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    The Last Surgeon: A Novel
    The Last Surgeon: A Novel
    The Last Surgeon: A Novel
    Audiobook11 hours

    The Last Surgeon: A Novel

    Written by Michael Palmer

    Narrated by John Bedford Lloyd

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    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 Jillian 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 Jillian a subtle clue that connects her with Nick Garrity.

    Together, Nick and Jillian 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 Jillian Coates and Garrity, the last surgeon, are dead.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Audio
    Release dateFeb 16, 2010
    ISBN9781427208750
    The Last Surgeon: A Novel
    Author

    Michael Palmer

    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 bachelor's 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.

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    Reviews for The Last Surgeon

    3.5/5

    118 ratings9 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Michael Palmer is a new author for me. He writes medical thrillers. This was definitely a nail biter. I listened to it on CD in my car and found myself driving slowly up the hill to home so I could hear more. The killer in the book is brutal and calls himself a non killer because he makes the deaths look like accidents. You must read to comprehend this concept. I will most definitely pick up another Michael Palmer book!
    • 3/5
      I enjoy this author so imagine my surprise when it took me over half the book to become captured by it. So not my favorite. Story of nurse investigating the alleged suicide of her sister. This leads her to Dr. Nick Garrity who, himself, has questions about the mysterious disappearance of a war buddy. And it goes from there. I don't know why it took so long to get into it...was it the writing or the story. I don't know. Will not give up on Palmer.
    • 4/5
      I'm a big fan of medical thrillers, and Michael Palmer did a great job of keeping the book moving along.Jillian, a nurse, and Nick Garrity, a doctor who spends his time helping out vets with PTSD, investigate the death of Jillian's sister--a death that also seems to be tied to the disappearance of Umberto, Nick's friend from the army.As the plot unfolds,we discover that all of the individuals involved in a surgery four years ago are dying off one by one. Although all of the deaths have been made to appear as accidents, things aren't quite adding up.The characters are well written and the pace keeps us moving easily through the story.Good read.
    • 5/5
      I really enjoyed this book. I was hooked from the very first paragraph. It was a real page-turner and I finished it in 2 and a half days. I have enjoyed other books by this author. He reminds me of Robin Cook without all of the medical technology information.
    • 4/5
      I have not read many medical thrillers. As much as I enjoy a good thriller or suspense book, I discovered that some medically themed books become tedious with so many medical terms and jargon, turning a relaxing pastime into a chore. Not so with Michael Palmer’s The Last Surgeon. I found Mr. Palmer’s tale of a surgeon suffering from PTSD, intertwined with missing men, accidental deaths that may be murders and a character that has rightfully been compared with the ultimate literary sociopath, Hannibal Lecter, to be utterly engrossing and suspenseful. Nick Garrity was a wonderful central character - - traumatized, yes, but strong, determined and most definitely worth rooting for. So well written and rounded was the character of Nick that I could easily visualize him in my mind and hear his voice throughout the story. (In fact, I continued reflecting throughout the story what a fantastic movie The Last Surgeon would make.) Jillian Coates was a very good match for Nick, both in spirit and intelligence. In my reading experience I have found that some books that are primarily thrillers force feed the romance, causing it to feel overly scripted rather than a natural progression. Nick and Jillian, however, feel like a natural match and their relationship doesn’t detract from the main story. I also loved the character of Junie and found her to be a wonderful compliment to Nick. She was descriptive and fleshed out and other than the character of Franz Koller, possibly my favorite supporting character. It may seem strange to feel that someone like Franz Koller would be a favorite character but Mr. Palmer has made such a vivid, frightening , fearful and fearless individual that surely deserves a place in literary infamy along with the aforementioned Hannibal Lector, Dracula and even Harry Potter’s Voldemort, to name but a few. Franz is evil and he is completely free of conscious and yet he’s a fascinating and complex character that steals the show from anyone else on the page. He brings to light our worst fears - - another human walking among us that is completely devoid of normal, human behaviors and makes certain scenes of The Last Surgeon a scary read. This was my first book by Mr. Palmer and my first exposure to his writing. Despite the medical aspects of the writing and the intense scenes of war and violence, the writing flowed as easily as good wine. And like good wine, I thought The Last Surgeon was worth savoring.I would highly recommend The Last Surgeon to anyone who enjoys a thriller or suspense novel and, most especially, an excellent read.
    • 4/5
      This book is none suspense. People are being murdered, but their deaths are made to look like accidents. Gillian Coats is a Phych nurse. Her sister Belle, an ICU nurse has died and her death was ruled a suicide. But Gillian believes she was really murdered. Dr. Nick Garrity is a vet suffering from PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder)dispenses medical treatment from a mobile clinic to the homeless in D.C. and Baltimore. He also looking into the disappearance of his friend, Umberto Vasquez who has reportedly disappeared four years before after joining a secret military mission. Gillian finds a clue that connects her sister with Nick, so she finds him and together they discover that patients are dying in the operating room and their is a connection between some of them. Franz Koller, a highly paid master of the "non-kill" art of murder that doesn't look like murder, has a new agenda. To see that Gillian and Nick are dead. It's fast paced, full of suspense and at times very gory, and I loved all of it. The only part that I wasn't crazy about were the sex scenes. They were too descriptive and strange, but I had no problem skipping those parts and going on to what I love most, the suspense of finding out how the story ends. Anyone who loves a fast paced suspense full book will surely love The Last Surgeon. If you're like me and don't like all the twisted sex scenes, just skip over them. This book was quite a ride!!!
    • 4/5
      A nurse, a gifted surgeon, an anesthesiologist – all professionals in the medical field – begin to turn up dead. Murders made to appear as something else – a suicide, an accident, a drowning. When psych nurse Jillian Coates is told her younger sister’s death is a suicide, Jillian begins to seek some answers. Her stubborn effort to find those answers leads her to an unlikely man – Dr. Nick Garrity, a trauma surgeon suffering from PTSD after serving time in Afghanistan. Together they begin to piece together the mystery of the disappearance of Nick’s friend Umberto Vasquez and how it relates to the death of Jillian’s sister. What they find is a cold blooded killer with pale blue eyes, and a conspiracy which reaches to the very top of the United States government.Michael Palmer’s latest suspense-thriller has all the elements which make it a page turner – intrigue, an evil serial murderer, a growing love between the two main characters who find themselves in constant peril, and a mystery which must be unraveled to save their very lives.If I have any complaints with the book it would be a plot which seemed somewhat improbable at times (and somewhat predictable), and an evil character who seemed just a little too evil to believe. Despite these criticisms of The Last Surgeon, I did find myself racing through the pages. Fast-paced and creepy, the novel embodies what readers generally look for in this genre – sweaty palms, a little bit of romance (to unite the main characters), and the requisite gruesome murders. Palmer does not shy away from gory descriptions…and since his killer is a sexual sadist, Palmer doesn’t spare the reader when it comes to revealing a graphic, twisted sex scene. This novel is definitely not for the faint of heart.Readers looking for an edge of your seat thriller will find it in The Last Surgeon. As the book ramps up toward the end, most readers will want to continue to its conclusion, even if it means burning the midnight oil as I did.Readers who enjoy genre fiction – specifically suspense-thrillers which delve into the medical and political – will most likely enjoy The Last Surgeon. Recommended for readers who like their reading gritty and fast-paced.
    • 4/5
      I have never been approached by an author or publisher directly for any ARCs. So, when I received an e-mail from Michael Palmer, the author, asking if I were interested in a copy of his latest book for review, I knew I was not going to turn down the opportunity to do so. Since I like thrillers and medical mysteries, it was not a hardship for me. Having never read any of Mr. Palmer's previous work, I did not know what to expect. On the whole, I enjoyed my foray into his work. There was a lot to like about it; unfortunately, there was also a lot to dislike.For starters, I felt that the story itself was a tad too predictable. I had figured out the mystery behind Umberto Vazquez's disappearance well in advance of the disclosure of the answer. Remember, I am not one who actively tries to solve the mystery before the narrator reveals the answer, so any time I can predict the ending accurately does detract from my overall enjoyment.In addition, at times, the story line is a bit unbelievable, or at least stretches the reader's imagination more than normal. While this is okay with science fiction or fantasy, this is not an admirable trait in a medical thriller. For example, a nurse and a surgeon are able to take on a sociopathic mass murderer who is a master of disguise and who earns his living murdering people while making it look like an accident or suicide? A child infiltrates the government's secrets that its own employees cannot unravel? It is a bit too farfetched, in my opinion.Also, the characters are not well-established. Okay, that is not necessarily true. It is just that the minor characters are more entertaining, more likeable than the main two characters. Even Franz Koller, the sociopathic killer, is fascinating if only because one gets a glimpse into a mind that is most unusual. Junie and Reggie were far more enjoyable than Nick and Jillian, and I found myself more concerned about their well-being than I did for Nick and Jillian's plight.That being said, there was a lot to like about The Last Surgeon. As mentioned above, Junie was a fun character, and Reggie provided some much-needed comic relief throughout the story. Nick's post traumatic stress disorder, as well as his struggles helping vets receive their VA benefits, is truly heartbreaking because of the truth behind them. How many of our soldiers are coming home facing these same issues with no help whatsoever? Mr. Palmer writes a decent story. His physical descriptions of settings were detailed enough to help contribute to the action, and his descriptions of the characters were realistic enough that I could picture each one very clearly in my mind. Unfortunately, I felt he switched the narrator's point of view too often. Waffling between Franz, Nick, Jillian, and even Beth and Reggie as well as other minor characters made the story rather chaotic and interrupted the overall flow of the story. In fact, it helped prevent the reader from becoming too attached to any one character.It may seem as if I did not like the story, but honestly, I did enjoy it! I read the entire novel in a matter of two days because I could not put it down in order to unravel the mystery. As interesting a character as he was, I truly wanted Franz to receive his comeuppance. I may not have been on the edge of my seat with concern about their fates, but I did want Jillian to receive some desperately-needed closure of her sister's death. More importantly, I wanted Nick to find his happily-ever-after and recover from his PTSD. I wanted him to stop living with the guilt and live to enjoy life. In the end, that is what an author hopes the reader will glean from their writing - genuine feelings for his characters. Mr. Palmer achieved that.I will definitely be putting The Last Surgeon on my husband's TBR pile. In addition, I will be recommending it to all of my friends who enjoy thrillers. It is an enjoyable, fun, thrilling read with a very poignant understory that deserves more attention. Thank you to the author, Michael Palmer, for this Advanced Reading Copy.
    • 5/5
      What a suspenseful, thrilling and action packed read this is! I loved it, and honestly I didn't think I would. For me it was as if Jason Bourne joined ER.I liked the characters in this story. I was really afraid of the killer in the book. His steeliness came through, and yet Nick Fury, the doctor, was the character that made it alright to endure the creepy guy. I really like Nick, and am secretly hoping the author writes more tales with him as the star.A must read for any thriller or suspense junkie. If you read Koontz or King, check this book out!