who are in terrific, solid recovery," he proudly notes. But he hadn't reckoned with Gary McHugh, an M.D. determined to drink the Potomac dry and seemingly unconcerned with the whole business of healing himself before setting to work on the society dames of Washington. Alas, there's the rub: A congressman turns up dead, and McHugh has, well, been treating said congressman's wife with a little too much bedside manner. But there's more to it than that: There are Black Ops dudes crawling around everywhere, their tans freshly sprayed on to blend into the wilds of Afghanistan but not be out of place inside the well-groomed confines of the Beltway, either. Why would they want anyone but the Taliban dead? Well, that's just one question that resonates through this book, which is surely less formulaic than it could be while still honoring all the hard-boiled conventions of the political-thriller genre. Palmer is no Trevanian, but he handles his story with confidence, and he can write a sentence. Best of all, he has the good grace to let Welcome bow out here and there to let other players on the good-guy team shine, chief among them a legal beagle who won't take no for an answer, not even when Navy SEALs are on the issuing end. A competent entertainment; nothing to think about overmuch, but with plenty of chills and spills.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Dr. Lou Welcome, who supervises other doctors through the Physician Wellness Office, is shocked to discover that a friend and colleague might be mixed up in the homicide of a U.S. congressman. Not willing to accept that his friend is a murderer, Lou starts digging only to uncover a deadly conspiracy. If this all sounds a bit familiar, it's because it's pretty much the same story, with minor variations, as Oath of Office (2012), which introduced Welcome, a recovering alcoholic and drug addict, which explains why he's not supervising other doctors with troubled histories. It's not a bad book, but like its predecessor, it misses several opportunities for surprising plot twists and has the overall feeling of been-there, done-that (too many times). Palmer can be a talented and original storyteller, but of late his writing feels lethargic, and his stories repetitive and predictable. Devoted readers might enjoy this one, but it won't win him any new fans.--Pitt, David Copyright 2010 Booklist
