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 received an advance copy - ebook version - of #TheFirstFamily from #NetGalley. This is my review of the book, without influence.

I loved the "First" series (for lack of a better description) written by Michael Palmer, centered around presidents, politics, and our nation's capital. This entry into the series, by the author's son, did not disappoint at all. I thoroughly enjoyed the medical mystery as well as the twists and turns of this thriller. It was a book that I had to put aside from time to time due to life's demands, but it was not one that I wanted to put aside. I loved the premise of the book - can we improve innate cognitive abilities with herbal and natural supplements? And yet, that is not exactly what happened, as you'll discover. One of the guinea pigs is the president's son, so that raises the stakes. You do not need to have read the other thrillers, so go ahead. Get in here and enjoy this one. If you're like me and don't mind learning a little something with your thrillers, you'll love this one, too!

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.

I received a DIGITAL Advance Reader Copy of this book from #NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  From the publisher - 
The President’s teenaged son is threatened by a potentially fatal illness that is rooted in dark secrets from a long-buried past.
President Geoffrey Hilliard and his family live in the ever-present glare of the political limelight, with relentless scrutiny of their daily lives. The White House is not an easy place to grow up, so when the President’s son Cam, a sixteen-year-old chess champion, experiences extreme fatigue, moodiness, and an uncharacteristic violent outburst, doctors are quick to dismiss his troubles as teen angst. But Secret Service agent Karen Ray, whose job is to guard the president's family with her life, is convinced Cam’s issues are serious – serious enough to summon her physician ex-husband for a second opinion.
Dr. Lee Blackwood’s concerns are dismissed by the president's team – until Cam gets sicker. Lee must make a diagnosis from a puzzling array of symptoms he's never seen before. His only clue is a patient named Susie Banks, a young musical prodigy who seems to be suffering from the same baffling condition as Cam. Hospitalized after an attempt on her life by a determined killer, Susie’s jeopardy escalates as Cam’s condition takes on a terrifying new dimension.
Is someone trying to murder the President’s son?
As Lee and Karen race for a cure to Cam’s mysterious and deadly disease, they begin to uncover betrayals that breach the highest levels of national security.
Returning to the same Washington, DC setting of The First Patient, The First Family is a riveting new medical drama from acclaimed novelist Daniel Palmer, in the tradition of his late father, New York Times bestselling novelist Michael Palmer.

 I am SO HAPPY that Daniel Palmer is taking over the Dr. Blackwood character from his much missed, greatly loved, late father Michael Palmer’s books. I loved Michael’s work – ask my husband about the vacation where I ignored him as I read “The Fifth Vial” …one he read it after our return he understood! It was nice to revisit the character of Lee Blackwood as well – this story kept me totally engrossed just like that time I was on vacation. I highly recommend it to any mystery fan!

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.