Rating: 
Summary: Not his best
Review: I have read all of Lescroart's Dismas Hardy novels and this one is not up to his usual standards. The plot is weak and barely believable. The details of the interactions of the corporate leadership of the HMO and the physicians has no basis in reality. The assignments of the nursing employees and physicians to various departments of the hospital is not realistic - a highly trained nurse would not rotate his or her assignments in and out of an ICU nor would a physician spend time in an outpatient clinic, emergency room, operating room and ICU. These persons are too highly trained to work in several different areas each of which demands a high level of expertise and training. The conclusion likewise is almost an afterthought that would not occur in real life.
I have enjoyed Lescroart's other works. He should stick with those areas of which he has knowledge or do a better job of research before presenting his stories.
Rating: 
Summary: Barely Deserves Four Stars
Review: THE OATH is a murder mystery involving the apparently accidental death of Tim Markham, the well known head of San Francisco's largest HMO in his own hospital as the result of the injuries sustained in a hit and run incident during his early morning jog. However,an autopsy reveals that his demise was aided by an overdose of potassium administered in his own hospital and the Homicide Chief, Lieutenant Abe Glitsky, suddenly is investigating a case with manifold political implications. Meanwhile, Dr. Eric Kensing, who was on duty in the ER when Markham was admitted and who has hired Dismas Hardy as his lawyer, soon becomes the prime suspect.(Understandably so, since he has had several professional controversies at the HMO regarding the standard of care being afforded patients as financial pressures interfere with physician decision making. Furthermore, Kensing is separated from his wife due to her long running affair with Markham.) Soon other murders occur; in addition, it appears that several severely ill patients at the hospital have died recently under suspicious circumstances.
Thus, Hardy and Glitsky soon square off and their friendship that has been chronicled through several previous books by Lescroart becomes severely strained. For previous readers of the author , one of the most enjoyable elements of this book will be the further evolution of the lives and relationships of the several of the other characters that have appeared over the years in this series. This is a police and legal procedural, as well as a commentary on medical ethics, politics and greed. Lescroart's plotting is good, but the attempts at misdirection are not as clever as in several of his earlier works. In most instances, it soon becomes obvious in what direction the facts are leading.
This is a fast paced, easy and fun read; it was great not only to catch up with Glitsky and Hardy again as they eventually teamed up to solve another case, but also have another mystery which involved revisiting old familiar friends including David Freeman,Jeff Elliot,Clarence Jackman, Treya Glitsky, and ,of course, Diz's wife Frannie, and their two great kids Rebecca, and Vincent Hardy.
As usual, Lescroart's plotting is believable and his phraseology is enjoyable, I particularly chuckled over the "no-humans-involved" cases, where everyone already has a substantial criminal record and which are the diametric opposite of this white collar, high rent district crime. What made this novel less compelling than some of the earlier Diz and Abe books were two factors, First,,while the multiple threads of the story were all woven together very well and in the end and all details were explained, they also in some ways made the outcome less surprising. Second, this was not a well edited book; there were some incorrect facts and several small errors which were not caught and while they were of no real consequence they were nevertheless annoying.In the end, I decided that these factors were not enough to lower the rating to three stars but definitely kept it from being on the five star level despite my enjoyment.
Rating: 
Summary: Just a Maybe
Review: Lescroart's plots are ingenious and well researched, but his choice of words reminds me of B-novel vocabulary. It's part of the tough-guy routine, I guess. For instance, look at these examples: "They didn't talk about it--they were guys after
all--." "After the macho need to demonstrate their awesome strength..."And his sentences are so full of slang that one wonders if he has a good vocabulary. If some of his sentences were submitted in a creative writing class, the writer would be told to try again....or give up. Della
Rating:
Summary: THE OATH
Review: T he American health system is placed under the spotlight here.
H ealthcare provider CEO Tim Markham is the victim of a hit and run accident.
E mergency services in intensive care are unable to save his life. O nly then does a series of events lead to the realization that
A ll is not as it seems in the intensive care unit in which he was treated.
T his is a vast story of intrigue involving large companies and
H ow their bottom line affects decisions with little regard to life.
Rating:
Summary: Good start, then becomes a routine thriller
Review: Read John Lescroat's latest thriller, THE OATH . . . the story
about a series of suspicious deaths at a San Francisco HMO
starts off with a bang, then goes somewhat downhill after that . . . there were too many characters and subplots--at least to my liking . . . I did enjoy revisiting "old friends" from previous and better books by the author; i.e., lawyer Dismas Hardy and his best friend, homicide cop Abe Glitsky . . . but I found that it was too simple to
figure out the real culprit . . . only the ending, which dealt with what happened to Glittsky, held my attention.
Rating: 
Summary: Upon my oath, a great listen!!
Review: I don't remember how many of the Dismas Hardy series (not to be confused with the Hardy Boys!!) I have read or listened to, but I enjoyed them all, and to me, this most recent one is his best. Even if I guessed the denouement, as I did fairly early on, it made no difference to my enjoyment of this book. It's a real story that unfolds with passage of time and meaningful descriptions that involved me deeper and deeper into the tale. Certain events, that can't be disclosed here, tested my emotions.
The reader is excellent as well, so important in audio versions. He 'is' Dismas Hardy - just the voice one would expect from him if he were real.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and look forward to the next one. I only regret that there are no audio vesrions of some of Lescroart's earlier books (not that I don't read - it's just that these are excellent listens in the car!).
Rating: 
Summary: I take an oath not to listen to this reader again.
Review: I am currently listening to 'The Oath' (uabridged) on cassette. It's hard to tell much about the book because I concentrate so much on Robert Lawrence, the reader. I thought at first that things would get better, once Lawrence became familiar with the work. It's as if he is reading for the first time. He pauses when conversation does not warrant a pause, as if he were turning the page every couple of minutes, pauses, and continues reading. ('John walked into the other ... pause ... room') I am having a tough time getting through the book because I am not paying attention to the plot.
Rating:
Summary: A Masterpiece
Review: This is one of the best crafted novels I have read in several years. In fact, anybody who is considering writing a work of fiction should read this book several times, once for stellar enjoyment, once for its superb craftsmanship, and once again, sentence by sentence, to observe a master who manages 400 pages without a single bad one.
Rating:
Summary: A winner from Lescroart!
Review: The head of San Fransisco's largest HMO dies under suspicious circumstances in his own hospital. The prime suspect has hired attorney Dismas Hardy to represent him - placing Hardy at odds with his good friend, homicide lieutenant Abe Glitzky, and taxing Hardy's marriage as well. The investigation points to a broader pattern of corruption and murder as Hardy joins forces with the authorities to attempt to clear his client's name. Sounds familiar, but that's OK - part of the enjoyment of reading mystery/thriller series is the comfort of the familiar and getting caught up-to-date on the latest developments in the characters' lives. Compared to the previous book in the series (The Hearing), The Oath features a better plot and crisper writing that avoids getting bogged down in the relationships among the many characters. While not exactly unpredictable, there are a few good twists at the end.
Rating:
Summary: Bad doctors, Bad HMOs, Bad hospital. Really Good Book!
Review: I found this book to be quite entertaining and based around the story that most of us can relate to given the current state of our healthcare system (visits with doctors that are too short, overcrowded ERs, and unfortunately delayed diagnoses.) The story twisted and turned and while i was guessing WHO DID IT, i ended up being wrong, and found that to be the most entertaining part. The characters were well written but the author still came up with surprises left and right. This should make the top of your summer reading list!
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