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A review by martyfried
The Oath by John Lescroart
4.0
I was tempted to only give this one star because of the tricky ending, but I decided to chalk it up to Lescroart's sense of humor. Aside from that, I enjoyed this book very much, but that's not surprising as I have enjoyed all of his books so far.
It seems like there is more humor in this series as I continue to read it. The two main characters, Glitsky and Hardy go well together. Glitsky is a good straight man for Hardy's frequent jokes and wisecracks - that is, when they're speaking to each other. Occasionally, one or the other gets a bit carried away with his job and causes friction with the friendship, but they usually kiss and make up. Well, not literally of course, even though it is San Francisco.
The humor is somewhat welcome in this one, as the subject is pretty serious, and affects most everyone - medical care, or lack of it as is often the case. Here, it's about an HMO that is business first and care last. There are some sad facts that I'm afraid are true. Drugs on the formularies are there because they're cheap, generic drugs are not the same as the name-brand ones - they simply have the same main ingredient, but side effects may make a difference. And you can't sue for medical malpractice, because it's an insurance company, not a hospital. And the biggest problem in this story is that the HMO gets paid a set amount for most patients, so if these happen to get in the way of the higher-paying ones, well, something's got to give and sometimes it's the patient's life. Oh well, usually nobody notices.
So, read it and weep. It's a good story, and it doesn't hurt to have a bit of reality mixed in.
It seems like there is more humor in this series as I continue to read it. The two main characters, Glitsky and Hardy go well together. Glitsky is a good straight man for Hardy's frequent jokes and wisecracks - that is, when they're speaking to each other. Occasionally, one or the other gets a bit carried away with his job and causes friction with the friendship, but they usually kiss and make up. Well, not literally of course, even though it is San Francisco.
The humor is somewhat welcome in this one, as the subject is pretty serious, and affects most everyone - medical care, or lack of it as is often the case. Here, it's about an HMO that is business first and care last. There are some sad facts that I'm afraid are true. Drugs on the formularies are there because they're cheap, generic drugs are not the same as the name-brand ones - they simply have the same main ingredient, but side effects may make a difference. And you can't sue for medical malpractice, because it's an insurance company, not a hospital. And the biggest problem in this story is that the HMO gets paid a set amount for most patients, so if these happen to get in the way of the higher-paying ones, well, something's got to give and sometimes it's the patient's life. Oh well, usually nobody notices.
So, read it and weep. It's a good story, and it doesn't hurt to have a bit of reality mixed in.