Saving Meghan

Daniel Palmer (The First Family) makes his debut as D.J. Palmer with this page-turning medical thriller. Former real estate broker Becky Gerard's time is consumed by her teenage daughter, Meghan, who has an undiagnosed illness. Once a star soccer player, Meghan is losing weight and has heart palpitations. Becky fears Meghan will die, making her the second child she's lost after the devastating death of her firstborn to SIDS. Her continual efforts to push for a cure for Meghan's condition puts stress on her already rocky marriage to Carl, who believes Meghan isn't sick, but that Becky is somehow perpetuating their daughter's illness by planting ideas in the girl's head. Carl suspects Becky is working through an unresolved childhood trauma or is even inventing illnesses to keep Meghan in the safety of the medical system. Is it Munchhausen by proxy or is Meghan gravely ill? Palmer's take on a dark and fascinating topic will keep the reader wondering to the very end. 100,000 announced first printing. Agent: Meg Ruly, Jane Rotrosen Agency. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

A sick teenage girl and her parents struggle to find a reason for her mysterious symptoms, a quest that may fracture their familyor worse.Palmer (The First Family, 2018, etc.) is the son of doctor and medical thriller author Michael Palmer, who died in 2013. This is the first novel he has published in his name alone after continuing his father's series. Once a star soccer player, Meghan Gerard is now homebound with vague but persistent ailmentsfatigue, headaches, weakness, loss of appetitefor which no doctor seems able to find a cause. Her wealthy, attractive parents are devoted to their only child, but father Carl, a developer, is becoming withdrawn. Mother Becky is so obsessed with her daughter that the book begins with her forcing a taxiing airliner to return to the gate so she can get off because Carl has texted that he's taken Meghan to the hospital. There's potential for a family-centered medical thriller here, but it's undercut by the main characters, who are so unrelievedly unpleasant and angry it's tough to care what happens to them. The three Gerards treat everyone from doctors to orderlies with consistent rudeness, but they're just as toxic with each other. Becky, in particular, who is the central character, is so vain, privileged, and manipulative (and has such mommy issues of her own) that when the possibility is raised that she is perpetuating a case of Munchausen syndrome by proxymaking her daughter sick secretly in order to get attention for herselfit's all too easy to believe. Clunky exposition, an overload of medical jargon, and a less than convincing resolution of the mystery leave this thriller on life support.Despite some interesting twists, this medical thriller falters when it comes to creating characters readers can care about. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.