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charlie9_9's review against another edition
5.0
a very easy read. the book flowed easy and there is no problem following the plot line. it was straight forward with no real twist once the plot was established. would differently recommend the book to anybody
tsentas's review against another edition
1.0
This is a badly written book, with weak dialogue, poorly drawn and unsympathetic characters, a major story line that gets aborted midway through, and a truly terrible, terrible ending.
The only reason I write this review is to warn others:
Stay Away.
Don't buy this book.
Don't borrow it.
Don't accept it as a gift.
If you have "friends" who claimed to enjoy reading it, they do not deserve your friendship.
Move along.
The only reason I write this review is to warn others:
Stay Away.
Don't buy this book.
Don't borrow it.
Don't accept it as a gift.
If you have "friends" who claimed to enjoy reading it, they do not deserve your friendship.
Move along.
dajna's review
2.0
It was such a good idea, ruined by the ending. Can I ask for a retelling by [a:Dan Brown|630|Dan Brown|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1399396714p2/630.jpg]?
So, Jack and Laurie had a son, and he's sick. Laurie stays at home, caring for him 24/7, while the mainly Jack barely galces at the child. Because, you know, trauma. He doesn't anything around the house, he's sad because more often than not had to order food since the sick chiald is preventing his wife to cook him dinner and as soon as opportunity rises he's out of the house again. To celebrate with old friends, or to play basketball. Not once in the whole novel he interact with his son or help his wife with house chores.
All of a sudden two college mates call him to be part of a project and he jump at the opportunity to be stimulated by a 2000 years old mistery.
My problem with the book is that it seems badly patched up. We start with a crusade against alternative medicine and chiropractors, but it burns down fast. There are a few attempts to address the topic again while talking about JJ (their child) therapy, but it sounds forced. Than the subplot is dropped al together to focus on the science vs religion issue, which is interesting. And the mistery related to the Virgin Mary is good, is plausible, one wants to read the DNA report.
But there's no climax, no closure. Cook has bitten more than he could chew and decided to end it in flames. Maybe he didn't want to loose his more religious readers?
Anyway... he got rid of the science part in an auto-da-fé, admitting that the Chrch must hid information in order to survive and keep the status quo. But since Jack is a smartass he decided to take advantage of the info discovered by his dead friend's dead wife for his own gain.
Jack has never been a sensible carachter, but in this book he's clearly a bad person.
So, Jack and Laurie had a son, and he's sick. Laurie stays at home, caring for him 24/7, while the mainly Jack barely galces at the child. Because, you know, trauma. He doesn't anything around the house, he's sad because more often than not had to order food since the sick chiald is preventing his wife to cook him dinner and as soon as opportunity rises he's out of the house again. To celebrate with old friends, or to play basketball. Not once in the whole novel he interact with his son or help his wife with house chores.
All of a sudden two college mates call him to be part of a project and he jump at the opportunity to be stimulated by a 2000 years old mistery.
My problem with the book is that it seems badly patched up. We start with a crusade against alternative medicine and chiropractors, but it burns down fast. There are a few attempts to address the topic again while talking about JJ (their child) therapy, but it sounds forced. Than the subplot is dropped al together to focus on the science vs religion issue, which is interesting. And the mistery related to the Virgin Mary is good, is plausible, one wants to read the DNA report.
But there's no climax, no closure. Cook has bitten more than he could chew and decided to end it in flames. Maybe he didn't want to loose his more religious readers?
Anyway... he got rid of the science part in an auto-da-fé, admitting that the Chrch must hid information in order to survive and keep the status quo. But since Jack is a smartass he decided to take advantage of the info discovered by his dead friend's dead wife for his own gain.
Jack has never been a sensible carachter, but in this book he's clearly a bad person.
kelseyum's review
adventurous
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
weaselweader's review against another edition
1.0
Clearly, Robin Cook is fresh out of ideas ...
... and even those ideas he does have these days are executed in a half-baked fashion and poorly executed.
The first half of INTERVENTION (and, for my money, far and away the better half of the book) is an extended diatribe against alternative medicines and therapies such as acupuncture and homeopathy. In particular, Robin Cook, as an MD, clearly has some serious issues with chiropractic medicine.
The story starts with some promise as his returning favourite character, Jack Stapleton, New York City medical examiner, conducts a one man epidemiological study of vertebral artery dissections ostensibly caused by, shall we say, overly aggressive chiropractic cervical manipulations. Whether or not Robin Cook's obvious rant against chiropractic medicine is fundamentally sound is not for me to judge but, I will say, that as the foundation for a medical thriller, it had definite bite to it and was coming up in roses at around the halfway point of the book. That is, it was until Stapleton (or was it, in fact, Robin Cook) decided that the public so wanted to believe in the efficacy of alternative therapies that they simply wouldn't accept any efforts to shut them down or bring them under more serious regulation. And, that was all she wrote ... poof, end of plot-line, end of story, dropped like the proverbial hot potato and this poor reader was left with his jaw hanging slackly asking "Wha' happen?".
I guess that one didn't work out so it was onto plot line #2 and we'll see how that goes!
In this part, Robin Cook attempts an excursion deep into science vs religion territory in which he works with an archaeologist friend who claims to have discovered the bones of the Virgin Mary in a crypt underneath the Vatican. The story ends on a ridiculous, completely ambiguous note surrounding the miraculous cure of his son's neuroblastoma but, like the first half of the book, no real plot resolution is ever reached.
So what did these two ideas have to do with one another and how were the two threads united into a single story? Good question indeed! So far as I could see the answer is, "Nothing at all!" to the first question and "They weren't!" to the second question. So what we really have here is two exceptionally poorly executed vast ideas butted together to form (dare I say it?) a half-vast whole which is an utter waste of precious reading time and a sad testament to the thriller writer who can probably lay claim to the foundation of the medical thriller genre. Hang up those spurs, Mr Cook, and retire with dignity. I can't imagine you need the money!
Not recommended.
Paul Weiss
... and even those ideas he does have these days are executed in a half-baked fashion and poorly executed.
The first half of INTERVENTION (and, for my money, far and away the better half of the book) is an extended diatribe against alternative medicines and therapies such as acupuncture and homeopathy. In particular, Robin Cook, as an MD, clearly has some serious issues with chiropractic medicine.
The story starts with some promise as his returning favourite character, Jack Stapleton, New York City medical examiner, conducts a one man epidemiological study of vertebral artery dissections ostensibly caused by, shall we say, overly aggressive chiropractic cervical manipulations. Whether or not Robin Cook's obvious rant against chiropractic medicine is fundamentally sound is not for me to judge but, I will say, that as the foundation for a medical thriller, it had definite bite to it and was coming up in roses at around the halfway point of the book. That is, it was until Stapleton (or was it, in fact, Robin Cook) decided that the public so wanted to believe in the efficacy of alternative therapies that they simply wouldn't accept any efforts to shut them down or bring them under more serious regulation. And, that was all she wrote ... poof, end of plot-line, end of story, dropped like the proverbial hot potato and this poor reader was left with his jaw hanging slackly asking "Wha' happen?".
I guess that one didn't work out so it was onto plot line #2 and we'll see how that goes!
In this part, Robin Cook attempts an excursion deep into science vs religion territory in which he works with an archaeologist friend who claims to have discovered the bones of the Virgin Mary in a crypt underneath the Vatican. The story ends on a ridiculous, completely ambiguous note surrounding the miraculous cure of his son's neuroblastoma but, like the first half of the book, no real plot resolution is ever reached.
So what did these two ideas have to do with one another and how were the two threads united into a single story? Good question indeed! So far as I could see the answer is, "Nothing at all!" to the first question and "They weren't!" to the second question. So what we really have here is two exceptionally poorly executed vast ideas butted together to form (dare I say it?) a half-vast whole which is an utter waste of precious reading time and a sad testament to the thriller writer who can probably lay claim to the foundation of the medical thriller genre. Hang up those spurs, Mr Cook, and retire with dignity. I can't imagine you need the money!
Not recommended.
Paul Weiss
granolagina's review against another edition
1.0
Robin Cook hasn't had a good book for several years.