Oath of Office - Book Review

Title: Oath of Office by Michael Palmer
Release date: Feb. 14, 2012
Publisher St. Martin's Press
ISBN 978-0-312-58753-6

Oath of Office is Michael Palmer's 17th medical mystery novel. I received an ARC from the author. The story begins with Dr. John Meacham talking to himself about the consequences he will face for just yelling at a patient. Roberta Jennings is an overweight patient who refuses to diet, risking her health in a myriad of ways. Meacham had already been disciplined for mistreating patients and knows that Jennings will report him to the proper authorities. All that Meacham can think about is that there are witnesses to his behavior who have the power to remove his medical license permanently. In a flash of irrational thinking, Meacham guns down everyone in his waiting room, muttering "no witnesses" before turning the gun on himself. 7 people die at his hand.

His friend and Physician Wellness Office (PWO) mentor Dr. Lou Welcome is suspended from his job with PWO because he was the PWO official who helped Meacham get his license restored. The PWO blames Welcome for the massacre at Meacham's office. Dr. Welcome visits Meacham in the hospital where he is in ICU. Welcome is surprised that the treating physician is trying to extract the bullet from Meacham's brain when doing so jeopardizes his life. One of the hospital's finest nurses fails to see that an IV in sertes into Meacham is not properly working, leaving Welcome to notice and fix it. Later, Meacham's widow Carolyn makes a poor decision while driving irratically to follow a car with no working taillights. She wants to warn the driver of the car that he could get in an accident but ends up in one herself. Upon a recommendation to try a new restaurant, Millie's Diner, Dr. Welcome and his father eat there one evening. Welcome is fascinated by watching one of the chefs cutting carrots when the chef puts his thumb out and cuts it off with his chef's knife. Why is everyone making such poor decisions? Dr. Welcome investigates and finds the answer.

There is a secondary plot involving the President's wife and her childhood friend Russ Evans. Evans was just fired from his cabinet post as Secretary of the Agriculture by the President for having a sexual dalliance with an underage prostitute. He asks the First Lady to try and get his legislative agenda regarding genetically modified food passed in Congress. Enough said. I don't want to give the whole story away.

Oath of Office is a quick read. I read it in one setting. I like the fact that a crime occurred in the first chapter. It is the beginning to the thriller formula and Palmer follows it through-out his story. The plot is a realistic scenario that could actually be happening in real life. In that respect, the novel is chilling. It gives all of us food for thought (pun intended). The ruthless nature of the political and medical association characters remind me of those I have had to deal with over the years. I loved Oath of Office and think that you will too. Palmer is a master at the medical mystery genre and I urge you to read his previous novels also.