Written by: Shruti Pokhrel - 21124, Grade XII
Posted on: 04 November, 2020
Born in Springfield, Massachusetts on October 9, 1942, Michael Palmer was an American physician and author. He is mostly known for writing medical thrillers. He is the creator of novels like Extreme Measures (1991), Natural Causes (1994), Silent Treatment (1995), Critical judgment (1996), and Miracle Cure (1998), and so on. Many of his novels have made it to The New York Times Best Seller list and have been translated into several languages.
Critical judgment is one of the best creations of Palmer. This book revolves around a highly skilled female doctor, Abby Dolan who is portrayed as a part detective, part scientist, and part physician. Abby moves to the town of Patience, California with her fiancé. Her fiancé, Josh Wyler has a new job with the manufacturing giant of the town, Colstar. Colstar is portrayed as an economic entity on which the survival and development of the whole town depends. Abby is employed in the emergency room and comes across patients that she has no idea of what is happening to them. She is seeing an alarming number of NIWWC- No idea what’s wrong’ cases. Meanwhile, Josh is also showing similar symptoms and that’s when she suspects Patience to be subjected to cadmium exposure by something at Colstar. Her suspicions are shared by one of her colleagues, Dr. Lew Alvarez, who has made a secret investigating committee regarding the same issue. Dr. Alvarez warns Abby that this is a dangerous game of cat and mouse with Colstar's head of security and her predecessor in the ER might have been killed for the same reason the committee is for. However, Abby does not back off when she loses patients in the ER due to the same ‘cadmium poisoning’ as she suspected. She then goes off to get to the root of the problem not knowing her true enemies.
Critical judgment is a medical thriller with lots of cliff-hangers, excitement, suspense, and ending twist. This book leaves the reader thinking. Since it is a Michael Palmer creation, Critical judgment focuses on plenty of details regarding medical terms and processes. Palmer gives a lot of attention to the emergency room showing several absolutely electric emergency crises and the decision-making power of the medical staff that works in the Emergency Room. Palmer’s description of the professional politics and atmosphere of a small-town regional hospital is interesting and informative including the challenges and opportunities that set it apart from its bigger city counterparts.
While reading the book you will find yourself following Abby throughout the story, fearing for her and cheering for her. I think this book is a roller coaster ride of a read. Therefore, I can say that the book does not disappoint. Critical judgment is an excellent book full of non-stop action. It is wonderfully written with turns and twists and the ending is not what you expect it to be. I would highly recommend this book to readers who like the combination of mystery, thriller, and medical drama in a single book.
Reference
Critical Judgment by Michael Palmer. (1998, January 05). Retrieved November 03, 2020, from https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/311981.Critical_Judgment
Fiction Book Review: Critical Judgement by Michael Palmer, Author, Iorg, Author Bantam Books $22.95 (0p) ISBN 978-0-553-10074-7. (n.d.). Retrieved November 03, 2020, from https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-553-10074-7
