Peter Palmieri

I don't have much to say about this -- nothing novel. If you've gone to medical school in the last 10-20 years or read ANYTHING on the practice of clinical medicine in the same time frame, you probably know all of this already. Lots of peds isn't supported by science, but when there are is science we should follow it, rather than doing what saves us time or money. Duh.

Most notable for being the first ebook that I've read using the kindle app (on a combination of on my laptop and on my phone.) I'd prefer a physical copy, but it hasn't been physically published. Didn't love the ereader, but I didn't hate it as much as I thought I would have.… (mehr)

..."We must pick our masks carefully. Over time, the mask that we end up choosing, even the wrong mask, will conform to our features. Soon we will no longer feel its weight or its rough edges, and then we risk not knowing that we are only acting our way through life, the wrong character in the wrong place".

This is my third Peter Palmieri novel, and by now I know that when you pick up a Palmieri book, you won't get bored! Plus, some thrillers don't even attempt at employing descriptive language. Not here - Peter Palmieri is quite eloquent even in the midst of a super intense point in the plot. His characters are very colorful, his medical knowledge shines through. I enjoyed this one thoroughly. I didn't anticipate the ending in the least. But I was glad it ended the way it did! An excellent read.… (mehr)

Having been rather taken by Palmieri's latest novel "Sing the Rage" earlier this year, I went in search of his earlier works. And "The Art of Forgetting" moved me, to say the least. For a debut novel, it was rather impressive. The mysterious Prologue intrigued me. And though the first couple of pages in Chapter One seemed out of place - by their, should I say, promiscuous content, it all made sense later on, as the story began unraveling at record speed. Combination of a romantic story line with critical medical research (being constantly hampered by certain unscrupulous forces) made for an intense plot. The author's MD background helped make the medical terminology and procedures very credible. It turned out to be a real page turner. I was relieved and happy with the denouement in the end. It made me wish for the same discoveries in the real world of dementia... I am glad the author gave it a shot with this novel. I also want to say that Palmieri seems to have a real knack for describing the smallest nuances of a conversation or idiosyncrasies of his characters, while making them recognizable and believable.… (mehr)

The day I had my copy of the book signed by the author, a former medical doctor and now an owner of Zen Zero gelato cafe in New Braunfels, TX, I had no idea what to expect - apart from the fact that, according to Dr. Palmieri, the plot of his novel started in Ukraine and ended in New Braunfels! This bit of a fact amused me considerably (as I was born in Ukraine and lived there for 25 years, and now I live in New Braunfels).

Little did I know how immersed I would get into this electrifying medical thriller. I couldn't put it down. An obviously erudite person was behind the writing. I found the characters quite believable, especially his Texan detectives and cops, as well his Russian/Ukrainian characters. One could never presume that the author didn't grow up in Texas (far from that - he is from Italy) - so cleverly he pinpointed various idiosyncrasies of his characters.

The dialogues, the characters' thinking process struck me as quite natural; I was also taken by the author's expressive power of depiction - it was far from dry. Also, Palmieri really puts himself into the shoes of a Russian who says this of Americans: "Americans were a different breed... (They) possessed a whole-sale naivete, girded by irrational hope and excessive enthusiasm, which propelled them to trust others without question, to take everyone at their word... " And the same Russian character characterizes his own people with the following: "Russians, on the other hand, were afflicted by a deep sense of skepticism, if not outright distrust. They are by nature tight-lipped with anyone outside their guarded circle of family and friends... This was the logical legacy of communist rule." - which is quite true, if I may point out.

And what about a gem like this: "...an American idiom pronounced with a distinct Russian accent - it came off sounding like a classically trained musician playing the banjo." A number of them are sprinkled throughout of the book.

All in all, the plot was very intense and NOT predictable. The short chapters throughout the book puzzled your mind at first, but were constructed in such a way that you could not stop reading on and on - finally getting to an explosive denouement. I truly found this novel much better than John Grisham's latest book.… (mehr)