Michael Palmer writes some very intriguing medical thrillers.  But in A Heartbeat Away, Palmer leaves the medical world that he knows so well, and drifts much too far into the political arena.  The result is a bland, implausible story that doesn't come close to the enjoyment level of some of his former novels.

The premise involves the President's State of the Union address.  700 of the nation's top political figures are in the Capitol building listening to the President's words, when the unthinkable happens.  A deadly virus is unleashed.  It seems that a terrorist group that calls itself Genesis has managed to infiltrate the Capitol.  They have a list of demands they want met in exchange for the antidote.

The President, meanwhile, is doing his best to manage the situation at hand.  He understands the severity of the situation, having had experience with this particular viral strain in the past.  He knows death is certain for everyone in that room.  There's only one man he knows of who can help defeat this virus.  And that man is being held in solitary confinement, a convicted terrorist.

That's the basic premise, which I admit, was fairly intriguing.  But the book failed to "wow" me for several reasons.

First of all, the author asked us to believe way too many things.  Like the fact that, despite all of the security, the perpetrators managed to smuggle in several containers of the virus.  Sure, they explained how it happened, but I just didn't buy the explanation.  Similarly, we're expected to believe that several non-professionals can repeatedly escape from under the military's guard. 

Another problem I had was the reliance upon coincidence.  I hate when authors toss a coincidence into our laps, something you know would never happen in real life.  It smacks of lazy writing, like the author couldn't come up with a ‘credible' way to make something happen so he relies on divine intervention.  This happened several times in the book but the worst time was when the protagonist is looking for one specific Chinese woman in all of Chinatown.  When the initial lead didn't work out, it seemed like the search was doomed.  So the protagonist decides to walk into a restaurant for a snack and guess who she bumps into!  And like I said, this wasn't the only time a ridiculous coincidence was tossed at us.

In the middle of all of this mayhem, with hundreds of lives on the line, the author gives us a heavy dose of preaching against the medical industry's use of animals for testing.  In a very heavy-handed manner, the author shows only one side of the argument.  I know it is a complicated matter with no easy answers.  But I felt the author beat us over the head with bricks to make his point.  I admit to wondering if some animal rights groups sponsored this book in some manner.

In the end, the book held my interest, but only because I really wanted to know how it would all work out in the end.  And there were some very interesting parts.  But, mostly, I missed the reliance on medical drama that Palmer is known for.  I just don't feel that this foray into the political arena really worked out too well.  I hope Palmer learns from this experience and goes back to what he does so well.




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Miracle Cure

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Silent Treatment

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The Society

Recommended: No