Rating: 
Summary: A thrilling story of money and ethics in the world of medici
Review: Best-selling author of the fantastic The Thirteenth Juror & The Guilt, John Lescroart enters the Robin Cook territory of doctors & medical mysteries in his new thriller.Last year Phillip Margolin, an acclaimed practitioner of the legal thriller genre, took to the medico-legal mystery genre with "The Associate", & close on its heels comes this new thriller from John Lescroart. The Oath can at best be described as a medico-legal mystery, the author having mixed in right proportion the medical stuff & the legalese to bring up a top-notch thriller. Tim Markham the head of San Francisco's largest HMO dies seemingly of injuries suffered in a hit-&-run accident. At first, it is classified as an accidental death, but the autopsy reveals that Markham died due to potassium overdose. All evidence points to Markham's attending physician Eric Kensing. It seems that Kensing had every reason to kill Markham - for one thing, Markham was sleeping with Kensing's wife & for another, Markham had threatened to cut off funding to Kensing's patients, thus putting the life of the patients at risk. Kensing approaches attorney Dismas Hardy, (the hero of many Lescroart works) & Hardy attempts to clear the good doctor of murder, & bring home the guilt on the real culprits. Pitted against him is Homicide Cop Abe Glitsky who believes that Kensing is guilty & is trying hard for a conviction. What follows is top-notch action with Hardy discovering unpleasant truths in the running of HMO, & slowly discovering why & how Kensing was made a pawn in someone's bigger plans. The Oath is definitely not a whodunit - but it is a great whydunit. The suspense is riveting & the action is thick & steady throughout. Good medico-legal thrillers have been rare, save for a Fourth Procedure by Stanley Pottinger or Autopsy by John R. Feegel, & The Oath clearly satisfies the reader who is fond of this sub-genre. I enjoyed it, & for a good evening's read - it is highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Rather boring and sloppy
Review: John Lescroart has to be one of the most inconsistent writers around. You get such brilliant novels like A Certain Justice, Guilt, Hard Evidence, The Vig, and then it's followed up by The Hearing, and worse yet, this novel The Oath, or his earlier work, The Mercy Rule. I think it's the poor reader that needs the Mercy here. First off, the subject matter of The Oath in of itself is old hat and boring. It's been done and overdone a hundred times over in TV dramas and full feature length movies. But I can certainly accept the fact that Lescroart wants to give us his own rendition. Yet the rendition adds nothing new and the characters are totally unconvincing. Dismas Hardy and Abe Glitsky seem to be frozen in time, never growing, never changing, something that does not happen with real like characters. And the players in this particular story seem to be forcibly drawn together into a story that lacks substance or interest. The only character that I can remotely sympathise with is Dr. Kensing, who due to his unfortunate past and rigid principles becomes ensnared in a drama that is outside his control. This hopeless melange is such a contrast to the beautifully written and cast Hard Evidence. A novel that to this day I go back and re-read when I find nothing else on the store shelf to interest me. Added to this is Lescroart's sloppiness. In The Hearing a character that was killed and buried in very beginning of the novel suddenly reappears near the end of the novel. This was not supposed to a surprise element, as some readers thought when they read my review of that novel, just plain old sloppy writing. In The Oath, Dismas Hardy is clearly in John Strout's office visiting the coroner, when suddenly we are informed by John Lescroart that "Strout closed the stiletto again, then stood up and walked over to the floor-to-ceiling bookshelf that lined Hardy's left hand wall". Hardly's ? I though he was in John Strout's office, where did we get Hardy's left hand wall ? And this type of sloppy writing appears right throughout the book. This in of itself would not be such a big deal other than a clear indication that when Lescroart is bored with his story he gets sloppy. I think we can all understand that. Which obviously begs the question why are we the poor readers being foisted with a book that the author seems to have little use for ?
Rating: 
Summary: Lescroart Rolls On!!!!
Review: John Lescroart's Dismas Hardy novels are among the most entertaining and well written of the lawyer-cop-mystery genre. The gang's all here in this story which does a number on the HMO industry and their ability or lack thereof to take proper care of the enrollees. The head of the HMO has been hit by a hit and run driver and brought, unfortunately for him, to the hospital which his HMO manages. While in the ICU, he succumbs to his injuries...or does he? ... An obvious suspect is being investigated, Dismas is representing him and it looks as though an arrest may be imminent. However, as the investigation proceeds, many stories within stories are discovered, not the least of which is that someone is murdering people in the ICU. This story, regretably never gets inside a courtroom, but the resolution and Dismas Hardy's involvement in it, nevertheless still makes this a compelling and interesting read.
Rating:
Summary: Better and Better
Review: Every book I read by John Lescroart I enjoy more. The Oath has twists and turns and one heart-stopping moment that give fans of his series continuous entertainment. Dismas and Abe are a formidable duo and the occasional friction between them only makes their deep friendship more realistic. I highly recommend this book and look forward eagerly to the next!
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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
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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: too many mistakes
Review: This book seems to have been written and edited without much attention to detail. I am a big fan of Lescroart, but he needs to check his facts. In one place, he says that a person lives in the Haight in SF, but then says that his wife worked at Macy's Herald Square--a long commute. That same page says that Bhutan "made due"--not the proper way to write "made do." I'm only on page 76, but now Lescroart has given a Nobel Peace Prize to Winston Churchill--doesn't anybody ever check facts? These mistakes go along with a previous review that says the medical aspects of the book are incorrect. These mistakes make the book not so much fun to read.
Rating:
Summary: Great book
Review: This book is Lescroart at his best! A fantastic web weaver, Lescroart takes his characters on a trip into the dark world of HMO's, and hospital politics.
Everyone seems guilty at one time or another, and as a reader, you can't put your finger on the "killer" until the very end.
Diz, as usual, does a great job working his case, and his relationship with Glitsky is, as always, one of greatest parts of the book.
If you read the Dismas Hardy series, you'll love this next installment. If you don't, get started, you have a lot to catch up on!!
Great book!
Rating:
Summary: Exciting and complex medical and legal thriller.
Review: John Lescroart's "The Oath," is the latest in a series of books featuring the San Francisco criminal defense attorney Dismas Hardy. Dis, as he is known to his friends, takes the case of Eric Kensing, a doctor who is suspected in the death of Tim Markham, the head of San Francisco's largest HMO, Parnassus. Kensing had the motive, means and opportunity to kill Markham, who was having an affair with Kensing's wife, and who disagreed with Kensing on how an HMO should be run. Hardy and his best friend, Abe Glitsky, chief of homicide, are soon at loggerheads over the case, and their friendship is strained to the breaking point. The fallout from the Markham case is wide-ranging. The HMO that Markham ran is bleeding cash and is teetering towards bankruptcy. Have the administrators at Parnassus been involved in fiscal mismanagement? If so, could Parnassus's financial woes have some bearing on Markham's death? The case becomes more complex as the investigation proceeds, and Hardy, a happily married man with two kids, strains his family's patience as he spends more and more time investigating on his own. Before the case is solved, Hardy risks his professional reputation and his personal relationships with his wife and with his best friend in his effort to get at the truth. Lescroat does a fine job of balancing many disparate elements in "The Oath." He juggles a host of plot lines, including a series of unexplained deaths in Portola Hospital, where most of the medical action takes place, and the initiation of two rookie cops, who learn that police work is not an easy way to make a living. "The Oath" has a very large cast of characters, and Lescroart develops them well. We get to know a Salvadoran immigrant who watches her child die because of medical mismanagement as well as a greedy administrator who finds a way to make money at the expense of needy patients. As always, Dismas Hardy is a engaging protagonist. He is a model of integrity and a loving husband and father; yet he is willing to risk everything that he has to make sure that justice is served. "The Oath" will appeal to a broad spectrum of readers, since it is a legal, medical and crime thriller all wrapped up in one exciting and entertaining novel.
Rating:
Summary: An explosive thriller
Review: When Tim Markham, the head of San Francisco's largest HMO dies in his own hospital, no one doubts he died of the massive injuries inflicted by a random hit-and-run car accident. But soon an autopsy reveals he died of an overdose of potassium, and the attending physician Eric Kensing becomes the prime suspect. Kensing, desperate, and in need of an attorney, turns to Dismas Hardy for his defense. Going head-to-head with long time friend Abe Glitsky, and the two bumbling detectives assigned to this case, Dismas knows he has a tough battle to win, and when he finds information that further cements the hatred between Kensing and Markham, Dismas begins to question his client's innocence. The deeper Dismas digs into Markham's twisted past, he finds no one is exactly who they say they are, and everyone has something to hide, but nothing can prepare him for another shocking murder that will start to unravel a conspiracy of violence that takes the lives of those it has sworn to protect. 'The Oath' is a sure bet for a wild ride of page-turning excitement. The mixing of medical science, and legal thrills makes for a perfect read that will surely entertain. With many novels of it's kind out there, 'The Oath' stands far ahead of the rest for it's twisting plot, fleshed out characters, lightning fast pace and surprises along the way. John Lescroart is one of the masters of the legal thriller, and his newest novel will give his fans something to cheer about, and earn him a slew of new ones. Mr. Lescroart is never at a loss for creating suspenseful, original plots, and 'The Oath' will further prove his knack for writing blockbusters as it rockets up all the bestseller list's. A MUST read! Nick Gonnella
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