Saving Meghan: A Novel

by D.J. Palmer

Overview

Saving Meghan is a riveting new thriller full of secrets and lies from author D.J. Palmer.

Can you love someone to death?

Some would say Becky Gerard is a devoted mother and would do anything for her only child. Others, including her husband Carl, claim she's obsessed and can't stop the vicious circle of finding a cure at her daughter's expense.

Fifteen-year-old Meghan has been in and out of hospitals with a plague of unexplained illnesses. But when the ailments take a sharp turn, clashing medical opinions begin to raise questions about the puzzling nature of Meghan’s illness. Doctors suspect Munchausen syndrome by proxy, a rare behavioral disorder where the primary caretaker seeks medical help for made-up symptoms of a child. Is this what's going on? Or is there something even more sinister at hand?

As the Gerards grow more and more suspicious of each other and their medical team, Becky must race against time to prove her daughter has a deadly disease. But first, she must confront her darkest fears and family secrets that threaten to not only upend her once-ordered life…but to destroy it.

Praise for Saving Meghan:

"Plenty of twists...will keep you turning the pages as you guess...and guess again." —Lisa Scottoline, New York Times bestselling author of After Anna

"An acute, sensitive portrayal of family love under extreme stress...[with] a touch of Hitchcock." —William Landay, New York Times bestselling author of Defending Jacob

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250252838
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	02/04/2020
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	311,916
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

D.J. PALMER is the author of numerous critically acclaimed suspense novels, including Delirious and Desperate. A former e-commerce entrepreneur, D.J. Palmer now resides in New Hampshire and is currently at work on a new book.

Editorial Reviews

Praise for Saving Meghan:

"Page-turning...Palmer’s take on a dark and fascinating topic will keep the reader wondering to the very end." —Publishers Weekly

"Mother doesn't always know best in this thrill ride of a novel...gripping and twisted." —Karin Slaughter, bestselling author of The Good Daughter

"Plenty of twists...will keep you turning the pages as you guess...and guess again." —Lisa Scottoline, New York Times bestselling author of After Anna

"An acute, sensitive portrayal of family love under extreme stress...[with] a touch of Hitchcock." —William Landay, New York Times bestselling author of Defending Jacob

"Smart and taut...Moves at a lighting pace." —Alafair Burke, New York Times bestselling author of The Wife

"Smart, chilling, and full of hairpin turns, Saving Meghan is highwire suspense of the first order.” —Lisa Unger, New York Times bestselling author of Under My Skin

“DJ Palmer captivates readers with the fine line between a mother on a mission and a mother who’s gone way too far...the stakes couldn’t be higher in this pulse-pounding winner of a thriller.”—Lisa Gardner, #1 New York Times bestselling author

“Likable characters to root for, a top-notch villain, and enough excitement to make your hair curl. Have fun with this thriller.” —Catherine Coulter

“Adrenaline-fueled entertainment that twists, turns, surprises and satisfies!” —John Lescroart

“A riveting potboiler of a story... a story that grabs you by the throat and won’t let go until the last page is turned.” —James Rollins

From the Publisher

2019-01-21

A sick teenage girl and her parents struggle to find a reason for her mysterious symptoms, a quest that may fracture their family—or worse.

Palmer (The First Family, 2018, etc.) is the son of doctor and medical thriller author Michael Palmer, who died in 2013. This is the first novel he has published in his name alone after continuing his father's series. Once a star soccer player, Meghan Gerard is now homebound with vague but persistent ailments—fatigue, headaches, weakness, loss of appetite—for which no doctor seems able to find a cause. Her wealthy, attractive parents are devoted to their only child, but father Carl, a developer, is becoming withdrawn. Mother Becky is so obsessed with her daughter that the book begins with her forcing a taxiing airliner to return to the gate so she can get off because Carl has texted that he's taken Meghan to the hospital. There's potential for a family-centered medical thriller here, but it's undercut by the main characters, who are so unrelievedly unpleasant and angry it's tough to care what happens to them. The three Gerards treat everyone from doctors to orderlies with consistent rudeness, but they're just as toxic with each other. Becky, in particular, who is the central character, is so vain, privileged, and manipulative (and has such mommy issues of her own) that when the possibility is raised that she is perpetuating a case of Munchausen syndrome by proxy—making her daughter sick secretly in order to get attention for herself—it's all too easy to believe. Clunky exposition, an overload of medical jargon, and a less than convincing resolution of the mystery leave this thriller on life support.

Despite some interesting twists, this medical thriller falters when it comes to creating characters readers can care about.

Kirkus Reviews