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A Slice of Life
by Francine Brokaw
The First Patient by Michael Palmer
What do you do when you’re living your dream life in rural Wyoming and your old friend the President of the United States drops in to ask you to be the White House physician? Gabe Singleton hesitates because he loves his life as a country doctor, but the POTUS (President of the United Stated) talks him into taking the job. The previous White House Physician mysteriously disappeared and the president is looking for someone he can trust implicitly, and that is why he turns to his old friend. Why does he need someone he can trust? Because he is afflicted with a mysterious illness and for the time being he does not want the public to know. For the most part, the public was unaware of Franklin Roosevelt’s condition, and John F. Kennedy suffered from several physical conditions that were not public knowledge until well after his death.
When Gabe gets to Washington he lands smack dab into the middle of a national incident. The president’s condition was kept from Gabe until he is in the White House. Now Gabe realizes the depth of the situation and has to make some critical decisions. First of all, does he invoke the Twenty-fifth Amendment which hands over the power to the vice president (or next in line) in the event the president is unable to perform his duties?
In the meantime, Gabe wants to get to the bottom of why the old White House physician disappeared without a trace. During his investigation he discovers the world of nano-technology. This sounds like science fiction, but with the advancement of technology it turns out to be something that has become a reality as Gabe discovers with alarm.
The First Patient is a high-tech political and medical thriller. It has everything. Readers travel through the White House, the streets of Washington, the world of science and medicine as well as politics in this heart-pounding story of deceit, secrets, intrigue and conflict as Gabe puts the pieces together. What exactly is happening to the President of the United States and when is the right time to invoke the Twenty-fifth Amendment?
Not only is this an interesting read, it encompasses many subjects – medicine, presidential politics, the state of the security of the country and science fiction. That’s a lot to pack into this one novel, but Michael Palmer does it with flair. Palmer is a doctor himself and combines his knowledge of the medical profession with his writing style that has his readers anxiously turning the pages to find out what will happen next. It’s difficult to dissect the fiction from the facts in this fast-paced story.
Everyone is talking about this new thriller. President Bill Clinton says the book “is an exciting thriller that is full of surprises and captures the intense atmosphere of the White House, how the medical system works, and how the 25th Amendment could be brought into play. I thoroughly enjoyed it.” And I concur.
© 2008 Francine Brokaw
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