The Sisterhood - Michael Palmer [0]
SIDE EFFECTS
“Has everything—a terrifying plot … breakneck pace … vividly drawn characters.”
—John Saul
FLASHBACK
“The most gripping medical thriller I’ve read in many years.”
—David Morrell
EXTREME MEASURES
“Spellbinding … a chillingly sinister novel made all the more frightening by [Palmer’s] medical authority.”
—The Denver Post
NATURAL CAUSES
“Reinvents the medical thriller.”
—Library Journal
SILENT TREATMENT
“A Marathon Man–style plot loaded with innovative twists … extremely vivid characters.”
—Kirkus Reviews
Michael Palmer has been a practicing physician for more than twenty years, most recently as an emergency-room doctor and a specialist in the treatment of alcoholism and chemical dependency.
ALSO BY MICHAEL PALMER
From Bantam Books
The Sisterhood
Side Effects
Flashback
Extreme Measures
Natural Causes
Silent Treatment
Miracle Cure
The Patient
Fatal
The characters, events, institutions, and organizations in this book are wholly fictional or are used fictitiously. Any apparent resemblance to any person alive or dead, to actual events, and to any actual institutions or organizations, is entirely coincidental
THE SISTERHOOD
A Bantam Book
PUBLISHING HISTORY
Bantam edition published September 1982
Bantam reissue/January 1995
All rights reserved.
Copyright © 1982 by Michael Palmer.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by
any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publisher.
For information address: Bantam Books.
eISBN: 978-0-307-78119-2
Bantam Books are published by Bantam Books, a division of Random House, Inc. Its trademark, consisting of the words “Bantam Books” and the portrayal of a rooster, is Registered in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries. Marca Registrada. Random House, Inc., New York, New York.
v3.1
Dedicated with Love
to my sons, Matthew and Daniel
and
to my parents
Contents
Cover
Other Books by This Author
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Prologue
Chapter I
Chapter II
Chapter III
Chapter IV
Chapter V
Chapter VI
Chapter VII
Chapter VIII
Chapter IX
Chapter X
Chapter XI
Chapter XII
Chapter XIII
Chapter XIV
Chapter XV
Chapter XVI
Chapter XVII
Chapter XVIII
Chapter XIX
Chapter XX
Chapter XXI
Chapter XXII
Chapter XXIII
Chapter XXIV
Epilogue
About the Author
Preview of Fatal
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The Sisterhood is the godchild of the very special people listed below. My gratitude to them goes much deeper than the words on this page could express.
—To Jane Rotrosen Berkey, my agent and friend, for knowing I could long before I knew
—To my editors, Linda Grey and Jeanne Bernkopf, for the style, wit, and wisdom they have injected into this work
—To Donna Prince and Dr. Richard Dugas for critical reading after critical reading
—To Attorney Mitchell Benjoya of Boston and Dr. Steven I. Cohen of Providence, Rhode Island for technical assistance
—To Clara and Fred Jewett and the others who have taught me to live—and to write—one day at a time.
Finally a special thanks to Jim Landis, without whom, quite truthfully, none of this would have happened.
M.S.P.
Boston, 1982
PROLOGUE
“It’s all right, Mama … I’m here, Mama … ”
Fine fingers reached across the starched hospital sheet. Slowly, they closed about the puffy, white hand, restrained by adhesive tape and a leather strap to the side of the bed.
The patient, her other arm and both legs similarly bound, stared unblinking at the chipped ceiling. The rhythmic rise and fall of the sheet over her chest and sweep of her tongue across cracked lips were the only outward signs of life. Her gnarled, gray-black hair framed a face that had once been thought quite beautiful.
Now, skin clung tightly to bone, and dark circles of pain obscured her eyes. Although one could easily