Michael Palmer ~ The Fifth Vial

Hardcover: 384 pages
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
(February 20, 2007)
ISBN-10: 0312343515
ISBN-13: 978-0312343514








Book Description:

"From the blockbuster, eleven-time New York Times bestselling author comes a novel of medical suspense that begins with these chilling questions: Who ends up with the blood samples you routinely give for tests? What else are they being used for? Why don’t you know?

Take a Deep Breath. . . .In Boston, a disgraced medical student is sent to deliver a research paper that could save her career. . . . Four thousand miles away, in a jungle hospital in Cameroon, a brilliant, reclusive scientist, dying from an incurable disease that threatens to make each tortured breath his last, is on the verge of perfecting a serum that could save millions of lives, and bring others inestimable wealth. . . . In Chicago, a disillusioned private detective, on the way to his third career, is hired to determine the identify of a John Doe, killed on a Florida highway, with mysterious marks on his body.

Three seemingly disconnected lives, surging unrelentingly toward one another.

Three lives becoming irrevocably intertwined. Three lives in mounting peril, moving ever closer to the ultimate confrontation against a deadly secret society with godlike aspirations and roots in antiquity.

Medical student. Scientist. Private eye. Three people who will learn the deeper meanings of brilliance and madness, truth and deception, trust and betrayal. Three lives linked forever by a single vial of blood—the fifthBook Description
From the blockbuster, eleven-time New York Times bestselling author comes a novel of medical suspense that begins with these chilling questions: Who ends up with the blood samples you routinely give for tests? What else are they being used for? Why don’t you know?

Take a Deep Breath. . . .In Boston, a disgraced medical student is sent to deliver a research paper that could save her career. . . . Four thousand miles away, in a jungle hospital in Cameroon, a brilliant, reclusive scientist, dying from an incurable disease that threatens to make each tortured breath his last, is on the verge of perfecting a serum that could save millions of lives, and bring others inestimable wealth. . . . In Chicago, a disillusioned private detective, on the way to his third career, is hired to determine the identify of a John Doe, killed on a Florida highway, with mysterious marks on his body.

Three seemingly disconnected lives, surging unrelentingly toward one another. Three lives becoming irrevocably intertwined. Three lives in mounting peril, moving ever closer to the ultimate confrontation against a deadly secret society with godlike aspirations and roots in antiquity. Medical student. Scientist. Private eye. Three people who will learn the deeper meanings of brilliance and madness, truth and deception, trust and betrayal. Three lives linked forever by a single vial of blood—the fifth vial. vial."


Reviewed by Gina Holmes

Michael Palmer addresses the bio-ethical issue of organ trafficking in his fast-paced medical thriller, The Fifth Vial.

Around the globe, people are unsuspectingly having their blood tested in a life and death lottery. If their number is picked, (ie. if they are a tissue match), elitists decide who is more worthy to have their beating heart, them, or the wealthy, influential patient who needs the transplant to live.


Three seemingly unrelated lives,(a medical student, a research physician and a private eye), intermingle in unexpected ways. All three are pushed to the limit of human endurance, as each must answer the call of their conscious, putting their lives on the line to stop an evil which leaves orphans and widows in its gluttonous and infinite wake.

This novel was fast-paced, contained fleshed-out characters, and an intriguing plot that had me on the edge of my seat until the exciting conclusion.

Mr. Palmer not only told a great story, but addresses the bio-ethical issue of organ trafficking, asking the hard questions of: Is one person more worthy to live than another? Who decides?