At the end of 2017 I went on a little ‘medical thriller’ binge and ended up reading a couple books by one of my favourite authors in the genre Robin Cook. Instead of writing each review in an individual post, I thought it would be a good idea to group them all together in a Medical Thriller Mega Review.
Blindsight by Robin Cook
This is the first in the ‘Jack Stapleton and Laurie Montgomery’ series however Jack is nowhere to be seen (which I was slightly disappointed about.) He would have been a great help in this case as an Ophthalmologist, as Laurie deals with a number of cocaine overdoses in a surprising demographic as well as gang style executions of seemingly random individuals, whose only connection is that they are scheduled to have eye surgery before they were murdered. Blindsight follows Cook’s normal medical thriller storyline as we follow Laurie’s investigation into these deaths as she begins to suspect foul play. From the beginning we see what type of character Laurie is: strong and intelligent with a sense of duty and drive to do what is right. The story is interesting as always, though I felt the plot was more obvious then his other books as from the first couple of chapters I already knew how everything was going to play out. One of the other major character in the series, Lou, is very unlikeable in this book, showing extreme jealousy and at times becomes petty as he learns about Laurie’s new relationship, but I am glad to say that his character drastically improves throughout the rest of the series. Overall, Blindsight is a thrilling book with a sound plot line and is easy to read and get lost in.
Nano by Robin Cook
Nano is one of Cook’s more recent books (as evident by the characters use of iPhones throughout the story) and probably one of his more unrealistic in term of the concepts and ideas. The second book in the ‘Pia Grazdani’ series, we follow Pia as she works in the revolutionary field of nanotechnology as she tries to recover from the traumatic experiences of the first book in the series. Working on nano-robots designed to fight infection and cure cancer, among other things, she gets the feeling something is not right as she comes across an employee who appeared to have had a major heart attack…and later wakes up perfectly fine. After all of her questions are shut down by the higher powers, Pia along with her new friend Paul, start to look into the owner of the company and expose the potentially dangerous and illegal work they are performing. The storyline of this book and the technology included is a lot more unrealistic then normal (and that is coming from someone who works in the field of medical research) which didn’t let me fully immerse myself into the story as much as I normally do. The storyline was also less focused on the research and the science and into Pia and her character, especially her relationships with her father, her friend Paul (who is such a cool character), her long time friend/potential partner George, and her shady boss who constantly tries to hit on her. The book also ended on a cliffhanger which is totally unlike any of his other books. The story was not tied up with a nice bow at the final page and I am actually keen to read the next book as I want to know what happens to Pia.
Vector by Robin Cook
This is the fourth book in the ‘Jack Stapleton and Laurie Montgomery’ series and I have to say it is probably my least favourite. I am normally all for this series, particularly due to Jack as he is such a greta character, but this book missed the mark in the plot line. It did have a promising premise, Jack investigating a couple suspicious deaths due to Anthrax and Botulism, but that was pretty much all of the science, medicine and investigation Jack does. At least half of the book is dedicated to following the Russian at the centre of the bioterrorism (I cannot even remember his name) and his terror plot with a group of white supremacists to take down the system. I honestly did not care for this character and all of the focus on this storyline at the expense of the medical aspect of what should be a ‘medical thriller’.
I’m slowly working my way through all of his books, but I still have a fair few to go. Let me know if you have read any of his books or have any suggestions for books written by authors similar to Robin Cook.
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