Order of Book Series
0

Michael Palmer Books in Order

Michael Palmer has written 25 books, published between 1982 and 2018. The first book is The Sisterhood (1982) and the newest is The First Family (2018). Publication order is the reading order below.

Books
25
Published
1982–2018
Confirmed
1 of 25 titles
Pages on record
9,257 in 21 of 25 books
Reading time
154–231 hours

Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 9,257 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 21 of 25 titles with a page count on record.

See all 25 books in order Printable Michael Palmer checklist

Medical suspense is Michael Palmer's register, physicians, patients and hospitals, several of them in Boston. The Sisterhood (1982) opens a catalogue of 25 books that runs through Side Effects (1986), Extreme Measures (1991), Silent Treatment (1995) and Miracle Cure (1998) to The First Family in 2018. Dr. Lou Welcome heads the one series, and nothing later than 2018 is catalogued.

How many Michael Palmer books are there?

Michael Palmer has 25 books, released between 1982 and 2018. 3 of them belong to the Dr. Lou Welcome series.

Michael Palmer Books in Publication Order

The table lists all 25 Michael Palmer books in the order they were released, with the release year, the page count where one is on record, and how many independent book listings confirm each title. Catalogue data as of September 2026.

  1. Cover of The Sisterhood by Michael Palmer (1982)
  2. Cover of Side Effects by Michael Palmer (1986)
  3. Cover of Flashback by Michael Palmer (1988)
  4. Cover of Extreme Measures by Michael Palmer (1991)
  5. Cover of Natural Causes by Michael Palmer (1994)
  6. Cover of Silent Treatment by Michael Palmer (1995)
  7. Cover of Critical Judgment by Michael Palmer (1996)
  8. Cover of The Patient by Michael Palmer (2000)
  9. Cover of The Society by Michael Palmer (2004)
  10. Cover of The Fifth Vial by Michael Palmer (2007)
  11. Cover of The First Patient by Michael Palmer (2008)
  12. Cover of The Second Opinion by Michael Palmer (2009)
  13. Cover of The Dead Club by Michael Palmer, book 2 of the Ken Bruen Short Stories/Novellas series (2010)
  14. Cover of The Last Surgeon by Michael Palmer (2010)
  15. Cover of A Heartbeat Away by Michael Palmer (2011)
  16. Cover of Oath of Office by Michael Palmer, book 1 of the Dr. Lou Welcome series (2012)
  17. Cover of Political Suicide by Michael Palmer, book 2 of the Dr. Lou Welcome series (2012)
  18. Cover of Resistant by Michael Palmer, book 3 of the Dr. Lou Welcome series (2014)
  19. Cover of Trauma by Michael Palmer (2015)
  20. Cover of Mercy by Michael Palmer (2016)
  21. Cover of The First Family by Michael Palmer (2018)
  1. 1
    The Sisterhood1982 · 343 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1982343
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  2. 2
    Side Effects1986 · 368 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1986368
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  3. 3
    Flashback1988 · 385 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1988385
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  4. 4
    Extreme Measures1991 · 420 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1991420
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  5. 5
    Natural Causes1994 · 465 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1994465
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  6. 6
    Silent Treatment1995 · 447 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1995447
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  7. 7
    Critical Judgment1996 · 450 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1996450
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  8. 8
    Miracle Cure1998 · 448 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1998448
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  9. 9
    The Patient2000 · 435 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2000435
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  10. 10
    Fatal2002 · 544 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2002544
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  11. 11
    The Society2004 · 461 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2004461
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  12. 12
    DisfiguredMichael Palmer Short Stories/Novellas #12006 · confirmed 2/4
    2006–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  13. 13
    The Fifth Vial2007 · 544 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2007544
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  14. 14
    The First Patient2008 · 498 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2008498
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  15. 15
    The Second Opinion2009 · 432 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2009432
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  16. 16
    The Dead ClubKen Bruen Short Stories/Novellas #22010 · 416 pages · confirmed 3/4
    2010416
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  17. 17
    The Last Surgeon2010 · confirmed 2/4
    2010–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  18. 18
    A Heartbeat Away2011 · 528 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2011528
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  19. 19
    Oath of OfficeDr. Lou Welcome #12012 · confirmed 2/4
    2012–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  20. 20
    Political SuicideDr. Lou Welcome #22012 · 355 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2012355
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  21. 21
    On CallMichael Palmer Short Stories/Novellas #32012 · confirmed 2/4
    2012–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  22. 22
    ResistantDr. Lou Welcome #32014 · 386 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2014386
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  23. 23
    Trauma2015 · 372 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2015372
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  24. 24
    Mercy2016 · 480 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2016480
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  25. 25
    The First Family2018 · 480 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2018480
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK

Michael Palmer books grouped by series

Each title below is a row in the publication-order table above. None of these groups has a reading-order page of its own on this site.

Dr. Lou Welcome in order

3 books
  1. 1. Oath of Office
  2. 2. Political Suicide
  3. 3. Resistant

Michael Palmer Short Stories/Novellas

2 books

2 titles published under this heading without a numbered place in a series.

Ken Bruen Short Stories/Novellas

1 book

1 title published under this heading without a numbered place in a series.

Standalone books

19 books

19 Michael Palmer titles here are not listed as part of any series.

Michael Palmer Books in Chronological Order

By publication date, the Michael Palmer books run from The Sisterhood (1982) to The First Family (2018), the sequence in the table above. No separate story order is recorded for Michael Palmer in the book listings this catalogue merges, so publication order is the only order on record.

Do you have to read Michael Palmer books in order?

You only need to read Michael Palmer books in order within the Dr. Lou Welcome series, which holds 3 of the 25 Michael Palmer books listed here. The numbered table above gives every book in publication order.

Where to start with Michael Palmer

Start with The Sisterhood (1982), the earliest published title.

What is the newest Michael Palmer book?

The First Family (2018) is the newest Michael Palmer book released so far.

Is there a new Michael Palmer book coming?

No next Michael Palmer book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.

Michael Palmer at a glance

No recent titles
The newest Michael Palmer title on record dates from 2018, 8 years ago. No later title is catalogued.
Release pace
Michael Palmer books have appeared about one every 2 years on average.
Length
9,257 pages across the 21 of 25 books with a recorded length, a median of 447 pages each.
Busiest decade
Most Michael Palmer books, 10 of 25, were published in the 2010s.

What the Michael Palmer books are about

23 of the 25 Michael Palmer books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: medical is tagged on 9 of 23. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.