The Society

August 9, 2004
Palmer's 11th medical thriller (Fatal
; etc.) takes careful and bloody aim at the managed care industry, beginning with the murder of several loathsome CEOs of HMOs in Massachusetts. Dr. Will Grant is a talented and caring physician in the Boston area who works long hours and hates the unfair and obstructive practices of the big insurance companies. Patty Moriarity is a rookie state cop whose first big case is investigating the deaths of the health care vultures. After some early research, Patty suspects Will, but soon enough that's all straightened out and they're smooching on the couch. After Will is drugged and collapses during a delicate operation, things get rough: he's kicked out of his hospital for drug abuse and sued. Next he's being tortured, while Patty, shot after attempting to save the boorish chauvinist detective who has taken over her case, lies in a coma. The action is a bit preachy in the beginning, but once Palmer gets all his characters in place, the suspense builds. He wraps it all up with a slam-bang battle between our love-smitten duo and some extremely nasty health insurer executives and their loyal, gun-toting minions. Agent, Jane Berkey at the Jane Rotrosen Agency.
(Aug.)

Forecast:
Anyone who's ever had a run-in with an insurance company—and that's pretty much everyone—is going to love this book's premise. Look for Palmer's usual solid numbers.

April 1, 2004
When a serial killer targets managed-care executives, Dr. Will Grant, who has challenged insurance-company practices, finds himself a suspect.

Copyright 2004 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2004
Moral outrage over how managed-care companies make medical decisions based on the bottom line rather than on patient need is the central issue in the latest medical thriller from popular physician-author Palmer. No one knows the restraints managed care has put on the medical industry better than Dr. Will Grant. An extremely gifted doctor, Will is also an extremely vocal advocate for patients' rights; though admirable, this trait has caused him endless friction with the doctors with whom he works. His dedication to medicine has also led to divorce and countless other personal woes. Worse, zealots who take extreme measures to keep the HMOs in line seek Will out as an ally. Should he align himself with these self-righteous activists? Probably not, especially when highly paid executives from some of the wealthiest HMOs begin to turn up dead. On the case is rookie detective Patty Moriarty (well, she's second chair after almost screwing up the investigation completely), who reluctantly gets Will on her side. His knowledge of the issues is unsurpassed, but she fears her working relationship with him may put her in the killer's sites. Relevant, gripping reading with a provocative moral dilemma at its center.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)