Customer Reviews

Extreme Measures

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

SCARY! O...My...God , what a terrifying concept! What's the name of that "zombie" powder again? Tetrodotoxin? Oh Jeez, I'm goose-bumping already! Can YOU imagine being mistaken for dead while still being victim to you basic senses ... and then having a novice pathologist slice a Y-incision in your motionless-yet-wide-awake body? Until this book I couldn't! Such an alternative certainly puts the protagonist in a bind, doesn't it? But a major source of thickness for the plot are the ethical questions that supports research for human advancement! It would certainly be great if spinal and neural injuries could be treated as easily as the common cold, but is any human sacrifice, no matter how sickly or unwanted or insignificant, worth it? Palmer gives one hell of a thrill ride in this philosophically daring piece of scientific artwork! Great book! His best!

Dr. Eric Najarian is a rising star at White Memorial Hospital. He and a colleague are vying for a big promotion, when suddenly Eric is approached to join a secret society ("Caduceus") as long as he is willing to perform an "unusual" treatment when asked. Pressures of the job and life in general weigh on Eric as he debates what to do. Soon, some missing bodies and other unexplained phenomenon at the hospital shake his trust in everything and send him on a hunt for what is going on. We readers get to know more than he does for quite a while, but we dare say few will guess who the ultimate bad guys wind up being.

This is our fourth novel by Palmer and we have enjoyed them all immensely. Sort of a "thinking man's Robin Cook", Palmer happens to be both a medical and publishing contemporary of Cook -- but to our mind, one with less "fantastic" plots. Palmer's ability to endear his characters to us, to draw out the suspense without getting boring, and to craft a twisty plot lead to hours of entertainment. Enjoy! [p.s., the movie based on this book is also entertaining, but in actuality bears little resemblance to the Palmer story per se...]

This is not the first Michael Palmer book that I have read, but it certainly is the best one so far. The plot, though complex and intricate, was thrilling to the last page. The characters were well developed and the plot facinating. I found it almost impossible to put the book down, and was holding my breath for Eric and Laura to the very end. For a fast read, and a thrilling adventure, select Extreme Measures.

This was the first Michael Palmer book that I read and I enjoyed it. Some of the content was a bit on the fantasy side however.. I look forward to reading more of his work. Lots of unexpected twists and turns. If you like medical thrillers and don't mind streching your amagination a little bit, I rec. it.

Michael Palmer's "Extreme Measures": From start to finish, Mr. Palmer's book kept me interested. The characters were well-developed, plot easy to follow, and the story full of suspense. The main characters, a doctor and scuba dive instructor, fall in love despite the terrible occurences at White Memorial where doctor Najarian works. Friends turn out to be enemies, possible enemies turn out to be friends (sometimes), and it seems that neither can trust anyone but each other and themselves. This book has a lot of medical jargon and some voodoo. I find that if I can read a book in one day, then it is worth reading again. I read this book in about 9 hours in a car so it is definitely worth your time

In one sense, a jaded reader might accuse Michael Palmer of repeating the oft-used medical thriller plot framework of the single heroic physician standing up against some sort of nefarious conspiracy based on power, money, greed and self-interest. And, while that's true, Michael Palmer has done a bang up job of twisting the details around such that EXTREME MEASURES is turned into a bona fide nail-biting cliff-hanging thriller of the first order.

Eric Najarian, an ambitious young doctor at a Boston hospital, got lucky. In the frantic hustle and bustle of the emergency room, he stepped well over the line and reached the decision to use a bold but entirely unproven, experimental technique on a man dying the emergency room. After the treatment proves successful, he is contacted by a shady group who press him to continue to administer unorthodox treatments to certain specified patients and promise the reward of promotion to a prestigious post in the hospital. If he refuses, he is assured that his career as a physician in Boston is finished.

EXTREME MEASURES has got much more than the proverbial "everything but the kitchen sink". In fact, it's got the counter top and several kitchen sinks - voodoo, corrupt funeral parlours, unorthodox drug testing, secret clinics and much, much more.

It's way, way over the top but it sure is fun. This is medical suspense at its finest and it's delivered with a slam-bang authenticity that will have Michael Palmer's fans begging for more. I can tell you this for sure. The next time you buy a new drug, you'll look at it and wonder with considerable fear and trepidation about the protocols that were followed to put it onto the shelf! Highly recommended.

Paul Weiss

This is fast paced thriller with as many twists and turns as an episode of 24. Most books use the last few pages to wrap up a story in a predictable way, but not this book. There's one surprise after another.

I found a bunch of these books in a garage sale ~~ and after reading the back of one book, I thought it was something that I would enjoy reading to pass away time. My husband used to work in the medical field and he's always talking about his experiences in the hospital ~~ so I thought Michael Palmer can be another new author for me to read.

I didn't regret it. This book literally kept me on the edge of my seat for the three days it took me to read! I don't care if the characters jumped around ~~ to me, that adds to the excitement and the suspense of the book. I love guessing who would be the bad guy and being proven wrong ~~ that is the fun part of any book.

This one is of a rising young doctor at a prestigious hospital ~~ he's vying for an assistant directorship of the ER. He is then approached by a secret society to be called on to do something unusual on occassion ~~ but Eric refused to do so. He meets Laura as she hands out flyers of her missing brother. Suspicious that he had worked on him in the ER and proclaimed him dead ~~ Eric agreed to help her find him. And that is just the beginning of a wild chase around Boston.

Something sinister, something wicked and something suspenseful ~~ it's all in this book. If you need something that will keep you awake at night ~~ this book would be it! If you like medical thrillers, this is definitely one! This may be my first introduction to Palmer's works ~~ but it won't be the last.

7-17-05

The plot is really quite silly and almost totally implausable. The characters are neither very interesting nor well developed. Still, the book kept me going to the contrived trick ending.

More narrow escapes and deus ex machinas, and I never heard so many people crying, "pleeease". I'm surprised they didn't contrive a way to save Laura's long-lost brother. Just about all the other good guys got saved. It's not fair now is it?

Just a few, out of many many logic questions: how did that zombie farm get a no fly-over agreement? how come nobody thought to bury the bodies of the two people killed at the beginning? What happened to the cancer cure?

Laura's brother, zombified, half-dead, still managed to continuously beat up whole packs of armed and dangerous baddies...

Say, now that I think of it, I'd like to change my rating from 3 to a 2.

I've enjoyed several of Michael Palmer's books and have found them to be real pageturners. He has very good storylines and my only problem with his work is that he stereotypes a lot of characters, e.g., receptionists are always polishing nails or cracking gum, thugs are always dumb, other characters (other than the hero) are far too one dimensional, and the heroine never has any faults. That's expected and forgiven in a first novel, but by the third or fourth, the author should be getting better at character development.

As for page-turning worthiness, this book is really better than a three-star review - but too much stereotyping really bothers me. This author can do better.