The Sisterhood: A Novel

Decent medical thriller. I prefer Robin Cook's writing. I did manage to read this one quickly.

Eh....I'm lukewarm on this one. The storyline was interesting enough, but something didn't sit well with me to make this one memorable. I think it was a combination of things: the reader (too formal), the abridgement, and the writing in general. It wasn't enough to put me off of medical thrillers, but not one of my favorites.

This book examines the sensitive topic of euthanasia. Dr. David Shelton, a little brash, easy to dislike, and recovering from a personal crisis that has caused a career setback, gets his chance to advance when he's asked to cover for another surgeon scheduled to go out of town. Unfortunately for David, this brings him into contact with the Sisterhood of Life, a shadowy group of nurses who take it upon themselves to decide who should live and who should die; and their even more frightening corollary group The Garden, a subset of The Sisterhood that's gotten into euthanasia for profit. When one of the patients David is caring for is "helped" by the Sisterhood, David is accused of the crime and the plot takes off.The book moves well and has some interesting and surprising twists. It's a little cliche, which isn't unusual for a first novel, and reading it in 2010 it's really quite dated - you could almost see the lava lamps and hear Laugh-In on the TV (only 3 stations, of course!) in the background. Sill, it's a good read and worth picking up if you like medical mysteries.

I haven't read a Palmer in several years, and going back to his earlier works did not disappoint.