Customer Reviews

The Patient (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition)

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Eastern Massachusetts Medical Center (EMMC) neurosurgeon Jessie Copeland tests the use of assisted robotic tissue incision and extraction on corpses. However, in spite of the media push of her odious boss, Jessie feels ARTIE is not quite ready for prime time use to remove brain tumors in humans. Still, Jessie applies ARTIE on a renowned gymnast.

For years, CIA agent Alex Bishop has tried to capture the elusive soulless mercenary Claude Maloche without any success. However, Alex feels he is closing in on his enemy when he learns Claude suffers from a brain tumor with the trail leading to EMMC and Jessie. To ensure his full recovery and safety, Claude threatens to kill thousands if Jessie errs. She and Alex know this amoral assassin is more than capable of carrying out what he threatens even if he dies on the operating table.

THE PATIENT is a typical Michael Palmer medical-terrorist thriller that leaves readers wondering how so much action and excitement can be packed into one story line. The plot is dynamic as Mr. Palmer blends modern medical technology with the unmerciful word of cold-blooded mercenaries. Jessie is a fine character struggling to keep her Oath and morals above board even as individuals surround her from both sides of the law who would corrupt her for their use. A Mr. Palmer tale should carry a warning label that his books increase adrenaline and the pulse rate to dangerous levels because they are so excitingly good.

Harriet Klausner

This electrifying medical thriller is brilliantly written and doesn't let up until the final page. Michael Palmer combines cutting-edge medical technology with international intrigue and throws in a side order of blind ambition to create a fascinating and suspense filled tale.

This is probably the best medical thriller I've ever read. The technology was plausible and the scientific explanations seemed well informed. The characters are interesting and well developed. Dr. Carl Gilbride's insatiable egomania as head of the Eastern Mass Medical Center puts patients at risk by pushing the use of the ARTIE technology before it is ready. His imprudence and haughtiness makes it that much easier to love Dr. Jesse Copeland, his dedicated protégée who is far more accomplished as a brain surgeon than her boss is. International terrorist Claude Malloche and his wife are ruthless and wicked beyond description; heightening the uncertainty as to the mayhem they will wreak to further their desperate ends.

The plot twists, turns and races at breakneck speed against an incessantly ticking clock providing a white-knuckle ride and unbearable suspense. I rate this book a 10/10. It has been a long time since I have been so engrossed in a story. Don't plan to get much sleep until you finish it.

I just read, in the New York Times, that doctors can do heart surgery with little tiny robots. My glow about that piece of good news lasted only hours. The next thing I read was The Patient, the newest release by Michael Palmer, about a vicious terrorist, demanding brain surgery which can only be done by, you guessed it, little tiny robots. I was up all night. Jessie Copeland, a woman nuerosurgeon, is a well rounded, likable character and a terrific hero. Claude Malloch and his band are chilling and merciless. Their contest of wills will keep your heart racing from beginning to end. Dr. Palmer knows what's going on in the world. He knows what scares us. And he knows how to deliver a thriller with great characters, great pacing, and a great climax. When's the movie?

A feisty neurosurgeon, a rogue CIA agent, a Carlos-like terrorist, brain tumor patients, an unbearable surgeon, and a robot device named ARTIE are the stars of Michael Palmer's latest thriller -- his best in years. We're drawn into the dangerous world of cheap death, the horror of brain surgery (what can go wrong usually does go wrong in this novel), and into a wonderful main character's life, Dr. Jessie Copeland. The surgery scenes crackle. This book kept me up until two A.M. It's that good, folks!

I have been waiting for over a year for another Michael Palmer book after reading all of his previous books. I wasn't disappointed, but I'm sorry I finished it because I want more. This book is great, with drama, suspense and a little romance. There are several interesting characters and it also introduces nerosurgery of the future. Thanks Michael.

Slow start - great middle and good ending. A nice page-turner that, when you're done, you wish you could pick up another and keep going. The characters are believable; the plot plausible. This was my first read of a Palmer novel, and I can tell you I will be seeking out his others to catch up on this excellent story teller's works. Buy it now!

This is the second book of Michael Palmer's that I have read and really loved it. The story centers around Dr. Jessie Copeland, a neurosurgeon who has helped develop a robot that can assist in brain surgeries. She is sought out by a villanous killer, Claude Malloche, who discovers he has a brain tumor and needs the best surgeon possible to operate on him. Malloche has been pursued for 5 years by a CIA agent named Alex, who would like nothing more than to see him dead. Posing as a security guard at the Boston hospital, Alex is on to Malloche's plan for surgery. The story becomes very exciting as the hospital is sealed off by Malloche's followers who have the go ahead to release a deadly gas if his surgery is not succesful. With all of this on Jessie's mind she has to perform delicate brain surgery using the robot ARTIE, which isn't quite ready to be used on living patients. Of course there is some romance tied in as Jessie is attracted to Alex, and added to the suspense it makes for a real good read. I will be looking for the other books by Michael Palmer soon.

I have been a Michael Palmer fan since reading "Critical Judgment" and routinely race to find his new releases. Thankfully, I was not disappointed by "The Patient" and recommend it to fans of the medical-thriller genre.

In "The Patient", Palmer tackles one of the continuing frustrations of modern times: with the advent of technological miracles: why can we still not cure some of the greatest threats to befall humans? In this case, the seemingly-insurmountable danger takes the form of inoperable brain tumors, and the innovation is robatic-assisted surgery. However, Palmer shows us that even with the invention of such a cure, the ultimate threat to mankind may still be humanity itself (or the utter lack thereof, in the person of a professional terrorist and assassin). This novel is well-researched and realistic; you never feel that the scenerio is not plausible (scientifically) nor that such a seige as is launched by the terrorist could not happen (whether with a robotic surgical device, biological agent, etc.) I also applaud Palmer for not singularly relying on an obvious (but unnecessary) romance between lead characters to "juice-up" what is otherwise a compelling story. Overall, Palmer's characters are genuine (some you may genuinely hate, in addition to those who are equally likeable) and you will fear for them, although you know that the evils ailing them will be cured in the end.

I maintain that "Critical Judgment" is still Palmer's best novel to date, but he consistently produces appealing work, which encourages us to ponder the mysteries of medicine and the ills often unseen in their cures.

Palmer's latest medical thriller conforms to all the classic sound-bites of book-cover blurb "a real page-turner" "unputdownable" "edge-of-the-seat" etc. Palmer knows how to thrill and uses his talent to great effect. I would argue that his prose is in a different (superior) league to Cook's, and his plots are more convincing.

This book introduces a plot revolving around that most glamourous of medical specialties, neurosurgery. And of course this offers us the greatest opportunities for things to go wrong. The bit where the doctor lost control of the micro-surgery robot and... well, I won't spoil it for you... but suffice to say, the suspense is palpable.

Palmer judges his medical details just right. Attempts at medical legitimacy such as "A slow-growing subfrontal meningioma with some extension..." may seem intimidating, but are no more so than an average episode of ER. How feasible is the idea of a micro-robot operating with simultaneous MRI imaging? Well, in retrospect, Crichton's oldest books that would have seemed like impossible sci-fi at the time, but they now look decidedly dated in comparison to the leaps and bound made by 21st century science fact. Overall the details fail to detract from the engaging plot and rather, they add to it.

The book tries to be more than "merely" this rip-roaring thriller, and raises the ethical question "Do you save the life of a ruthless man who, if cured, will go on to kill and kill again?" We know what the "correct" answer is: everyone should be treated equally by the medical profession (especially if someone happens to be holding a gun to your head at the time and has threatened to nuke the city with deadly nerve gas).

There is a further ethical conundrum: throughout the book the heroine (a neurosurgical registrar) has to deal with the fear that her boss is not competent at complex surgery. The story never deals with this problem adequately, and this is the only sense in which this book lets the reader down.

In conclusion, the book is a great one, with a few minor flaws that barely blemish this stunning read.

"The Patient" is what "Die Hard" movies are made of: Brilliantly nasty terrorists hectoring innocent folks with only a wisecracking lone wolf to forestall Armageddon, all set in a complex urban edifice festooned with state-of-the-art gadgetry. And the gadget just might be the real star of this traumatic new thriller.

Like Robin Cook, Michael Palmer writes vastly popular novels about doctors in crises, including "Natural Causes," a 1994 best seller; "Silent Treatment" (1995); and "Critical Judgment" (1996). "The Patient" might be his most riveting book yet, leaving hardly enough time to take a breath.

After all, it is brain surgery.