The Boomerang

I didn't love this new May 2025 release, but I'm nevertheless impressed that a month or so after reading it I find myself talking about its premise all the time. This political thriller (think John Grisham, but with a medical bent) imagines a world in which a safe, effective, and inexpensive cure for cancer has been found, but the truth has been suppressed because actually curing the disease would destroy the U.S. economy. When the U.S. president's cancer returns, the real powers that be begrudgingly let him in to their circle of trust—and then all hell breaks loose. I was curious enough about what would happen to keep listening (to the audiobook, narrated by Eric Conger), but my favorite parts of the story involved the chief of staff's visits back home to Florida's Gulf Coast to visit family and do a little research on a personal project. Bailey name-checks quite a few Panhandle locations I'm familiar with and it was an unexpected delight to see them in print.