GREAT READS

Oath of Office

Michael Palmer.

Combine medicine, politics, greed, scientific experimentation, and conspiracy, and you have the formula for a frightening scenario that will keep you turning page after page. Oath of Office begins with an unbelievable massacre in a doctor's office. Dr. John Meacham, recovering alcoholic, suddenly, for no apparent reason, goes berserk in his DC-area office and kills two patients, his staff, and an associate. Refusing to believe that the rampage was a result of Meacham's addiction and anger issues, his friend and counselor, Dr. Lou Welcome, seeks to find answers as to why this could have occurred.

Welcome's pursuit of the truth leads him to witness other unexplained, bizarre behavior. What can be causing rational people to begin behaving in irrational ways, and is there a connection among them? His quest to put all the puzzle pieces together results in an unlikely alliance with the First Lady of the United States who has questions of her own to be answered.

The greatest appeal and the biggest fright of Oath of Office is that it seems all too possible. It will keep you awake, pondering the possibilities and wondering if there could be something that we just don't know about yet, but might threaten our lives in a way we'd never conceive.

Recommended by Carol Brannock