No comments about Shock.

No comments about Crisis.

No comments about Foreign Body, Narrated By George Guidall, 10 Cds [Complete & Unabridged Audio Work].

No comments about The Point of Departure.

5 comments about Marker.

1. Laurie and Jack are forensic pathologists as well as a couple with a relationship on the rocks. She notices a trend of unexplainable deaths in a local major hospital and begins to investigate against the wishes of her own boss.
   
   Naturally she continues the investigate outside of regular channels and discovers a horrible secret.
   
   I found the story line interesting and fast moving but the characters seemed a bit unbelievable at times - the step from pathologist to action hero is a large one. The rude dominating boss is a stock character along with the hard-drinking detective.
   
   Clearly, Cook writes popular, fast moving stories. This one is also enjoyable.
   



2. Well, I'm off of Cook permanently I think. I adored his earlier books-Coma was a benchmark for medical thrillers. But I can't possibly imagine anyone talking as his characters (Jack, Laurie and all the rest) do. His characters, while likable, are totally one dimensional. It falls into the thriller category only because we knew who the murder was, but not sure of how the individual would be caught. Otherwise I'd just consider it dull.



3. [CAUTION--arguably a spoiler in this review] This could have been a really enjoyable book, but instead it was maddening to me. Why would an author title the book "Marker" and then not expect the readers to figure out from first chapter that the mysterious deaths were because of markers?? This entirely ruined the aura of mystery to me and made the book frustrating to read. And, as if we're not already unable to put one and one together, the author also begins the very first page with a description of the fertilization of the egg of the heroine, and then drags out her "revelation" to herself and the readers that she...hold on to your hats...is pregnant! Who would have guessed! I don't get it. Why would the author pretend to hold out events in this book as mysteries to be solved when he tells the reader right out front what's going on?
   Had this not ruined the book for me, it would have gotten 4 stars.



4. OK, OK, there are only a finite number of ways patients can be killed, maimed, chased, terrified, cut, dissected, etc. in a hospital setting and they must have all been done already, e.g. illegal organ harvesting, corporate greed, etc. etc., and I am sure that this one (Marker) has been done before by some author in some book. Having said that Marker is still a great read. The book flowed so fast and easily that I was literally unable to put it down and was compelled to read it until I was done.
   
   Some random thoughts:
   1) Kudos to Robin Cook for writing so realistically from a female protagonist's point of view. I don't think that can be easily done. Of course he did it right from the beginning with Coma, and for the longest time I never knew if Robin Cook was a Mr. or Ms.
   2) Robin Cook shows himself once again to be a good writer. Marker is easy to read, the characters are well developed, and the book does not suffer from logic lapses. It's not til the very end that I wondered why the book was called Marker.
   3) For most of the book, what I thought was an irritating subplot turned out to be central to the story. I thought that was very neat.
   4) I have no idea why the author chose to let us see from JR's point of view. It didn't really add to the book, and it would have been much, much more suspenseful and thrilling if he didn't. In fact, the story was made for it, because at one point you had all these suspects and all the main characters looked like they were going to be in danger from each one of them in turn. And if you didn't know who the bad guy was it would have been much more interesting. As it was we knew who it was and it was just a matter of when.
   5) The part at the end where the 2 guys were hauling the body and how the NewYawkers were responding was hilarious. Nice.
   6) There's what I'll call an editorial at the end of the book. After all these bestsellers, I guess he's entitled to it. I think Michael Crichton did one in one of his books too. Is this going to become a trend?
   
   Overall, after so many years Robin Cook shows us he can still put out a very, very good book.
   
   7) My personal rant. I refuse to buy any of these new tallback books which the publisher tells us are for easier reading. How? The print size is the same, you are just paying more for a bigger top and bottom margin. And the tallback is more difficult to keep open with one hand. It makes for harder reading, but it's an extra $2 in the publisher's pockets, so I refuse to buy any of them and just borrow them from the library or a friend, just like this one, sorry Robin.
   
   Afterward: I make it a point not to read other reviews until I've done mine, and I was shocked to see so many negative ones. I will concede one point. The ending isn't too believable. LOL, there is no need to kill patients to improve the bottom line. Health"Care" organizations have evolved 10,000 ways to deny or delay your claim. We never received your claim; it's a pre-existing condition; it's not covered; you're not covered; not medically necessary; not pre-authorized; not allowed on Mondays; needs referral from PCP; condition not recognized; coverage lapsed yesterday. Killing is just so lame.



5. THE SETUP
   Medical examiner Lori Montogomery observes the unexplained death of a number of healthy young patients and suspects a serial killer. In a converging storyline, Lori breaks up with fellow medical examiner Jack Stapleton over his inability to commit to the relationship. That's the setup.
   
   COMMENTS--contains spoilers
   The premise that a for-profit medical company is behind the deaths to reduce costs is implausible--mostly because such savings would be hypothetical and in the distant future. Such a scheme might be plausible if the cost savings was assured and in the immediate future.
   
   THE VERDICT
   This is one of the best Cook novels. The characters are few, and the "good guys" are appealing, and well characterized. The plot is fast-paced, captivating, relatively straightforward, albeit predictable. The resolution is satisfying.

5 comments about Critical.

1. This book was good enough to make me want to keep reading, but it wasn't as exciting as his earlier books. It was too wordy. I don't need to know every detail of what people are wearing, eating, etc.



2. Reading this book is like watching a cargo ship run aground. It's slow moving, there are no real surprises, after a while you figure out it won't be good, but you pay attention out of curiosity until it slides to a stop.
   
   This book has actually emboldened me to try writing myself at some point, because if Robin Cook can get published, I'm sure that I have a decent shot at it, as well. The only reason that I can think to recommend this book is as a counter-example to aspiring writers.
   
   Cook's writing style focuses too much on irrelevant details, without enough focus on elements that would advance the plot or create tension. The dialog is often trite and predictable, as if he is just writing the first thing that comes to mind to get the book done. His metaphors cause me to groan, which interrupts any suspension of disbelief, and his characters and their inter-relationships are one dimensional.
   
   Overall, the book reads as if Cook came up with a 50-page story but lifelessly extended it so that he could sell it as a feature.



3. Angels Healthcare has a group of privately owned specialty, primarily surgical hospitals in NYC. The company is about to go public and make lots of money for the executives and investors except for one catch. MRSA or methicillin resistant staph as it kills several of the patients getting surgery there threatens the financial harvest. Despite rigorous infection control practices the problems with MRSA continue. When Laurie's husband Jack (both pathologists) is about to have knee surgery in one of these hospitals, the issue comes into critical focus.
   Normally hospitals take time to build up big problems with MRSA and often the tertiary care centers have the worst situations since they get the sickest patients. However, Angels Healthcare leaps right into a calamity and struggles to maintain its positive IPO outlook. Throw organized crime into this mix and the book gathers more excitement.
   It is a good medical thriller, especially for those who enjoy learning about medical topics and issues. MRSA is a growing threat in and out of hospitals and definitely manages to stir up anxiety and fear, emotions that drive a good part of the plot.The Griffon Trilogy (Pt. I)



4. Okay, so maybe we overlook the strings of outlandish coincidences. And, oh yeah, the over-the-top, bullheaded, obtuseness of a lead character in refusing to face reality and instead putting his life at risk in a situtation where no reader would willingly venture. And the notion that Morgan Stanley would IPO a business venture without knowing the background of the major angel investor. Also the fantastical (and utterly unneeded) sub-plot involving a deranged Iraq war veteran turned hired assassin. Oh, and while we're at it, the comically cardboard success-driven female MBA Angela Dawson, the grizzled beat detective Lou Soldano, the thuggish, wife-beating ex-husband Michael Calabrese, and assorted Mafiosos named Vinnie, Franco, Angelo, Carlo, and Louie.
   
   What's left after discounting the literary schlock? Surprisingly, a decent page-turner of a medical mystery story, which is of course Robin Cook's stock in trade. In CRITICAL, Dr. Cook incorporates two items from the world of current medical news: the financial pressures and implications of private, for-profit hospitals, and the incidence of increasingly virulent forms of staph infections (most recently MRSA) encountered in hospitals among post-surgical patients.
   
   The novel combines both elements into a story that pits a husband-and-wife team of Jack Stapleton and Laurie Montgomery, working for the NYC Chief Medical Examiner's Officer, against a seemingly inexplicable outbreak of rapid and grisly deaths from staph infections at a chain of specialty hospitals. What makes the outbreak so horrifying is that the patients were in the hospital for such minor operations: knee repairs, liposuctions, cataract removals, facelifts, and rotator cuff repairs. While the hospital chain appears to be doing everything in its power to address the outbreak, the infections and deaths continue even though the pattern has gone unnoticed among city health officials for several weeks. It is left to Laurie in particular to solve the mystery before husband Jack goes into one of the self-same hospitals for his own knee surgery.
   
   Cook is at his best in CRITICAL when he reveals the details of the medical examiner's world. He wisely chooses not to limit his story line to the MRSA cases, but instead walks the reader through a number of autopsies, illustrating in several how medical examiners are able to shed unexpected light on causes of death. Readers are made to feel that they are in the autopsy room with the examiners, looking over their shoulders and getting an insider's view. Equally powerful, Cook patiently builds the reader's understanding of medical pattern analysis by following the gradual build-up of Laurie's case-specific data matrix as she searches for commonalities among the two dozen or so deaths. He also illustrates nicely the role of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in acting as a data collector and national clearinghouse for epidemiology matters.
   
   In the final analysis, of course, CRITICAL is a thriller, so it's all about the suspense build-up and the action. As always, Dr. Cook does not shortchange on this account. Despite the frantic silliness of parts of the story line, readers likely will willingly suspend their disbelief in service of the author's edge-of-their-seat plotting that (naturally) races against the clock even as the action crescendos to a climax.
   
   It ain't great literature, but it's a gripping, entertaining read. Sometimes, that's just what we need out of a book. This one delivers well enough..



5. did not find out that i could not do speach to text until after i purchased this book

5 comments about Crisis.

1. Typical Robin Cook medical drama, with a splash of John Grisham court-room battle thrown in.
   
   Craig Bowman, a successful doctor in a concierge medical practice is sued for malpractice eight months after one of his patients dies. Craig's brother-in-law Jack Stapleton, a medical examiner, volunteers to exhume the body and provide his forensic services and expert testimony to help disprove malpractice. Unfortunately, there are those who will do just about anything to keep Jack from finding out the truth of what really happened.
   
   Interesting story, but oddly paced. Some sections drag on (how many times do we have to read about Jack driving in Boston traffic?) while others are blown right through. The ending also left me scratching my head...



2. The book starts off a bit slowly as Craig Bowman, a doctor with excellent clinical skills but poor bedside manner, loses a patient in his concierge medicine practice and gets sued. Dr. Bowman is accustomed to success and accolades and unravels under the implications of the lawsuit. He moves back in with his wife Alexis whose brother, Jack, is a medical examiner in New York. When Jack enters the story, the suspense and interest accelerate considerably. In a thriller/mystery such as this, not everything is as it seems to be as Jack digs through the layers to find out the truth. The book is a bit wordy but otherwise engaging. The courtroom scenes are especially well-done.
   The Griffon Trilogy (Pt. I)



3. Craig Bowman, Doctor, with a midlife crisis leaves his wife and family for a younger women. You know this guy is an idiot. He is a doctor with a fancy car, a fancy apartment, and a gal too young for him. He makes a house call to some old lady with his live in on his way to an expensive night on the town. The old lady dies. He will get cited for malpractice by the widower. To make things look right for the jury his high price lawyer has him move back with his wife. Wife is stupid to take him back. She is a Doctor in her own right and she does not need him. Craig is getting what he deserves. Only a male author would come up with this idea of moving back in. Wife's brother, Jack, is a doctor too that offers to help. Only he discovers Craig is a murderer and Craig jumps ship. Frankly I got tired of the book during the first court scene and skipped to the ending. The ending is stupid. I agree with the other reviewers. Don't waste your time.



4. I'll read anything by Robin Cook, and I am especially fond of the Jack Stapleton character. However, the ending of Crisis (spoiler alert) was ridiculous.
   
   I am still wondering who paid to have the three daughters terrorized. Since Craig Bowman turned out to be the murderer, I guess we are supposed to conclude it was him, but that doesn't really make sense! Actually there are a number of things that don't make sense, but the book was fun to read, so I guess I shouldn't nitpick.
   
   But it was just silly to suggest that Jack wouldn't recognize Craig after a few days just because he dyed his hair. Come on!!
   
   Also, I was a bit distracted by the misuse of words such as effect/affect, phased/fazed, and so on. Any decent proofreader/editor should have caught those.



5. While it is not great literature, I enjoyed the book until the last 50 pages, where CB is revealed to be a murderer. Let's see if I have it straight...
   
   1. CB, a narcissistic doctor who nevertheless has a long history of dedication to his patients murders one of them for no reason. (tired of making housecalls??!!)
   
   2. CB has ample opportunity to stop the autopsy that provides the evidence against him without arousing suspicion, but chooses not to. Instead, he terrorizes his own daughters in an attempt halt the autopsy...yea, that makes sense!
   
   3. CB, during a break in the trial, flees the country using the passport of a patient who died a year ago. Obviously he has been planning the murder for some time...wonder why he didn't just drop the "murderee" as a patient instead...
   
   4. Three days after CB flees, his brother in law sees him in Cuba and "thinks" he recognizes him. After talking with CB, brother in law then is persuaded he made a mistake, and that it must not be CB as his hair color is different and he speaks Spanish. Uh huh...
   
   Without a doubt, this was the most disjointed and disappointing ending I have ever read! I actually spent some time trying to find the pages that had to be missing. Or did Cook paste the ending from another story into this one? A true "trasher"

5 comments about Foreign Body.

1. I agree with many of the comments made in the other reviews that this is not Robin Cook's best, so I will not repeat what others have said. But there was something else about the book that I found particularly annoying. For an author who is a doctor to write an infertility subplot where the 41+ year old woman can't conceive for some "mysterious" reason. Hello?!? Most women over 41 can't conceive! It's called "advanced maternal age". But Laurie's doctor is like "I just can't figure out what the problem is". Way to go, Robin, in perpetuating the myth that women can get pregnant (with the help of fertility doctors) at any age.



2. Robin Cook's books are just brilliant, don't-want-to-put-it-down type of reading. A great yarn to keep you occupied on a long flight !!!!!!



3. I happened to read this book shortly after Marker, which supposedly takes place a couple years before Jack and Laurie get married. In that book, Laurie made a big point about the fact that she was 43! Now, in this book, which would have to be several years later, when Laurie should be about 47, we learn that Laurie is still 43. I guess the author did that to make the pregnancy storyline more believable, but I find inconsistencies like that very distracting. Don't authors realize that readers pay attention to details?
   
   Other than that, the book was OK. I always enjoy Robin Cook. It's definitely a fast read.



4. Most of the book was good and kept me reading, but I have to give it 2 stars because the ending was a huge letdown. Not only was it rushed, but it was completely unrealistic and unbelievable. I was angry I wasted my time reading it.



5. 
   
   I read some of the reviews of this book before I ordered the book - that was a mistake because I almost did not get it, but because I have read every other book by Dr. Cook, I went ahead and bought it. And was very glad I did. I thought it was a typical Cook book and just as satisfying as any I have read - maybe a little better than some. Dr. Cook likes to use women as his main characters, and here he had three heroines, His old standby, Laurie (and her always present jokester husband Jack) plus two other young women, in the process of becoming medical professionals. One of these, a native young nurse from India provides the center of the story, as she is used as a foil for the greedy plans of a company in the business of discrediting India-bound medical tourism for the benefit of a US Hospital conglomerate. The fact that Veena had been abused as a child made her made her, in a way made believable by Cook, vulnerable to participate in their incredible plans to kill American patients, in India for medical procedures, and blame the deaths on faulty treatment. All this was foiled by another heroine, Jennifer, a 4th year California medical student, whose grandmother became one of the victims (with the help of an old friend, Laurie, faithful Jack and Jennifer's boyfriend, Neil, an ER resident). What I liked best were the accurate descriptions of Indian life and culture - simlar to Indonesia, where I spent some time) Lots of medical detail (which I like), a body snatching - crime solving, autopsy (typical Dr. Cook), and a rather drawn out happy ending for all including Laurie, who was trying to get pregnant. I liked it.

No comments about Cure.

5 comments about Intervention.

1. Intervention features Forensic Pathologist Jack Stapleton, who has married his long-term love, Laurie. However, as this novel opens, Jack and Laurie are facing the possible death of their son, born with neuroblastoma. Sadly, they have withdrawn from friends and have not shared their son's problems or their own struggles, keeping it "secret."
   
   In typical Robin Cook fashion, the book begins with Jack on a crusade against a killer of many - alternative medication - after he does an autopsy on a female in her 20's who was treated by an unscrupulous chiropractor, whose treatment led directly to her death. The facts and factors of multiple variations of alternative treatments are discussed and at the beginning of the book, you find yourself anticipating the "war" that has begun between Jack and the "nonmedical" profession.
   
   However, the storyline turns quickly in a different direction, the ossuary found by one of his close college friends. At that point, the direction turns more in the direction of faith healing and the importance of religion in people's lives.
   
   While the ending on behalf of Jack and Laurie can be anticipated from the beginning, the ossuary story is a different matter, and a-la-Dan Brown, you find the church hoping to cover up a potential embarrassment rather than rejoicing in an amazing find. The alternative medicine storyline disappears, and you do not see any form of resolution.
   
   This book is very different than most of the Robin Cook's stories, and I suspect that any one of the three issues addressed in the book could have made a better story than the combination of the three.
   
   Three stars - but I like the other books by Robin Cook much better.



2. This is a surprisingly low quality product by Robin Cook.
   The two interwoven plots(really,there is no plot) follow
   a medical examiner's investigations into alternative healing
   consequences and a theological mystery masquerading
   as a puerile Dan Brown story.
   It's a non starter.We keep waiting for something to exciting
   to develop and the greatest suspense is weather or not
   the ceiling may cave in during an excavation.
   I mean,give us a break.
   It's hard to imagine that a publisher would accept this,
   but then again it is Dr.Cook



3. That I expected more is a compliment to Dr. Cook's previous work, which has been entertaining. This book, however, is an unmitigated disaster: the plot is ludicrous, the main characters are uniformly unlikable, the dialogue is wooden, and the science is invalid. The plot lurches from a poorly researched diatribe against alternative medicine and chiropractic therapy in particular, which is dropped and unresolved, to a transparent, obvious, abrupt and unbelievable denouement that shows everyone to be deserving of participating in a bad ending. The poor science is tantamount to fuel to the fire for those many who have found relief in alternative medical treatment and who feel that some practitioners of conventional medicine have an irrational bias against any and all alternatives. The author's protagonist reads a single book to confirm his suspicions about the relation between chiropractic treatment and VAD, vertebral arterial dissection, and resulting vertebrobasilar artery stroke. An article in the journal Spine laid this issue to rest, in February, 2008, 18 months before this book was published, after looking at a patient population of over 100 million person-years. The study found that victims of this extremely rare condition typically experience headache and neck pain before stroke, and visit conventional medical doctors and chiropractors looking for relief, before the actual stroke. In fact the association of the visits to conventional medical practitioners before stroke is slightly stronger than the association of the visits to chiropractic practitioners.



4. I stopped reading Robin Cook some time ago when I got fed up with his M.D.s are God complex. I picked up "Intervention" at the library and thought I'd give Cook another try. BIG MISTAKE!! This book stunk. There were no redeeming factors at all. I was getting pretty weary making it to Chapter 19. But when he turned a "fourth-floor walk-up" into a four story house I gave up. Didn't bother trying to finish it and I'm glad I didn't. I'm even happier that I didn't spend my hard earned money on it.



5. Boy, was this a disappointment!! I think I've read all of Robin Cook's books, so I anticipated another medical mystery. This book was horrible! I ended up flipping through the chapters that took place in Rome. BORING!! I finished the book, but it took alot longer than normal. And the ending...........don't get me started!! I'll have to think a long time before I buy another book by Robin Cook.