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Michael Palmer
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Side Effects Audio CD – Audiobook, September 30, 2009

by Michael Palmer (Author), Heather McLennan (Reader)
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 1,070 ratings
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Kate Bennett. A bright hospital pathologist with a loving husband and a solid future. Until one day her world turns dark. A strange, puzzling illness has killed two women. Now it endangers Kate's closest friend. Soon it will threaten Kate's marriage. Her sanity. Her life. Kate has uncovered a horrifying secret. Important people will stop at nothing to protect it. It is a terrifying medical discovery. And its roots lie in one of the greatest evils in the history of humankind.

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  1. Language
    English
  2. Publisher
    Brilliance Audio
  3. Publication date
    September 30, 2009
  4. Dimensions
    5 x 0.5 x 5.5 inches
  5. ISBN-10
    1441808310
  6. ISBN-13
    978-1441808318
  7. See all details
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Brilliance Audio; Abridged edition (September 30, 2009)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1441808310
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1441808318
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 4 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5 x 0.5 x 5.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 1,070 ratings

About the author

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Michael Palmer

Michael Palmer

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Michael Palmer, medical thriller author and physician, died unexpectedly on October 30, 2013. Michael wrote 18 novels of medical and political suspense, all international bestsellers. In addition to writing, Palmer served as 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. His 19th novel RESISTANT will be released on May 20, 2014.

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
1,070 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

avid40somethingreader
5.0 out of 5 stars Wow!
Reviewed in the United States on October 26, 2023
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Michael Palmer, you did it --- great book, a real page turner, and very thorough. This booked captured my full attention from the very beginning.
One person found this helpful
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micklovesgolf
4.0 out of 5 stars A good read that describes the pitfalls of what can go wrong in the medical domain.
Reviewed in the United States on April 18, 2019
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Interesting plot. Somewhat confusing beginning of the story until the reader passes the first third of the novel. Fairly believable story especially with the medical advances taken into consideration. Good character development.
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East Coast Mom
5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent all-night read
Reviewed in the United States on December 31, 2022
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I honestly couldn't put this book down. Initially it was slow and I wondered if I had chosen the wrong book. However, about three-quarters through the book, the first chapter made perfect sense. I loved the book and literally couldn't put it down. I look forward to reading more of this author's books. Medical mystery is my favorite genre and this book did not disappoint
2 people found this helpful
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jjlew
3.0 out of 5 stars Tense, complex medical thriller.
Reviewed in the United States on December 22, 2018
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While this may not have been my favorite Michael Palmer novel and it took a couple starts and stops for me to read it, once I got into it I did still really enjoy being pulled along in the story and by the end not wanting to stop reading to eat, sleep or do anything else. I just didn’t get as emotionally invested in the characters as I usually do. I wasn’t sure who was going to stick around, and who was worth pulling for at certain points in the book. But the big pharma, political and personal relationship plot lines were interesting and there was enough suspense involved to keep the sizzle snapping. At times I just felt something was missing along the way. I love Michael Palmer and I wish I could give this more stars but it was just not one of my favorites.
7 people found this helpful
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Eagle1
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Medical/suspense thriller
Reviewed in the United States on January 15, 2015
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This is my 4th Medical Suspense type novel by Michael Palmer. While admittedly I am a suspense/thriller freak, I must confess that out of over 30 different writers of this literary genre, I certainly grade Plamer’s style, tope, unique and most interesting. While each story starts with a short ‘background’ prologue which becomes clear only quite late into the novel, each story is completely different without any resemblance or repetition to others by Palmer, a practice too common by most writers of this genre.
A doctor himself by background, all Palmer’s stories surround medical persons in a major eastern city in the US. But this concludes all resemblance among Palmer’s medical suspense/thrillers. While he frequently uses medical terminology, they are used quite lightly and are always followed with layman’s explanation. The mega-pharmaceutical company or super HMO company as well as their collaborators are often the villains, while a dedicated true-heart physician is the hero.
In Side Effects, the hero is a dedicated pathologist and the villain is an old nazi biochemist, that escaped to the US and formulated the ultimate contraceptive. Another villain is the owner of a large drug company that wishes to acquire the monstrous drug.
10 people found this helpful
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oldcaman
4.0 out of 5 stars Too close to the chest
Reviewed in the United States on March 3, 2013
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As a retired employee of Schering-Plough (now absorbed by Merck) company I can confirm the authenticity of many parts of this narrative.

I retired just below the 'executive grade' calling myself a 'senior peon', actually a lab supervisor. At that level I have not been privy to shenanigans, some of them deadly, the author describes in the book. They may or may have not taken place at my company, I had no way of knowing. Even department heads probably did not know, their mutual communications may have been 'strongly discouraged' by the supreme leaders as described in the book.

In addition, my parents were both hard working professionals, my mother a physician and my father a civil engineer. Their relationship was, to put it mildly, difficult although my mother was not as career oriented as the protagonist in the book.

So, I am in a position of 'been there, done that' and in my 17th year of retirement I prefer not to think too much about most of my life, childhood with not quite compatible parents and adulthood inside a fairly large pharma company.

Hence only three stars. Bit subjective, I know and perhaps unfair. People with backgrounds different from my own may enjoy it more and get some useful education about the world of hospital politics and reality of making medications.

Just one detail: The author really knows what he is writing about describing the story of Valium. Our company during my years there (1980 - 1996) worked quite hard on two diazepin medications and finally, after many delays, the FDA approved both of them. To the credit of Schering-Plough, neither of them was actually marketed, there were just too many me-too Valiums out there already.
9 people found this helpful
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Diana B. Koch
5.0 out of 5 stars Compelling page turner, finely woven story with believable characters
Reviewed in the United States on January 1, 2019
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Loved it. Have faith that this author has his reasons, very good reasons, when he seems to drop a character or scenario and you have no idea why it was there to begin with. Sometimes wonder if readers without medical background can deal with accurate and detailed procedure descriptions, but I really appreciate them. Paces his story line so unlike some other writers in the genre just seem like rhwy’ve Become suddenly bored with the story and wrap up in 3 pages. Ending is as finely wrought as entire book.
6 people found this helpful
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Rocky's mom
5.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't Put It Down
Reviewed in the United States on January 7, 2023
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This book was full of twists, turns and deceit on nearly ever page. I particularly liked it as I have a background in medicine and it was very accurate in my experience.
2 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Aline Lundquist
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful book.
Reviewed in Canada on January 8, 2024
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This is a book you Elaine not want to. Put Down

It grabs you from the first chapter.
Very well written with one twist after another. Michael Palmer is a super writer. I have read many of his books and this is one of his best
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Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars My favourite author
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 14, 2021
Verified Purchase
Read this book in paper format. Lend to someone, hence kindle format replacement. I love every single book of Michael Palmer. All are easy to read, gripping stories.
Sad, there won’t be no more…
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Selvan
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in India on September 19, 2016
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Good.
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シロクマトラベル
4.0 out of 5 stars 満身創痍の夫婦愛ーアメリカの病巣？
Reviewed in Japan on July 10, 2003
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女性病理学者が主人公と言う，また渋い設定で著者独特の多数の悪玉医師と少数の善玉医師と取り巻く善人達の文字通り血みどろの戦い．シリーズをいろいろ読んでいると大体のパターンがわかりその陳腐さに辟易としてくるが，それでもいつの間にかはらはらどきどきさせられてしまう自分にがっくり．ランボーのように満身創痍となって戦う夫婦が象徴的なアメリカ版勧善懲悪物といった感じ．けなしながらもシリーズ物を探して読んでしまうと言うことは，筆力があるということかな？英語は平易．Apology acceptedなんて癖になりそう．
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Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars Side effects.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 24, 2021
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A narrative. rife with control , deceit, power , corruption and. manipulation. The characters are! Constantly look ing over their shoulders waiting for the next stab in the back.
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