It might be your worst nightmare: you wake up from a terrible accident to discover that you are fully cognizant yet utterly unable to move your arms, legs, head, vocal cords, or even eyes. Effectively cut off from the world, you have no way of communicating. All your visitors assume you’re in a coma, but you can hear and understand their conversations and even see them talking about you. And there’s nothing you can do about it.

Michael Palmer’s latest medical thriller addresses some of the medical, legal, and ethical issues related to what doctors call “locked-in syndrome” through the eyes of the patient’s daughter, a doctor who, in a fascinating character twist, suffers from Asperger Syndrome. Like a female version of TV’s Dr. Gregory House, Thea Sperelakis is a brilliant physician who struggles in social situations because of her lack of mental or verbal filters. She says exactly what she’s thinking—all the time. And with her father, a world-renowned internist, trapped inside his disabled body, she has a lot to think about. Including what really might have happened to him and who might have a motive to do away with him once and for all. As clues and suspicions stack up, Thea realizes that her father’s life is not the only one in danger. And in the end, as with all good mysteries, the real threats come from the least expected source.

The Second Opinion is interesting and suspenseful—a good combination for a medical thriller. The character intrigue of a protagonist with a form of high-functioning Autism is fascinating, though the author admits in an afterword that some of Thea’s interactions may not be terribly plausible. Still, it’s unconventional enough to keep the reader’s guessing, and the story is a good one, with just the right combination of medical terminology, conspiracy, and hospital politics. The book contains some inexplicit sexual content and a bit of language, but nothing unacceptable for this genre. Fans of Palmer’s previous books or of TV shows like House and Gray’s Anatomy will find this a welcome prescription for combating literary malaise. ( )

As with all of Palmer's earlier books, I was hooked from page 1 and read it in one sitting. The story opens with the return home of Doctors Without Borders internist Thea Sperelakis. Her father, world renowned internist Petros Sperelakis, has been critically injured in an auto accident and is in a coma. She discovers that Petros suffers from Locked In Syndrome; he is conscious but unable to move and communicate, except with her via visual cues. From Petros, Thea learns that the accident was intentional and that he believed a colleague was involved.

The family dynamic is prominent in the story. Thea has Asperger Syndrome and one of her brothers has a similar, undiagnosed disorder that prevents him from working or attending school. Her twin siblings are both orthopedic surgeons who don't want their father on life support. None of them get along, except the twins. All are scarred from a childhood with an absent but critical father. One of the major issues in The Second Opinion is the medical industry switch from paper records to electronic records. Thea is unable to obtain access to the hospital's electronic records. In order to prove her theories about what is happening to patients, she needs this access. Does she find a way around this? Read the book! ( )

Very interesting and informative regarding Asperger Syndrome. The leading character Thea is afflicted with AS. She has high IQ and is a physician who chose to practice medicine in Africa. The story is an intriguing medical mystery; the outcome was unexpected.
Palmer is very knowledgeable about AS; he said in the afterword that he has a son with AS diagnosed at age 4 years. ( )