Synopses & Reviews
New York Times bestselling author Michael Palmer delivers
a novel at the crossroads of politics and medicine in this
shocker of a thriller.
On the night of the State of the Union address, President James Allaire expects to give the speech of his career. But no one foresees the horrific turn of events that leads him to quarantine everyone in the Capitol building.
“Exhilarating…breathtaking…stunning in its realism and truly terrifying.”—Suspense Magazine
A terrorist group calling itself “Genesis” has unleashed a highly contagious virus into the building, and the only one who fully knows its deadly consequences is the president himself. Desperate, he turns to virologist Griffin Rhodes, whose alleged theft of the microbe landed him in a maximum-security federal prison. Griff knows hes innocent but is forced to barter with the government: his attempt at a cure in exchange for his release.
“If medical thrills are what youre after, Palmer delivers.”
—Booklist
Meanwhile, theres not a second to lose while everyone in line for presidential succession is trapped inside the building—except for the Director of Homeland Security, the so-called Designated Survivor for this event. Now, with enemies both named and unnamed closing in, and the security of the entire nation at stake, Griff must unravel the mysteries of this virus as one by one those imprisoned in the Capitol begin to die…
Review
Praise for Michael Palmers
A HEARTBEAT AWAY
“When it comes to inventive plots for medical thrillers nobody does it better than Michael Palmer… This premise is explosive and compelling and grabs the readers from the very first page.”—Huffington Post
“Palmer never fails to thrill when he presents a tautly constructed puzzle, with characters that make readers whiz through pages late at night.”—RT Book Reviews (4.5 stars)
“A non stop action ride…Having made a career with medial thrillers, this latest adds political intrigue and terrorism into the mix. …Palmer makes what Clancy writes look like the Boxcar Kids.”—Crimespree magazine
“Perfect.”—Marblehead Reporter
“Michael Palmer anchors his thrillers in high concept and steeps them in medicine. A Heartbeat Away opens with a prologue, and from the opening line, the reader knows things are not going to go well…This is the book for readers who wholeheartedly believe politicians are capable of anything.”—Boston Globe
Review
“Master of the medical thriller.”—
The New York Times “Cook can write up a storm and spin a taut tale…a master.”—Kirkus Reviews
Synopsis
On the night of the State of the Union address, President James Allaire expects to give the speech of his career. But no one foresees the horrific turn of events that leads him to quarantine everyone in the Capitol building.
A terrorist group calling itself “Genesis” has unleashed a highly contagious virus into the building, and the only one who fully knows its deadly consequences is the president himself. Desperate, he turns to virologist Griffin Rhodes, whose alleged theft of the microbe landed him in a maximum-security federal prison. Griff knows hes innocent but is forced to barter with the government: his attempt at a cure in exchange for his release.
Synopsis
A lavishly funded, security-conscious nanotechnology institute in the foothills of the Rockies, Nano is ahead of the curve in the competitive world of molecular manufacturing, including the construction of microbivores, tiny nanorobots with the ability to gobble up viruses and bacteria.
But when Pia Grazdani takes a job there, shes shocked by the secretive corporate culture. Shes warned by her boss not to investigate the other work being done at the gigantic facility, nor to ask questions about the source of the seemingly endless capital that funds the institutes research. And when Pia encounters a fellow employee on a corporate jogging path suffering the effects of a seizure, she soon realizes she may have literally stumbled upon Nanos human guinea pigs. Is the tech giant on the cusp of one of the biggest medical discoveries of the twenty-first centurya treatment option for millionsor have they already sold out to the highest bidder?
About the Author
Michael Palmer (1942-2013) wrote internationally bestselling novels of medical suspense, including The First Patient, The Second Opinion, The Last Surgeon, A Heartbeat Away, Oath of Office and Political Suicide. His book Extreme Measures was adapted into a movie starring Hugh Grant and Gene Hackman. His books have been translated into thirty-five languages. Palmer earned his bachelors degree at Wesleyan University, and he attended medical school at Case Western Reserve University. He trained in internal medicine at Boston City and Massachusetts General Hospitals. He spent twenty years as a full-time practitioner of internal and emergency medicine. In addition to his writing, Palmer was an associate director of the Massachusetts Medical Society Physician Health Services, devoted to helping physicians troubled by mental illness, physical illness, behavioral issues, and chemical dependency. He lived in eastern Massachusetts.