THE SECOND

OPINION

By :

MICHAEL PALMER
 Presented By

– Ferrygina Aida
– Fikran Bahari
– Maula Afiyah Balqisani
– Siti Fatmawati
– Siti Mustikaweni
– Soffi Nurafni Ashari
– Uul Lyatin
 Outline

– Background of Author
– Story line
– Genre
– Pacing
– Character and Characterization
– Setting
– Tone or Mood
– Style or Language
 Background of Author

Michael Stephen Palmer was born in Springfield,

Massachusetts on October, 9, 1942. He graduated from Wesleyan
College in Middletown, Conneticut. After retiring from clinical
practice in the md-1990s, Dr. Palmer became associate director of
the Massachusetts Medical Society’s Physician Health Services. He
died on October, 30 in Queens at Jamaica Hospital when he was 71.
 Story Line

– Exposition
The story begins with an explanation of Hayley Long's cancer disease and Dr. Petros
Sperelakis comatose condition. This two character are the key for the heroine to
unfold the thruth later. (Prologue)
"Her initial symptom had been nothing more than an annoying sequence of belly
pain and gas .... .... .... The MRI Bibby had requested was of her abdomen. Cancer."
" Connie? Vernice? I can hear you. I can hear you. Are you Beaumont nurses? It's
me, Dr. Sperelakis. What do you mean, range of motion? Am I paralyzed? What
happened to me? An accident? A stroke? A tumor? Why can't I see? Why can't I
speak?"
– Rising action
The conflict began to arise with Petros unwillingness for others to know that he is
"conscious" of his surroundings. The one he believed is just Thea. With a clue by
the name of "Khalisar" from Petros, Thea decided to accept the job offer in the
hospital to find out about "Khalisar" that was once a patient there.
" 'John Kalishar—was or is he a patient here? One… two… come on, Dad, come
on… three… four…' Petros's globe turned upward ever so slightly. Each response
had been like Sisyphus at his rock. But this time, at least for the moment, the Lion
was done, and Thea knew what her next move had to be. "
– Climax
The climax happens with Hayley disappearance from hospital and Thea nearly
death experience. Where a truck slammed over her car with a desire to destroy
her. Fortunately, she can manage to make it out alive.
" 'Call the police, Amy," she demanded in a harsh whisper, glaring at the fiery
nurse. 'Hayley's either gone into hiding someplace where we'll never find her, or
she's been kidnapped.' "
"This was no chance accident. The driver behind her was either terribly drunk or
completely committed to destroying her.
"She was battered, but she wasn't dead. Get that, whoever you are? I'm not dead!"
– Falling action
Thea is on her way to meet Scott Harnett to find out the truth but she is shocked to
know the mastermind behind this mess is Dimitri--her beloved brother. Dimitri
have threaten to kill Hayley if Thea and Dan couldn't sit still. But with Thea's
attempt to talk to Dimitri, she actually find out the place where Dimitri kept Hayley.
" 'Why would you do this, Dimitri?" she managed to ask. 'Who else is involved?"
'Sit still and stop asking questions, or I'll wind down the timer on Ms. Long's light to
fifteen minutes a day. That'd turn her into a bat relying strictly on sonar by the
time you return to save her."
– Resolution
When Thea knows the place where Dimitri kept Hayley, it was the end for Dimitri. So he
ended up killing himself.
" 'Dimitri, please," Thea begged. "It's senseless now. I know where Hayley is. I
remember about the fortress of solitude. Please let me help you."

"A moment later, before Thea could reach the top of the stairs, there was a single
gunshot. She cried out and ran to him. Dimitri was on his back, his head turned to one
side, the pistol still in his mouth. The back of his skull had blown open. On the pillow
beneath him was an expanding disc of blood. His eyes were peacefully closed."
 Genre

– Thriller (Medical Thriller)

The second opinion by Michael palmer is a thriller novel according to the elements
found in it that overlaps, gives readers a feeling of tension, sadness, increased
anxiety, with violence and danger dominating the genre, focusing on certain things
such as profession, medicine, or law, and telling action-packed stories that reveal
the intricacies of the profession and the potential dangers faced by those involved
in them.
 Pacing

– Thrillers move at a rapid pace, driven by the danger or threat of danger faced by
the protagonist. Although some are densely written and the action may be
more cerebral than physical. So it will make this genre have rapid pace pacing.
“she slammed on the brakes and looked up at the rearview. The truck that was
forcing her off the road filled the mirror. Its windshield was so far above her
thatshe could just see the bottom edge of it. An accident? A purposeful attack? A
randomthrill ride? …”
“The truck accelerated, forcing her to skid to her right, over a low curb and across a
grassy field, straight toward a massive tree”
 Characters
and
Characterization
– Dr. Alethea Sperelakis
She is a doctor who wants to reveal the tragedy of her father accident. She is smart but
have Asperger syndrome. She never give up.
'I don't know, but something's different than it was earlier today. I'm almost certain of
it.'
– Dimitri Sperelakis
He is Thea’s brother, he has an autism spectrum condition that hasn't been diagnosed,
but he has mastery over hacker.
“She flashed on Dimitri, never officially diagnosed, but undoubtedly afflicted with
abnormal neurology that was similar to hers. The 'autism spectrum' "
"Dimitri looked for programming work. Apparently he answered an ad here and spent
more than a year working for the hospital."
– Daniel Cotton
He is a security of the hospital, and Thea’s boyfriend. He is kind hearted and also
brave.
" 'I saw everything that happened. You were very kind..." (said Thea to Dan)
" 'What I want to do is to get my hands on the guy who did this to me.' "
– Dr. Patros Sperelakis
Thea’s father, he is a physician and advisor to patients, he want and try to wake up
from his coma to talk with his daughter--Thea.
"Help me! For God's sake help me. I have to speak to my Thea. I have to help her
understand that I only want what's best for her. I have to help her see what she's
done to me by leaving the way she did and how she can make it right.”
– Dr. Niko and Selene Sperelakis
They are Thea’s twins brother and sister, they are a doctor, and they give up easily.
"We need to just let him go. We've all encountered enough patients with severe head
injuries to know where this is going. This isn't the man who was our father, Thea. It
never will be again. Why torture him?“

– Dr. Scott Harnet

Tall, handsome, and intellectual, but he is tricky person.
"That I believe someone is administering a narcotic plus a paralyzing agent like
pancuronium to my father, to stop him from using the one set of muscles he has
available.... I believe that person is you." (Thea said to Harnett)
– Hayley Long
A good and matured person, befriend Thea in the hospital.
"The last thing I want is for you to think badly of me"
"Just put the gun down and tell me where Hayley is. Please don't let anything happen
to her. She's a very good person."
– Gerald Prevoir
The one who attack Dan in the hospital. He is cruel and greedy, full of hatred.
" As a Marine in Afghanistan over most of a decade he had learned to kill and to enjoy
it. "
"Hatred, envy, and greed. As long as there were hatred, envy, and greed, his employer
had assured him, there would be business."
 Setting

– Boston : “flights and layovers from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to
Boston,”
– The Beaumont : “as nearly everyone referred to the institution.”
– The Susan and Clyde Terry Cancer Center: “the same instant, in the Susan and
Clyde Terry Cancer Center.”
– Fourth of July : “a fearsome medical emergency, equivalent to the Fourth of July
fireworks on the Charles River Esplanade.”
– Friday : “It was Friday.”
– ICU : “left the ICU for another walk about in the hospital.”
 Tone or Mood

– Mostly dark

– Serious (The Fact)

“As Thea uncovers the facts surrounding the disaster, it seems more and more to
be no accident..”

– Strain (Emphasizing the Conflict)

“When Petros is severely injured by a hit-and-run driver, no one thinks he will
survive..”
– Dangerous (Considered the Dangerous)

“That the murder of a patient or nurse was the man's intent..”

– Sadness (Caring and Sympathy)

Hayley said ; “Cancer ... How is that possible? ... Oh, God, no.“

– Surprise ( excited mood and anticipating more action)

When the reader knows the mastermind is actually Dimitri ; “For one thing, as long
as Hayley's life was at stake, this was Dimitri's game.”
 Style or Language

1. Providing Prologue that sets up the action.

This story opens with tell about Heyley Long's life

“'I'm afraid I have some bad news."

“Hayley Long, just two weeks past her fifty-first birthday, heard her physician's
words as if they were being spoken through a long steel tube. I'm afraid I have
some bad news…”
2. Distinctive jargon of each profession figures
This story we learn about the specialized language of medical and science.

“Multiple contusions and abrasions… Fractured pelvis… Nondisplaced fracture,

proximal humerus… Pulmonary contusion and laceration secondary to
posteriordisplaced fractures of right seventh, eighth, and ninth ribs…With the
grim litany ticking through her thoughts, Thea SperelakisapproachedCubicle 4 in
the medical ICU of the Beaumont Clinic. Transverse linear skullfracture…
Extensive mid—brain stem hemorrhage… Level I coma…”
BYE