First Patient, The

by:

Palmer, Michael

Publisher:

St. Martin's Press

Location:

175 Fifth Ave, NY, NY

2008

Cover:

Type:

Paperback

reviewed by:

Lynard Barnes

5/1/2009

Comment:

Dr. Gabe Singleton, the President's physican, saves the United States from the controls of a conspiracy.

Take the improbable and make it seem probable, the unbelievable and make it believable. THE FIRST PATIENT, as fiction, fails in both departments. Despite that, it is an entertaining novel.

The first patient of course is President of the United States, Andrew Stoddard. The doctor is Gabe Singleton. There are a number of other lesser characters moving this story along, but they are merely props. The exception here might be the fictional first lady, Carol Stoddard. She does not morph into a leading role in the events transpiring, but from her introduction there is the inescapable impression that she will eventually expose a dastardly side of herself that will doom the free world as we know it. It is only an impression and proves to be unfounded. She is, like the rest of the props in this novel, only a prop.

Palmer uses this novel to explore the uses and possible abuses of nanotechnology and for that reason alone the novel is entertaining. What is nanotechnology? According to wikipedia, it is “the study of the control of matter on an atomic and molecular scale”. (A nanometer is the size of a marble compared to the size of the earth-really small). This rather generic definition encompasses everything from chemical, biochemical and elector-biochemical systems. What can be done with nanotechnology? If you can control physical structures at the molecular level, there really is no limit as to what you can control. There is however a catch and it is a catch that Palmer explores on the macro-reality level in THE FIRST PATIENT.

To exert control on anything at the macro or atomic-level requires application of energy or force outside the energy-expenditure loop of the structure being controlled. This is the analogous situation Palmer sets up in his novel and it works quit well as an analogy. Then there is that sword of justice. It is employed in all classical fiction and takes the form of retribution, or the more philosophical judgment of karma. THE FIRST PATIENT has all of this. The president's doctor, Gabe Singleton, is a recovering alcoholic and former prisoner, having been convicted of killing a woman and her children in an auto accident while in college many years before. The future President of the United States, Andrew

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Stoddard, was in the car at the time. Andrew Stoddard's father, a billionaire with a bent for control, stands by Singleton throughout the car accident ramifications, and Singleton's alcoholism. The climax to this story is supposed to be a shocker. Of course it is not a shocker. The reader is merely impressed by the intricacies the author employs to build a logical though highly implausible story. An entertainingly implausible story, sort of like a grimly tale.

A far reaching conspiracy is encroaching upon the office of the President and the only one the wiser is the President's physician. Okay, so all those highly skilled and intimidating Secret Service agents are all over the White House, but they don't have a clue. Except one Secret Service agent. There is another Secret Service agent who eventually finds out what going on but she-and it has to be a she-is decommissioned by circumstances and plays no role in saving the world.

The science of the story is clever but high fiction, sort of like the fabled women on mars.

This book is not a must read. In fact, you could skip it altogether not lose out on anything. The entertainment value is an escape for a few hour. Certainly not a worthless exercise.

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