Fear the tiny robots!

Typical of most Michael Palmer books, The First Patient contains twists and turns, some cutting-edge technology (well, cutting edge in 2008…), and less than a week after finishing it, I’m struggling to remember the salient plot points…

Gabe Singleton and Andrew Stoddard went to the Naval Academy together, until a fatal accident derailed Singleton’s career and life. Now he works as a doctor in a small town in Wyoming, while Stoddard has gone on to become president of the United States. Then Stoddard’s personal physician goes missing, and he calls his old friend Gabe to D.C. to take over his personal healthcare. Of course, he fails to mention to Gabe the strange attacks he’s been having. And suddenly Gabe finds himself the target of some attacks himself.

There’s a girl, of course, and we don’t know whether or not to trust her. And nanotechnology plays a big part, too. There’s a pretty big twist at the end that honestly surprised me, and another that I thought was stupid as hell. Overall, a fairly forgettable novel but not a bad way to spend a couple of evenings.