The Oath

Rating:
Summary: Who killed Tim Markham?
Review: For all the readers who like their old friends back in stories, The Oath is a must read. Abe Glistky, the homicide cop, and Dismas Hardy, the one time DA who is now a defense lawyer begin by talking about hit and run homicides not being murder. A moving vehicle is just not a good murder weapon. Tim Markham, the CEO of an HMO in trouble, is hit by a hit and run driver with injuries so severe that no one thinks he will survive. The cause of his death in the intensive care unit of his own hospital appears to be fairly obvious until it comes to light that the death rate is unsually high.

Eric Kensing, Markham's attending physician, is the chief suspect when an autopsy reveals that Markham died of an overdose of Potassiam. Kensing's wife had been involved with Markham; the head of the hospital had been intent on cutting costs at any price and everyone seemed unhappy with the care patients were receiving within the HMO. Lescroart has taken a popular current topic and brought to light some of the shortcomings of managed health care. He and Abe work the case from different angles but eventually get together with some suprises along the way.

It's medical ethics vs. cost intensive care and the frailities of human personalities from page to page. It's a good read with Lescroart from start to finish....and there is a heartbreaker at the end with a final surprise.

Oh yes, for Dismas Hardy fans, you will find that he is getting a little bored once again with Frannie and her needs, his kids and their needs, and still trying to figure out where his priorities should be. The death of his first son is still tormenting him and he goes to visit the grave on the day of his son's 28th birthday. The boy was a baby when we started reading the Dismas Hardy stories. They are still good.

Who Killed Tim Markham is a questioned that gets answered finally at the very end of a page turner.

Rating:
Summary: The Love of Money is The Root of All Evil
Review: THE OATH By John Lescroart

To the readers who know his work this may be as good as a writer gets. For John Lescroart, that is five stars and superior. His family of characters led by Dismas Hardy, the very human attorney, with characters that include everyone that we have met in his previous books and a lot of new characters good and bad. This takes on a subject that interests all of us, insurance and medical care with a several murders being investigated by Dismas Hardy and Detective Abe Glitsky and team topping it of to keep it interesting. I cannot remember anyone else writing so knowingly about the health circle; HMO Insurance, medical service personal and subcontractors, hospital, and drugs (medicine) both brand name and generic. It's a vicious circle. John Lescroart's research work must have been a tremendous job for this book.

He keeps a very large variety of very human characters, by first and last names, police detectives, doctors, managers or directors, nurses, attorney, district attorneys and their office personnel busy--all with the normal frailties of humans.

Investigating directors who were negotiating for money and medicine, and controlling a busy group doctors and nurses keeps the book moving at a fast pace. After reading this book you will understand a lot better egotistic doctors, (who were only interested in saving lives, and believed that people should this) when they have time from their rough schedules to stop and answer police's question.
Roger Lee

Rating:
Summary: Worth Reading!
Review: The Oath is the first book I've read by John Lescroart but won't be the last. Lescroart's strong suits are in his ability to develop multidimensional, credible major as well as secondary characters, believable multilayered story lines, and witty dialogue -- all of which are intertwined in an entertaining, fast-moving mystery. The basic plot involves an HMO executive who becomes a victim of a hit-and-run driver and then a murder victim after being brought to one of his own hospitals for treatment. Dismas Hardy becomes the defense attorney for the doctor presumed to be the murderer and Lt. Glitsky is in charge of the murder investigation. The relationship between Hardy and Glitsky is one I enjoyed very much and am looking forward to learning more about when I read other books in the series. Without going into detail (and perhaps spoiling things for potential readers), what keeps me from giving The Oath a higher rating is that I found its ending to be a bit predictable in some ways and a bit far-fetched in others. Nonetheless, The Oath is worth reading and is a book I think you'll enjoy.