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Overview
“A highly entertaining tale of greed and medicine run amok.”—Chicago Tribune
After a troubled past, Dr. Brian Holbrook has been given a second chance to prove himself. At state-of-the-art Boston Heart Institute, he’s been chosen to join the medical team testing a new miracle drug. The initial results are so promising that Brian pushes to get his father—who suffers from a dangerous heart condition—accepted into the study.
But Brian is beginning to suspect his superiors are hiding something. Why are crucial records disappearing? Why did a patient making startling progress suddenly die? Is the miracle drug a prescription for death? The answers could cost Brian more than his career. For at Boston Heart Institute, knowing too much is the quickest way to the morgue.
Praise for Miracle Cure
“Packs plenty of heart-stopping action.”—Associated Press
“A fast-paced lively thriller.”—Boston Sunday Herald
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780307781246 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Random House Publishing Group |
| Publication date: | 01/05/2011 |
| Sold by: | Random House |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 448 |
| Sales rank: | 183,373 |
| File size: | 692 KB |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
"Nellie's treadmill stress test was positive," Dr. Carolyn Jessup explained, "and a subsequent cath showed fairly severe coronary artery disease. She was a perfect candidate for randomization into the Vasclear study. Right, Nellie?"
Nellie Hennessey, eyes closed, was breathing deeply and regularly.
"Jennifer," Jessup went on, "maybe we should be giving her a tad less pre-op medication. If I have to stay awake for this, everyone does." She glanced over at the nurse, her eyes smiling. "Seriously, nice job. She's perfect.... Anyhow, Brian, Nellie's symptoms disappeared almost immediately and haven't returned. This is her third and last follow-up cath. Then she becomes an alumna."
"What Vasclear group is she in?" Brian Holbrook asked, already knowing the answer.
"Beta. Okay, Doc, you're on. Let's switch sides. You do the right heart and afterward I'll switch back and do the coronary-artery shots. Nellie's asleep so you're not being graded on this. Just relax and have fun."
"Thank you."
Surprised and pleased at being asked to do anything other than observe, Brian moved behind Carolyn to take her place at the table.
"Everything on the Ward-Dunlop works pretty much like the one you're used to," she said, "except the controls are much more responsive, and the connections on the ports just click and lock."
"Impressive," Brian said, proceeding with the pressure studies and dye injections.
The nurse, Jennifer, was working beside him now, keeping a careful watch on Nellie, checking her blood pressure and IV.
"Everything okay?" Brian asked her.
"All systems are go," she replied.
Brian took some pressure measurements through the catheter, then injected some dye to check the tricuspid and pulmonic valves. The moment he had thought might never come was here. He was back in the cath lab, regaining control, piece by piece, of his own destiny.
"You seem pretty comfortable there, pardner," Jessup said, returning to her position to do the left heart and coronary-artery exam.
"Just like riding a bike. She's got a pretty healthy-looking heart."
"Wait till you see her coronary arteries. These pictures we're about to shoot are going to be the eighteen-month-afters. The befores are in the cine-library through the door just past the women's changing room. Did security give you a code for the keypad?"
"They did."
"Great. Sometime soon, go and take a look at Nellie's pre-Vasclear films. We've got two Vangard viewers in there. One for backup."
"I'm impressed," Brian said. The viewers, from what he remembered, cost around twenty thousand dollars apiece.
"You'll be even more impressed when you review her films," Carolyn said. "Now, let's take a look at her left heart and coronaries."
The experimental Ward-Dunlop catheter was exceptionally easy to manipulate, and certainly showed up well on X ray.
"Left anterior oblique cranial...right anterior oblique caudal..."
Jessup called out each angle, waited for Andrew to position the X-ray camera, then injected some dye and activated the camera with her foot pedal. Overhead, one screen showed the bright white of the X-ray-opaque dye as it briefly filled Nellie's coronary arteries before being washed away, and another traced her heartbeat, oxygenation, and other vital signs. In the glassed-in control room to their right, the other nurse, Lauren, monitored duplicate screens, and kept watch over the machine that was recording the injections on videotape. Later, the tape would be reviewed by Jessup, and a report dictated. The width of every significant artery and every blockage would be carefully measured by computer and recorded.
"...Right anterior oblique cranial," Carolyn said, completing the last of the five left coronary-artery views. "Okay, everyone, if there is anyone with reasons why this woman and this catheter should remain in holy matrimony, let him speak now or forever hold his peace.... There being no objections to removal of this line, I hereby do so."
Carolyn withdrew the catheter with the same smoothness, the same confidence, as she had displayed throughout the procedure. But quite suddenly, a brief flurry of extra heartbeats appeared on the screen. Then another burst.
A few moments later, Nellie Hennessey moaned.
Then she opened her eyes.
Then she began screaming.
Interviews
From a barnesandnoble.com e-nnouncement
Michael Palmer, the bestselling author of EXTREME MEASURES, is back with another breathtaking tale of medical horror and suspense—and a recent debut on the New York Times bestseller list—with his latest, MIRACLE CURE! You'd think that his harrowing tale must come from a devilish mind—but do you ever wonder what haunts the minds of the authors who haunt yours? Well, Michael Palmer is giving you a glimpse inside, and you might be surprised at what thoughts are lurking there! In this barnesandnoble.com exclusive, Michael Palmer gives you a peek at his everyday self and talks about his work in medicine, his sons, his life, and his writing, in a fan letter to his readers....
Dissecting a Medical Thriller Writerby Michael Palmer
dear thriller reader....greetings from the coast of massachusetts....I'm writing this letter the way I write all my friends—relaxed and without worrying about syntax, punctuation etc....a stream of my consciousness, which now that I think about it, anyone who knows me would find rather frightening....but here it is anyhow....
one of the most enjoyable parts of being a writer is getting letters from "fans" who have enjoyed my stuff....I try to answer them all....but I've never had the chance I've got here to write a fan letter to readers—a thank you for eschewing tv and videos and every other diversion long enough to settle in with a book and escape....and by so doing, keeping me and others like me in business....
right now, I'm hard at work on my 10th medical thriller, tentatively to be called SURGICAL SEVEN....the title refers to the floor housing theneurosurgical service at Eastern Mass Medical Center....I've been at it with this neurosurgical spine-tingler (ugh!) since last may, and am about six weeks from the end of a first draft....I'm poking along at about 4-5 pages a day, which is fine....more than that, and much of the time my writing begins to feel stale....less and I don't get enough done....so I sit here, drinking decaf (if I drink hi-test I can't stay in the chair long enough to get anything down), looking out more than I should at the ocean and the skyline of Boston about 10 miles across the water to the south, and shoo-ing my cat, Emily, off my computer....she's 12, and loves to camp out on the heat from the grate over my monitor....on the way up there, she uses my keyboard as a springboard, and has actually written some pretty decent prose from time to time....
in addition to my writing, I spend as much time as I can with my #1 love, my eight-year-old son, Luke....he's just learned how to ski this week, and that's been a hoot....add to that learning how to ride a 2-wheeler and play chess, and this has been a great few months for him....and vicariously, for me....I have two (much) older sons, born when I was a med student and an intern....I missed a lot with them that I am determined not to miss this time....so no matter what, Luke comes first....
it's five in the afternoon here....a balmy 40 degrees outside...in a few minutes, I'm going to go work out for an hour, then head out to play in a bridge tournament for the evening....I get to do that every couple of weeks....
the reason I've been asked to write you all is to plug my new paperback, MIRACLE CURE, so that's what I'm going to do now....despite the success of my books, I've been reluctant to give up working as a doc....but to make things jibe with Luke and the writing, I've had to give up the emergency room job I had for twenty years....instead, I work part time as an associate director of the physician health program in Massachusetts, caring for doctors with mental illness, physical illness, and especially drug and alcohol abuse....I really love the work and the many good outcomes we have....and for a long time I've wanted to write about the sort of docs we take care of....enter Brian Holbrook, the protagonist of MIRACLE CURE....Brian's a fine cardiologist, recovering from a prescription pill addiction....he stumbles onto a job at the Boston Heart Institute, and knows it's a chance of a lifetime to get back into medicine—especially since the institute has developed vasclear, a wonder drug that cures hardening of the arteries....the problem is, Brian begins to suspect there's trouble with the drug....and there's nothing he can do about it without risking his career....
people often ask me which of my books is my favorite....I usually reply that it's like having lots of children—each is special for a different reason....but I want to say here and now, that I really love this book, and relate to Brian more than any other lead character I've written....so if you want to get a flavor of what I'm like, read about him....
so, enough....thanks for reading this....thanks for reading MIRACLE CURE....let's keep in touch....
Michael Palmer
