The Last Surgeon Review
As I read the last few words and closed this book, my heart was racing and my pulse was pounding. I just had to sit there for a moment and reflect on the many issues that were presented in this fascinating tale. Not only does Michael Palmer write well-plotted stories, he builds them around real medical issues, health problems, or controversial ethical questions. In THE LAST SURGEON, the reader learns about the disorder known as PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder, and how it specifically affects the lives of those returning from war.
Not only do many regard PTSD as a phony malady, many veterans have difficulty getting their benefits because of the misunderstood diagnosis. Dr. Nick Garrity is under the curse of this often debilitating disease. He has spent years in therapy and has finally gotten healthy enough to volunteer his medical skills with Helping Hands, a mobile medical RV that serves the homeless and indigent. Yet he struggles every day with his ever-present memories. When he meets Jillian Coates and they begin working together, his hope for recovery is encouraged and we have to admire his character and determination.
In contrast to the admirable Dr. Garrity is Franz Koller, who is probably the most diabolical mass murderer ever. He works for a person/group known only as "Jericho," and his assignments take him all over the country to set up "non-kills" --- murders that are cleverly made to look like accidents or suicides. He finds his work irresistible and has lost track of how many murders he has committed. The pattern of his kills has never been discovered --- until now. And, as Nick and Jillan begin to uncover clues, they come closer and closer to becoming his next victims.
Palmer surrounds his protagonists with memorable characters --- some as likable as Nick and Jillian, others as despicable as Franz Koller. Among the former would be Nick's friends, Junie and Sam Wright. Junie is a nurse who keeps the Helping Hands outreach afloat and, with Sam, has fostered many needy children over the years. Among the latter would be Phillip MacCandliss, a Veteran's Administration bureaucrat who delights in denying benefits to veterans suffering from PTSD.
THE LAST SURGEON is brilliantly written and will keep you guessing until the author is good and ready to reveal the surprising conclusions. Michael Palmer has been writing bestsellers since 1994, and if you have never read one, THE LAST SURGEON would be a good place to start. The action that kicks off on page one never stops until the heart-pounding conclusion is reached.
The Last Surgeon Feature
- ISBN13: 9780312587499
- Condition: New
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The Last Surgeon Overview
The New York Times bestselling author and master of medical suspense delivers another shocker of a thriller filled with insider details and a terrifying psychopath Four murders.
Three accidents.
Two suicides.
One left…
THE LAST SURGEON
Michael Palmer’s latest novel pits a flawed doctor against a ruthless psychopath, who has made murder his art form. Dr. Nick Garrity, a vet suffering from PTSD—post traumatic stress disorder—spends his days and nights dispensing medical treatment from a mobile clinic to the homeless and disenfranchised in D.C. and Baltimore. In addition, he is constantly on the lookout for his war buddy Umberto Vasquez, who was plucked from the streets by the military four years ago for a secret mission and has not been seen since.
Psych nurse Gillian Coates wants to find her sister’s killer. She does not believe that Belle Coates, an ICU nurse, took her own life, even though every bit of evidence indicates that she did—every bit save one. Belle has left Gillian a subtle clue that connects her with Nick Garrity.
Together, Nick and Gillian determine that one-by-one, each of those in the operating room for a fatally botched case is dying. Their discoveries pit them against genius Franz Koller--the highly-paid master of the “non-kill”—the art of murder that does not look like murder. As Doctor and nurse move closer to finding the terrifying secret behind these killings, Koller has been given a new directive: his mission will not be complete until Gillian Coates and Garrity, the last surgeon, are dead.
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Customer Reviews
Good story, but awfully violent - L. Shoop - Pennsylvania
I like his writing very much - I can follow nicely - but the story is grisley...
Phoning it in - Audiophile - Canada
I read The Second Opinion and the Fifth Vial and thought that they were passable. I like them less after having read this miserable piece of garbage.
The Last Surgeon is just plain dreadful, with cardboard characters, including a pathological killer who has a tedious running internal monologue congratulating himself on his expertise, a tragic hero, Dr. Nick "Fury" Garrity who is traumatized and oh-so-sensitive, and also quite the Mr. Perfect, and a love interest, Jillian, who is, of course, stunningly beautiful and Ms. Perfect; a caring nurse who is devoted to her dead sister that of course she raised when their parents died.
The plot that just sort of lies around and drools, involving a search for an old buddy who went missing (Mr. Perfect) and the true killer of the sister (Ms. Perfect). Nothing too compelling there, no surprises really, no clever twists. Same old conspiracy and brainwashing stuff that you got sick of back when Mission Impossible was still on the air. The search is punctuated by occasional, repetitive fight scenes where the good guy gets slammed into something, usually a wall. The dialogue is no better than a string of pre-teen Facebook status updates. Plus, this book is crawling with adverbs, so many that I wanted to scream, a little like this: He slowly, gently paddled out on the evenly calm water, saying calmly and kindly to himself, "Nicely done."
It didn't help that narrator John Bedford Lloyd read it like a drunken kindergarten teacher's assistant.
I review only audiobooks, and I welcome your comments.
Disappointing novel for a medical thriller fan... - Denise Crawford - Missouri, USA
There was not much "medical" in this purported medical thriller novel by Michael Palmer. I've read his entire backlist, and indeed some of his novels are better than others, but this one was very much not one of his better ones. This book was about conspiracy and secret operations and veterans and only marginally even about PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder). The characters in the book seemed flat and stereotypical -- the vet, a doctor, had a fiance who was brutally murdered by a terrorist and thus he suffers the survivor guilt and also the PTSD from the event. The typical beautiful psychiatric nurse, Jillian, who falls for him was such a cliche (far too perfect and the romance was so contrived as to be nauseating). Both of them mostly just annoyed me. I didn't need so much focus on the romance in this book and was looking for far more medicine and a lot more thriller. It just falls short in every respect.
The ex trauma surgeon, Dr. Nick Garrity, actually only works for one or maybe two nights during the whole of the novel in an RV that he and a nurse have developed into a charitable business delivering care to the poor of Baltimore and DC, and to veterans in particular -- Helping Hands Mobile Medical Unit. That is the sum total of the "medical" part in this book. After the second chapter, the story line focuses on his search for his Marine buddy, the guy who saved him from the terrorist, Umberto Vasquez. Apparently the staff sergeant disappeared about 4 years previously, supposedly called back to some secret special operation and has not been heard from since.
The nurse, Jillian Coates, works on the psychiatric unit in a hospital in Charlotte, North Carolina (I think she works maybe twice during the whole book too), when her sister is murdered in what appears to be a staged suicide. Of course she's suspicious. Starts her own investigation. Hooks up with Dr. Nick and then they both start investigating and of course the two events are connected in a vast conspiracy that ends up being pretty much exactly what the reader expects -- and basically sort of boring.
In short, this is one of Palmer's books that you can safely skip if you're looking for a medical thriller with lots of clinical details. It's basically not that at all -- more of a mystery that happens to involve a doctor and a nurse and an unscrupulous plastic surgery clinic and the CIA and well, you get the picture.
Readers -- tell me -- are there ANY good medical thrillers being written any more? If you find one, please let me know!
Don't waste your time reading this book - PA -
This book was absolutely terrible. I had such a hard time getting through it. I kept thinking that it was going to get better, and it never did.
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