The Fifth Vial

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Macmillan, Feb 20, 2007 - Fiction - 372 pages
From the blockbuster, eleven-time New York Times bestselling author comes a novel of medical suspense that begins with these chilling questions: Who ends up with the blood samples you routinely give for tests? What else are they being used for? Why don't you know?

Take a Deep Breath. . . .
In Boston, a disgraced medical student is sent to deliver a research paper that could save her career. . . . Four thousand miles away, in a jungle hospital in Cameroon, a brilliant, reclusive scientist, dying from an incurable disease that threatens to make each tortured breath his last, is on the verge of perfecting a serum that could save millions of lives, and bring others inestimable wealth. . . . In Chicago, a disillusioned private detective, on the way to his third career, is hired to determine the identify of a John Doe, killed on a Florida highway, with mysterious marks on his body.
Three seemingly disconnected lives, surging unrelentingly toward one another. Three lives becoming irrevocably intertwined. Three lives in mounting peril, moving ever closer to the ultimate confrontation against a deadly secret society with godlike aspirations and roots in antiquity.
Medical student. Scientist. Private eye. Three people who will learn the deeper meanings of brilliance and madness, truth and deception, trust and betrayal.
Three lives linked forever by a single vial of blood--the fifth vial.

 

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Contents

Section 1
1
Section 2
9
Section 3
20
Section 4
34
Section 5
48
Section 6
61
Section 7
73
Section 8
87
Section 24
210
Section 25
222
Section 26
232
Section 27
242
Section 28
252
Section 29
262
Section 30
269
Section 31
274

Section 9
93
Section 10
102
Section 11
111
Section 12
115
Section 13
126
Section 14
136
Section 15
146
Section 16
153
Section 17
158
Section 18
161
Section 19
173
Section 20
179
Section 21
186
Section 22
193
Section 23
199
Section 32
283
Section 33
289
Section 34
294
Section 35
304
Section 36
313
Section 37
320
Section 38
329
Section 39
335
Section 40
341
Section 41
349
Section 42
357
Section 43
360
Section 44
369
Copyright

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About the author (2007)

Michael Palmer, M.D., is the author of eleven novels of medical suspense, all international bestsellers. In addition to his writing, Palmer is an associate director of the Massachusetts Medical Society Physician Health Services, devoted to helping physicians troubled by mental illness, physical illness, behavioral issues, and chemical dependency, including alcoholism. In what spare time he has, Palmer is a weight lifter and avid tournament bridge player. He lives in eastern Massachusetts, where he is best known for his two eccentric cats and three terrific sons.

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