Implant is a high caliber political-medical thriller that raises serious policy and philosophical issues. Issues alone make for flat books, but Implant is fleshed out and made real by the strong cast of characters. In my opinion, few writers give us more achingly memorable characters than Wilson. Who can forget Repairman Jack?

Gina Panzella is a young doctor, working 36 hour days in Washington, DC, including assisting plastic surgeon wizard Duncan Lathram. Her hyper-intelligent boss is a complex and contradictory character. Lathram constantly ridicules and criticizes what he calls the kakistocracy of Washington, yet blithely operates on the self-same members of congress who seek to improve their TV-looks. A curious contradiction, or sinister planning on his behalf?

Events take a dark turn when Gina surprises Lathram by seeking the position of advisor to a senator who sits on the influential Congressional Committee, which is reviewing the Health Care system. As a doctor, Gina seeks to work the system from within to make heard the views of all doctors, but her boss sees only his gifted assistant entering the corruption of the kakistocracy. Gina uncovers curious mysteries behind Lathram’s plastic surgeries on Senators. Several of his former patients, all on this review committee, die or turn insane, and the common thread is having spent a few hours under Lathram’s knife.

Lathram’s quest for revenge against the Senatorial monsters who ruined his life and profession consumes him. He faces a deep abyss familiar to all libertarians, a heartless, mindless government. In trying to conquer that abyss, Lathram dredges out his own dark nature, and must battle this as much as the focus of his rage and revenge.

Duncan Lathram, the bitter antagonist, leaves the strongest impression on the reader’s mind, as the tragically fallen hero fighting the government in his own way. Wilson’s narrative power keeps you reading the book until you finish, exhausted but deeply and hauntingly moved.