Tag Archives: Robin Cook

Bellevue by Robin Cook – a Review

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Bellevue by Robin Cook – a Review

 

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Description:
Twenty-four-year-old Michael “Mitt” Fuller starts his surgical residency with great anticipation at the nearly 300-year-old, iconic BELLEVUE HOSPITAL, following in the footsteps of four previous, celebrated Fuller generations. The pressure is on for this newly minted doctor, and to his advantage he’s always had a secret sixth sense, a sensitivity to the nonphysical which gradually plays a progressive role, especially as one patient after another assigned to his care begin to die from mysterious causes. At first he thinks it is just the ‘luck of the draw’, but as the numbers mount, he’s forced to think otherwise. As he struggles to find out why these people are dying while simultaneously having to deal with the unreasonable demands of being first-year resident, things rapidly spiral out of control.

Between fatigue, stress, and nerves, it’s no wonder that these first few days and nights of his surgical residency are tough ones. What is surprising, though, are the visions that begin to plague Mitt – visions of a little girl in a blood-stained dress, hearing bloodcurdling screams in the distance, and worse. As bodies mount and Mitt’s stress level rises, he finds himself drawn into the secrets of the abandoned Bellevue Psychopathic Hospital building, which to his astonishment still exists, defying demolition a few doors north of the modern Bellevue Hospital high-rise. Forcing an unauthorized entry into this storied but scary structure, Mitt discovers he’s more closely tied to the sins of the past than he ever thought possible.

 

 

 

Review:

Bellevue by Robin Cook is a suspense, horror, gripping medical thriller with a supernatural twist. We meet Michael (Mitt) Fuller, who starts his surgical residency with Bellevue Hospital; a three-hundred-year-old famous hospital in New York City.   He follows his earlier ancestors from many years ago; Mitt is a first-year intern; being sleep-deprived. The pressure brings upon fatigue, stress, and nerves, with the first few days being tough ones.

Mitt also has a secret sixth sense, and though he has done well working with the other residents, he begins to worry that all of his patients that he was assigned to, begin to die from mysterious causes. From the start, Mitt began to see visions from the past, such as a young girl in a blood-stained dress, as well as others who show up out of nowhere.  Things begin to spiral out of control, especially with all his patients ending up dead; as well finding himself drawn to the long-closed Bellevue Psychopathic Hospital. With this leading to a supernatural ghost element and Mitt finding himself anxious and stressed. Mitt tries to explain to his friend, who is also just starting out, and worries that he is being affected by his so-called visions.

Mitt will meet someone who also has visions, and learns more about what his ancestor did all those years ago.  Mitt will discover that he be more closely tied to the terrible scary things done by his ancestors.  Two of his ancestors were controversial; such as being opposed using anesthesia after it was widely accepted, and other also causing serious pain. Bellevue was a suspenseful, scary, thought-provoking, and tragical medical thriller. The last third of the book was very intense, with a number tragic events.  I will say that I was shocked with the way things ended in this book. Bellevue was well written by Robin Cook, but again, I did not like how this did end.  Overall, this was a good book, but the supernatural element changed drastically.  If you are a fan of medical thrillers, then you should read this book.

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Publisher

 

 

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Manner of Death by Robin Cook – a Review

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Manner of Death by Robin Cook – a Review

 

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Description:
In this new fast-paced medical mystery-thriller from the New York Times bestselling author Robin Cook, fan favorites Jack and Laurie must determine the manner of death after a pathology resident’s suspicious suicide.

Due to Jack Stapleton’s ongoing recovery from his near-death confrontation with a serial killer, his wife Laurie Montgomery, the NYC chief medical examiner, is carrying the load both at work and at home. When she insists an underperforming pathology resident named Ryan Sullivan assist her on a suicide autopsy, Laurie unknowingly provokes an emotional storm in the trainee.So, when Ryan himself appears on the medical examiner’s table days later, an apparent death by suicide, Laurie’s guilt compels her to try to understand why. Jack’s autopsy on the resident opens the disturbing possibility that the manner of death wasn’t suicide but instead a staged homicide. But staged by whom?Laurie ignores her own professional rules and responsibilities to investigate personally who might want Ryan dead…and for what reason. Thus begins a dangerous inquiry into a fraudulent but highly lucrative cancer diagnostics company, which might just cost Laurie her life.

 

 

Review:

Manner of Death by Robin Cook is a stand-alone mystery thriller. This is actually the 14th novel that features fan favorites, Laurie and Jack. Laurie Montgomery is the chief medical examiner in NYC; her husband Jack Stapleton is a pathologist, who is recovering from an attack by a serial killer (in previous book). Laurie decides to work with Ryan Sullivan, a pathologist, who is assigned to work for a month with the medical examiner team.   

Ryan comes across as unlikeable, as he is not happy about doing autopsies, especially since his experience with suicides as a child, as well as trying to take his own life in the past. Laurie takes him under her wing, to help him see a different look at how things are done.  When she explains about red flags on recent suicides, which are questionable, especially with 6 flags in a 6-month period. Are they truly suicides or homicide. Ryan requests Laurie to allow him to review these cases further, and she agrees to let him investigate.

Ryan will visit a number of medical legal investigators (MLI), asking questions regarding these suicides, and why they did not have enough information to look beyond a suicide. As Ryan gets deeper into the research, he finds that the deceases cases are linked to an oncology clinic, that gives early cancer testing results.  Both Laurie and Jack have warned Ryan are only to investigate within the department, but he makes a decision visit the company to make them aware of his findings

What follows is a wild and intense situation that will put a number of lives in danger.  When Ryan is found dead of an apparent suicide, Laurie steps up to find out why Ryan would kill himself.  She ignores her own rules of keeping things inside the office, and puts herself very much in danger, in her looking at Ryan’s paper work.

Manner in Death was a suspenseful, engrossing, intense and fast paced story that kept me glued to my kindle.  I could not put this down, as the last quarter of the book was so very exciting. Manner of Death is another wonderful thriller by Robin Cook, which was very well written.  If you enjoy medical mystery-thrillers, I suggest you read Manner of Death.

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Publisher

 

 

 

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Pandemic by Robin Cook – a Review

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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 11th 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

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Charlatans by Robin Cook – a Review

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Charlatans by Robin Cook – a Review

 

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Description:
Noah Rothauser is the new super chief resident at Boston Memorial Hospital. Housing state-of-the-art medical facilities, it’s always been Noah’s dream to work for such an esteemed institution. But the pressures of the role become all too clear when a seemingly routine operation results in the tragic death of an otherwise healthy man. With potential malpractice suspected it falls to the newly appointed surgical doctor to investigate what happened.

Questioning those involved uncovers bitter feuds within the hospital’s surgical staff when Dr. William Mason, the egotistical, world-class surgeon who performed the operation, is quick to blame staff anaeshtetist Dr. Ava London for the disastrous outcome. However Dr. London, along with the nursing staff, point the finger at the surgeon.

When two more anaesthesia-related deaths occur, Noah is forced to look closer at the impressively competent, charming, yet mysterious Dr. London, and he quickly realizes there’s far more to her than meets the eye. With his own job and integrity coming into jeopardy, Noah must decide which doctor is at fault and who he can believe – before any more lives are lost . . .

 

 

Review:

Charlatans by Robin Cook is another exciting book in his psychological medical thrillers. Noah Rothauser is our hero, and the new super Chief resident at Boston Memorial Hospital.   Noah is much respected in the hospital, and is also a workaholic who loves his job.   Very early on in the story, something drastically goes wrong in the operating room on a simple hernia operation.   In desperation, all the top surgeons and anesthesia specialist converge to try to save the person to no avail. 

When Noah interviews everyone, it turns out to be the patient’s fault (he ate when he said he didn’t).    But Nathan comes across the main surgeon, Dr. Mason, who is an egotiscal top surgeon, and he blames the anesthetist, Dr. London, as well as Noah.  However, all the nurses, Dr. London and those involved in early prep work blame Mason for delaying the operation an hour after all the preparation was done.

Noah knows he does not want to face Mason, who has a lot of pull and power in the hospital, which could in the end cost him his job.   What follows is an exciting story line, where Noah will find himself working with Ava London to get to the truth, and in doing so; a slow build romance will follow.   Noah in time will begin to be concerned after a few more unexplained deaths, and his worry about Ava’s other jobs/hobbies, as well as her disappearances.  But all hell breaks loose when Mason comes up with something that will put Noah’s job in jeopardy.  Within all this, there is an underlining story that has nothing to do with the hospital deaths, but little pov’s are shown the will reveal itself with a major twist as we race toward the climax.  It is very difficult to tell too much more, as anything else would be spoilers. 

Robin Cook once again has come up with an exciting thriller that I could not put the book down until I finished it.  There are a lot of surprises, and it did change the game.  I suggest you read Charlatans.

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Publisher

 

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Host by Robin Cook – a Review

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Host by Robin Cook – a Review

 

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Description:
Lynn Peirce, a fourth-year medical student at South Carolina’s Mason-Dixon University, thinks she has her life figured out. But when her otherwise healthy boyfriend, Carl, enters the hospital for routine surgery, her neatly ordered life is thrown into total chaos. Carl fails to return to consciousness after the procedure, and an MRI confirms brain death.

Devastated by Carl’s condition, Lynn searches for answers. Convinced there’s more to the story than what the authorities are willing to reveal, Lynn uses all her resources at Mason-Dixon—including her initially reluctant lab partner, Michael Pender—to hunt down evidence of medical error or malpractice.

What she uncovers, however, is far more disturbing. Hospitals associated with Middleton Healthcare, including the Mason-Dixon Medical Center, have unnervingly high rates of unexplained anesthetic complications and patients contracting serious and terminal illness in the wake of routine hospital admissions.

When Lynn and Michael begin to receive death threats, they know they’re into something bigger than either of them anticipated. They soon enter a desperate race against time for answers before shadowy forces behind Middleton Healthcare and their partner, Sidereal Pharmaceuticals, can put a stop to their efforts once and for all.

 

 

Review:

Host by Robin Cook is another one of his exciting medical thrillers. We meet our heroine, Lynn Peirce, a medical student at Mason-Dixon University, who is in her 4th year. When Lynn’s boyfriend, Carl enters the hospital for a simple surgery on his knee, she goes to see him before going to school. She finds out that her boyfriend is now comatose, and considered brain dead, with no one really sure what happened, other than a blimp on the anesthesia machine.

Michael Pender is Lynn’s friend and also a 4th year medical student at the same school. Together they try to find out what went wrong. Going against all the rules, Lynn and Michael use their being students at the hospital to read the charts, and written explanations from doctors on the case. Before long, they begin to discover that this was not the first unexplained death in the hospital, and many of the complications were very similar. Soon they begin to receive threats of expulsion, and eventually death threats.

Though Michael wants to help Lynn, he fears she is pushing too far, putting herself in danger. Michael agrees to continue to help her, and as findings begin to show a pattern, the danger escalates that will put both of their lives on the line. They discover a conspiracy between the hospital, the Shapiro Institute, where comatose patients are sent, and a drug company that is run by a Russian billionaire. What follows is an extremely exciting, nail biting adventure, with Lynn and Michael on borrowed time, as they venture where they should not have gone, but discover what The Shapiro Institute is really doing.

We hold our breath, as Lynn tries to find someone to help, someone that would believe her, and fast before either her or Michael are killed. This was a very exciting and scary story, which makes us think if being in a hospital is truly a safe place to be. Robin Cook once again gives us a top notch thriller from start to finish. Host was an edge of your seat page turner, and a great read.

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Publisher

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