This medical and political thriller grips you tightly from the beginning and never lets go. The opening chapter sets a sinister tone for the novel. In the tradition of his latest father, Michael Palmer, Daniel Palmer delivers another masterfully crafted medical thriller that will keep you reading long into the night.

There is a conspiracy to systematically take out certain gifted individuals, including the president's son, Cam Hilliard, and a violin prodigy, Susie Banks.

Dr. Lee Blackwood and his ex-wife, secret service agent Karen Ray, team up to unravel the mystery and find those behind the conspiracy. As they uncover the layers they are never quite sure who they can trust in the White House, whether it be the first family's physician or the other agents charged with protecting them. Plus they have to factor in a mysterious doctor and some strange happenings surrounding an institute that Cam and Susie are both involved in to hone their trade.

This is a fast-paced thriller where the bodies keep piling up and time always seems to be running out. A series of plot twists keep you guessing right up until the shocking conclusion.

I would recommend this book to fans of medical thrillers and political thrillers. I received this as a free ARC from St. Martin's Press on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The master lives on! Daniel Palmer has continued the mastery of the genre perfected by his father. A great blend of thriller, mystery, politics, family, medicine, and technology. There’s something for everyone in this novel that promises to be a winner. Plot and character development both kept this story moving forward.

I have never been a Michael Palmer fan, until now. Going back to read all his books. This was well written and the characters are well developed. Danie lPalmer did a good job with this.

Thank you to St Martin’s Press for granting my wish on Net Galley in return for an honest review.

I love this book so much, I finished it in 4 days (happens with the books I love). I can’t wait to turn the next page to see what’s going on the next chapter. The one thing that stops me is my heavy eyelids or running out of battery.

This is a thrilling story with a-flair of drama and fast paced action. Mostly the action is on the medical premises but all the details are pictured in perfect words that make me feel in the middle of the action itself.
The story about the first family is very intriguing. I’ve always been curious about the life behind the White House closed doors. Were they as any regular family only with the most prestigious job in the world? How do you deal with all the pressure? This book somehow pictured the first family as any normal family, with crisis, drama, and lots of love. There were also some political stuff, but mostly it’s about human ego.

As the story goes, there’s a disease that happen to a couple of kids including the president’s son. At first, nobody sees the connection, but 1 doctor (Lee Blackwood) is working hard to reveal the mystery. Here’s where things get interesting. The official doctor is trying to keep him at bay but he won’t give up. With the help from his ex-wife who is a secret service agent, first lady and his son, Lee tried to unravel the mysterious illness, since lives is at stake here.

Nearly at the end, Lee got the answer, and here’s where the plot is twisted. I didn’t predict that the case is actually quite simple. The clues have been thrown all over the place and make me guess who’s making these kids sick and who’s trying to kill them. I’m not going to tell it here, since it’s going to be a spoiler.

The characters have quite strong attitude. Each of them has their own ego and interest. Sometimes they fight and argue. But their story intertwined beautifully and strongly that will leave you a good impression. There is a lot of emotional battle inside and between the characters. I like it. It’s what makes us human being. This is the point where this story feels real.

Recommend for those who like fast paced story with a background of medicine, unsuspected twisty plot, and quite a lot of human emotion.

I have always been a big fan of Michael Palmer’s books. I am glad his son is continuing on in his footsteps. I loved The First Family.

I highly recommend The First Family by Michael & Daniel Palmer. This is a thrilling medical mystery which I couldn't put down. There are so many interesting twists and turns in the plot that all lead to a surprise ending.

The First Family started off well enough and brought to mind some of Robin Cook’s books. But somewhere in the middle, it lost both the pace and the plot and there was no coming back. Most of the plot twists were too far-fetched and the final reveal was disappointing.

The son of the President, a chess genius, appears to have issues and a female secret service agent is responsible for his safety and well being. She sees that more may be going on with him and wants to help him. Another young woman, a violist, appears to have similar medical symptoms and is hospitalized. It is up to the doctor's to find out what is going on, and this leads to strange happenings and something bigger is behind these two young people with strange medical symptons.
The characters are well developed, and in Michael Palmer fashion, the medical field is front and center.
There are twists and turns throughout the novel that will keep the reader engaged.
Fans of the Palmers will like this one - and in memory of Michael Palmer - Daniel pushes on in his memory.
Fans will like it.

Great Read! Good suspense and intrigue. I enjoyed all the secret service/ bodyguard action going on. The medical storyline was very interesting too. You will be turning the pages to find out what is wrong with Cam, and whether Dr Blackwood can solve it!

This is a phenomenal read that kept me turning pages long into the night. This compelling tale has Lee, a family doctor and talented diagnostician, called in by his ex-wife, Karen, who is a Secret Service agent in charge of the president's teenage son's protection. The son, Cam, has developed some odd symptoms that the White House doctor is far to quick to diagnose as depression. Once Karen calls Lee in, he agrees that the symptoms don't make sense and are worth looking into before labeling as depression. Before long, Cam is suffering one malady after another and Lee is ensnared in a medical mystery that medical school could not have prepared him for.

This novel is fast moving and gripping in a way that only a Palmer could tell it. The son, Daniel, is every bit as talented as his father and I am looking forward to reading many more books by him. He's on my must read authors' list and should probably be on yours as well. This is a must read novel.

Daniel Palmer credits his late father Michael Palmer as co-author of this riveting medical thriller. Michael was actually an MD and did write a good many excellent novels based on medically related ideas.

In "The First Family" a strange malady strikes the President of the United States' son. He suddenly develops episodes of extreme fatigue, unexplained moodiness and sudden violent outbreaks of temper. At the same time a young gifted violinist named Susie Banks experiences a violent uncontrollable outbreak that catches her when she is in the middle of her first public concert. Is there a connection between the episodes experiencd by these two unrelated people?

Karen Ray, a member of the Secret Service group charged with guarding the President and his family, does not agree with the diagnosis presented by the President's physician for Cam who is the President's son.She calls her ex-husband Lee, a family doctor, to look into Cam's symptoms. Coincidentally Lee gets to examine Susie who is a patient at a hospital he is working at.

The reader is drawn expertly into a medical problem that has an importance to someone causing murders to be committed in order to keep the victims from being fully examined. Daniel Palmer successfully creates a scenario that keeps the reader riveted to the pages while moving from one suspicious event to another. The ending is one that upon reflexion is the correct one for the characters involved and while is not a fairy tale finale does leave the reader with the impression that this is the way real life would have evolved the events. Daniel Palmer does very well continue his father's custom a great read to his readers. Very well done.

I have been reading Palmer's book for a long time. Some have been amazing and others, not so much. I would rate this one somewhere in between.

I found the pacing a little slow, which removed some of my interest in how did book would end. I did enjoy the mystery surrounding Cam, which is at the core of this story. Every time I thought I had it figured out, I didn't.

The book's strength, to me, are in the characters - the plot needs a bit of work (pacing wise).

Lots of technical detail. Intricate plot line. Bailed out on the ending. Used a time worn formula instead of a creative resolution.
Average Palmer read. Not bad. I finished it.

An amazing medical thriller that grabbed me from the first sentence to the last. I was sorry to see it end and sorry to say goodbye to great characters.

Wow! This was a very fun book to read. It was well written, had a plot line that progressed at a good speed and the characters were well developed.
I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys mysteries that are not your run of the mill mystery storyline.

I know Daniel is carrying on his late father’s (Michael) legacy through the thrillers he’s been writing for the past few years. But what I don’t know if this was an idea his father started to write or not. Turns out it doesn’t matter because the book zings and sings and makes the reader hold her breath wondering what terror is around the next corner.

The president’s son, Cam, is a genius chess player who seems morose and depressed. The first families lead secret service person, Karen Ray, thinks there’s more to Cam’s malaise than a psychiatrist can fix so she calls on her physician ex-husband to take a look. Another genius, Susie Banks, lands in a hospital after someone kills her parents and almost kills her. Lee, the doctor and ex, ties the two youth together and with similar puzzling symptoms.
This book publishes on April 17, 2018. Pre-order when you can and you won’t be sorry. The novel has the strengths exhibited by both Daniel and Michael, and should be on everyone’s reading list. I can’t tell you how much I loved it.

It doesn’t seem all that hard to write a medical thriller. Lots of writers publish them; most follow a reliable formula and turn them out in workmanlike prose. The First Family is a notable exception. The Palmers (primarily Daniel) have written a first-rate novel. Although the villain can be identified without much difficulty (thus keeping me from giving the book five stars) the plot is sufficiently complex and action-packed. And it moves along at a nice pace. Atypically for a medical thriller the characters are well drawn, the prose rises well above workmanlike, and the science is both advanced and explained so that the average reader can understand it. The plot strains credulity from the perspective of the past and perhaps even the present, but the prospects for it happening in the future are all too credible. All in all this is a very well done entry in the genre.