Pandemic by Robin Cook – a Review

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Description:
After a young, seemingly healthy woman collapses suddenly on the NYC subway and dies by the time she reaches the hospital, her case is initially chalked up to a virulent case of influenza. That is, until she ends up on Dr. Jack Stapleton’s autopsy table, where Jack discovers something eerily fishy: first, that the young woman has had a heart transplant, and second, that her DNA matches that of the transplanted heart.

Strangely, two more incidences of young people with this same sudden and rapid illness crop up, and Jack fears that this could be the start of an unprecedented pandemic. But the facts aren’t adding up. Something is off about these cases, something creepy, and it’s up to Jack to figure it out before it’s too late.

Thus begins a race against time, during which Jack unveils the dark underbelly of the organ transplant market. His name is Bui Zhao, a businessman and hospital board member who has been cheating the system by using organs and cells from chimeric pigs, via the gene editing biotechnology CRISPER/CAS9, which allows pig genes to be inserted into living human cells.

In a climactic and risky mortal showdown, Jack must face Zhao, the megalomaniac willing to risk the fate of the world to purse his commercial interests, if he wants to save the future of medicine.

Review:

Pandemic by Robin Cook is the 11^th book in his Jack Stapleton & Laurie Montgomery series.  This is my first book in this series, but it read very well as a standalone. I did enjoy this book, but I also had some mixed feelings, which I will go into later.

After a healthy young woman collapses on a train and immediately dies, she ends up on the autopsy table of Dr. Jack Stapleton, our hero.  Jack, who is widely respected in his field, notices some strange things when doing the autopsy.  The woman in question had a heart transplant a few months ago, but her heart was in perfect condition; the organs of the deceased show signs of an unknown virus. Jack becomes deeply involved in trying to determine the cause of death, as well as investigating who the deceased young woman was. 

Jack was also warned by his wife, Laurie (his boss) not to involve CDC and other government organizations until he gets more decisive evidence that this could be a dangerous pandemic.  The trails lead to a high tech successful hospital run by a wealthy Chinese businessman and hospital CEP, who has developed amazing results in organ transplants using bio technology.   The further Jack goes in his investigation, with some more similar deaths, he finds himself  in dangerous situations that put his own life in danger.  There are betrayals, with a few twists and turns. I will not give spoilers so not to ruin the story.

Not having read the other books in this series, I did read that Jack was well liked, but I must admit that for the most part, he did come across as surly, rude, ill mannered pretty much to everyone, except some friends.  This caused me to not really like the character too much, though he was brilliant. 

What follows is an exciting last third of the book, where Jack despite everyone trying to stop him, gets closer to the truth.  However, I thought there were too many medical and scientific details, which can cause you to get lost easily.

Pandemic was a good story and very well written by Robin Cook. If you enjoy medical thrillers, with detailed descriptions, then I suggest you read Pandemic.

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Publisher