Critical Judgment (Mass Market Paperback)

~ Michael Palmer (Author)
Key Phrases: clinic coat, cadmium toxicity, medical chief, Michael Palmer, Lyle Quinn, Willie Cardoza (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A character in Palmer's latest medical chiller (after Silent Treatment) refers to the industrial enclave of Patience, Calif., locked among mountains above San Francisco, as "Faustville." It certainly seems as if the town has made a pact with the devil in order to thrive. Emergency room doctor Abby Dolan has been at Patience Regional Hospital for only a few months when she begins totting up "NIWWs"-her shorthand for patients whose complaints offer her "no idea what's wrong." The hospital and town are literally overshadowed by the manufacturing giant Colstar, a cliff-dwelling international battery-making concern whose security rivals that of the Pentagon. After Abby's fiance, Josh Wyler, a new Colstar employee, suddenly exhibits alarming manic symptoms and threatens her with violence, Abby begins to wonder if Colstar is exposing its employees to the toxic heavy metal cadmium, a battery component. It doesn't take her long to cross Colstar security chief Lyle Quinn, or to be approached for help by an earnest group known as the Alliance, headed by Abby's handsome ER colleague Lew Alvarez, who also suspects that Colstar's chemicals are harming the town. If the soulless but many-eyed corporation, secret underground labs and evil experiments on unwitting patients are familiar elements to medical suspense fans, Palmer, an M.D. who worked in emergency medicine, renders them, for the most part, gripping and fresh. Scenes of medical terror (particularly one involving a claustrophobic patient who suffers an allergic reaction inside an MRI cylinder) are wrenchingly scary, and the imaginative final twists confirm that Palmer is reaching the top of a demanding craft. Doubleday Book Club main selection; Literary Guild and Mystery Book Club alternates; simultaneous BBD audio; author tour.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

Abby Dolan, a young, hot-shot emergency room physician, has left the big city environs of San Francisco to follow her fiance to a small town where he has taken a job with Colstar?the main source of the town's economy. In her work, Abby quickly comes across several patients with vague but troubling symptoms that she believes are caused by environmental poisoning and may be linked to Colstar. Palmer's success in the more gripping Silent Treatment (LJ 2/15/95) is not equaled here. Slow pacing, an awkward writing style, and an uninteresting and unbelievable plot make for a dull medical thriller. Still, Palmer's works are popular, and this novel will no doubt receive a lot of hype.?Patricia Altner, Information Seekers, Bowie, Md.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 450 pages
• Publisher: Bantam Books (January 5, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553574086
• ISBN-13: 978-0553574081
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #57,872 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent story with lots of surprises, August 28, 1999

By A Customer

The whole idea of chemical poisoning and a corporate cover-up is intriguing enough, but Palmer makes it even more exciting by adding twists and turns at all the right times. Every time I thought I figured out what was going on, I was pleasantly surprised to realize I was way off base. Abby's commitment to solving the mystery is fierce. The action is tremendous and it doesn't stop until the last page, as the story races to a thrilling conclusion. This book was difficult to put down. I highly recommend it for anyone looking for a chilling mystery novel.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dr.Superwoman, December 15, 2004

By	Beverley Strong (Australia) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)    (VINE VOICE)

Dr.Abby Dolan has moved from being a hotshot Emergency Room specialist in a major city hospital to being head of the Emergency Room team at a hospital in a small Californian town, to be with her boyfriend, Josh.
When many locals succumb to the same mysterious symptons, Abby begins to explore the possibility of the illnesses being work related and linked to the towns' major industry, a huge chemical plant which makes batteries. As the towns' economy depends on this factory, Abby's enquiries meet with downright resentment.Josh and a few other townspeople become dangerously violent and are showing signs of seizures which cause blinding headaches and even more violent behaviour.It all becomes rather exciting when Abby, with the help of the town renegade, visits the factory illicitly, making her way through secret underground passages and finding secret labotatories where scientists are working on antidotes for induced diseases, all in the name of research and supposedly with government approval.Abby manages to escape, up and down cliffs, over impossible terrains and fending off bullets, proving herelf to be the equal of any Wonderwoman(with a stray bullet in her leg AND being almost torn to pieces by falls from the cliff face) It's all a pretty good yarn but it's served as another reminder to me to stay away from hospitals at all cost!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Intense medical thriller., September 16, 2002

By	A. Vegan (Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

I wanted a change from Robin Cook and I'm quite happy I found Michael Palmer. The book was a bit slow to start and I was tempted to stop reading it, but I kept on.
This book is fantastic. The characters are well written as is the plot. There were many times while reading this book that I felt troubled and anxious just because of what Abby was going through. This book really had a hold on me. Although it was the first Michael Palmer book I've read, I'll definately be reading more of his.