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3.15 AVERAGE
3.15 AVERAGE
I was happy when I was contacted to find out if I wanted to read and review Robin Cook's newest thriller, "Host". I remembered that the name Cook used to be spoken reverently in our home when I was a teen. His books were always fought over by my parents, who got to read the latest tome first. I was therefore excited to read a Cook thriller, I have to admit, I thought "why haven't I picked one of his books up recently?". This offer from G.P. Putnam’s Sons/Penguin Random House certainly would correct my omission.
Lynn Peirce, a fourth year medical student at Mason-Dixon University hospital is our main character. Lynn encouraged her boyfriend Carl to have his simple knee operation done at her Hospital and she even recommended the perfect doctor to do it. But something goes wrong with the anesthesia and Carl doesn't wake up after surgery. Lynn is stunned but when she hears of another case of a simple surgery ending in the patient being comatose she becomes suspicious. Is there something going on in Mason-Dixon University Hospital? As Lynn and her medical school partner Michael look for answers, their medical careers and their very lives are put in danger. Searching for the truth may be very bad for their health.
Although Mr. Cook is still a wonderful writer who illicits feelings of excitement in the reader, this newest novel seems to be somewhat of a rehash of an older Cook thriller. As I understand, "Coma", written in 1977, was Robin Cook's first big hit. I am sorry to say that "Host" seems to be a rehash of the main theme of that first book.
Now, that's not to say it isn't good, at least for those who have never read Cook. I, however was a little disappointed. For me, because I had read "Coma", I found this book to be only a three star out of five. If you haven't ever read Cook though, I'd recommend trying this one, it has all the latest technological upgrades to the medical field added in that wouldn't have existed in 1977. I just wish this had been more of an original and new Cook book.
Lynn Peirce, a fourth year medical student at Mason-Dixon University hospital is our main character. Lynn encouraged her boyfriend Carl to have his simple knee operation done at her Hospital and she even recommended the perfect doctor to do it. But something goes wrong with the anesthesia and Carl doesn't wake up after surgery. Lynn is stunned but when she hears of another case of a simple surgery ending in the patient being comatose she becomes suspicious. Is there something going on in Mason-Dixon University Hospital? As Lynn and her medical school partner Michael look for answers, their medical careers and their very lives are put in danger. Searching for the truth may be very bad for their health.
Although Mr. Cook is still a wonderful writer who illicits feelings of excitement in the reader, this newest novel seems to be somewhat of a rehash of an older Cook thriller. As I understand, "Coma", written in 1977, was Robin Cook's first big hit. I am sorry to say that "Host" seems to be a rehash of the main theme of that first book.
Now, that's not to say it isn't good, at least for those who have never read Cook. I, however was a little disappointed. For me, because I had read "Coma", I found this book to be only a three star out of five. If you haven't ever read Cook though, I'd recommend trying this one, it has all the latest technological upgrades to the medical field added in that wouldn't have existed in 1977. I just wish this had been more of an original and new Cook book.
Les voy a ahorrar el trabajo: la culpa (siempre) es de los rusos. Ya había leído algo de Robin Cook en la adolescencia, un libro bastante interesante que había heredado de mí abuelo (hashtag melancolía). Lo que no sé es si ese libro era mucho mejor que este, o me interesaba mucho más el tema (tumbas egipcias) o si la traducción era mejor (los bepis de Emecé nunca hubieran escrito "imprimido" tantas veces en un libro) o si simplemente era menos exigente porque era uno de los libros de mi abuelo. La realidad es que lo rescatable es que siempre está muy bien documentado y acerca datos precisos, pero por lo demás la historia es básica y un poco sabemos lo que va a pasar desde el primer capítulo.
En fin. Es llevadero, pero no mucho más.
En fin. Es llevadero, pero no mucho más.
Some good ethical questions on human drug experiments
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I generally enjoy Robin Cook's books, but this time I found that in this book, Host, the character Michael seemed made up, not real, not believable. I found his language to be extremely distracting and off putting and did not add a thing to the story. As a black person myself, I don't know a single person who speaks like that. Oh, I'm sure they're some out there, but it was just too much for me...and from the comments above, for some other readers too. But besides all of that, the rest of the book was ok.
This was definitely a page turner, even more so than the last book I read by him, Cell. The only complaint I would have would be the author's constant mention of a main character's race. You can tell the author attempted to paint the character in a positive light, but the stereotypical descriptions outweighed this attempt. Every time the character was mentioned, so was his race, which was unnecessary, didn't add to the storyline at all and was actually pretty offensive. Any time the character defied a stereotype in a good way, the author made it seem as though it was a shocking surprise that "his type" could actually be smart and literate. Other than that, decent read.
adventurous
dark
informative
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No