Fatal by Michael Palmer

Synopsis :

In Chicago, a pregnant cafeteria worker suffering nothing more malevolent than flulike symptoms begins hemorrhaging from every part of her body. In Boston, a brilliant musician, her face disfigured by an unknown disease, rapidly descends into a lethal paranoia. In Belinda, West Virginia, a miner suddenly goes berserk, causing a cave-in that kills two of his co-workers. Finding the link between these events could prove FATAL.

Five years ago, internist and emergency specialist Matt Rutledge returned to his West Virginia home to marry his high-school sweetheart and open a practice. He also had a score to settle. His father died while working for the Belinda Coal and Coke Company, and Matt swore to expose the mine's health and safety violations.

When his beloved Ginny succumbed to an unusual cancer, his campaign became even more bitterly personal. Now Matt has identified two bizarre cases of what he has dubbed the Belinda Syndrome--caused, he is certain, by the mine's careless disposal of toxic chemicals. All he needs is proof.


This is what I say :

I actually am not able to recall reading anything by Michael Palmer but I found out that I actually did.  It was about three years ago that I read A Heartbeat Away but honestly I am not able to remember much of it.

Anyway, Fatal is quite a nice thriller that started off extremely well and for about two hundred pages, I was really enjoying the book.  However......yes, it's the big 'however'.  However, the author again did not managed to keep the momentum of the story and it kinda went downhill thereafter.

I am still very much interested to see how the story goes but I was reading it quite fast towards the end, skipping chapters here and there which I seldom do but in this case it works too as I did not miss anything major and able to say that I completed the book, while not extremely satisfied, pretty satisfied.

With the many other titles that I have with me, I will not be actively seeking out titles by this author but if I do come across his other titles, I might consider giving them another go.