Political Suicide by Michael Palmer

Michael Palmer is prolific in the medical thriller genre but in Political Suicide he ventures into the political/military thriller arena.  His lead character, Dr. Lou Welcome is a naïve do-gooder type who has personally lost everything due to alcoholism only to rebound from the bottom to begin again.  He is now divorced with a preteen daughter, lives over a pizza shop in a sketchy D.C. neighborhood, works as an ER doc, and moonlights as associate director of Physician Wellness (a program for physicians who struggle with addiction.)

Dr. Gary McHugh is a “society doc” in D.C. and a personal friend of Lou Welcome.  He is also a client of Lou’s due to his alcoholism.  He calls Lou and tells him he is about to be arrested for murdering Congressman Elias Colston.  Apparently McHugh was having an affair with the congressman’s wife and police evidence places him at Colston’s home in a drunken stupor at the time of the murder.  The police anxious to declare, “Case solved,” make no effort to investigate further.  McHugh’s lawyer, Sarah Cooper sees the only defense is to create reasonable doubt through some alternative suspect.  Lou takes this as a challenge to launch his own investigation.  Sarah, however, views all doctors as arrogant and ego centric. Seems her husband died as a result of a doctor’s error in judgment which she has yet to forgive.  She warns Lou to route all his findings, if any, through her and not to go directly to authorities.

Lou uses his friendship with McHugh to approach Colston’s widow.  He gets permission to search the congressman’s home office and finds a hidden CD.  The CD is record of a phone conversation between Colston and a member of an elite marine unit called Mantis.  Seems the commander of Mantis, Colonel Wyatt Brody was angry with Colston for wanting to cut funding to the Mantis unit.  The recording is proof that someone other than McHugh could have a motive for murdering Colston.

Thinking he has saved the day, Lou gives the original CD to Detective Bryzinski, the lead investigator in Colston's case and leaves a copy in his apartment to give to Sarah. A day later, the CD disappears from Bryzinski's desk and the copy is stolen from Lou's home.  Sarah is furious with him for ignoring her direct warning.

 

Now Lou feels obligated to follow his lead.  He heads to the West Virginia compound that houses the Mantis unit and stirs up Colonel Brody hoping to prove his theory and save his friend.  Brody’s Mantis unit ends up being only the tip of the ice berg of a political conspiracy encompassing high placed U.S. government officials, Mexican drug cartels, and Middle Eastern terrorists.  Can our naïve and good intended Dr. Welcome stand up against such foes?

I’ve read several of Michael Palmer’s medical thrillers over the years and while he is very good, I just grew tired of the genre.  Political Suicide is a delightful diversion for him.  While the plausibility of the plot is a bit questionable, his characters are likable, believable, and endearing.  He shows strong creativity and delivers the story with an appropriate pace to build the suspense and keep you wanting more.  I’ll read more from Palmer in this genre.