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cats22's review against another edition
2.0
This was my first book by Robin Cook and I guess I shouldn't have started with this one, since I can see it didn't get very good reviews.
The main problems I had with this book: I guess the gangsters annoyed me the most. I'm not sure what they were doing in a medical thriller in the first place. It seems a huge part of the middle of the book was taken up by these incompetent, 2-bit, hack small-time gangsters with the cheesiest dialogue ever.
They even used phrases like, "The bird has flown," and "The fish have been fed." Ye Gods. Yeah, the local mafioso's name is Vinny. What else?
Anyway, these guys just sit around a lot spying on each other, and you just know that eventually they'll get in each others' way, thus helping out the protag in some way, but for the longest time they're sitting in cars getting on each others nerves and whacking each other up the side of the head like the Three Stooges. "Why I oughta...." "Nyuck, nyuck..."
Other plot points are just a little too much of a stretch for me. Don't want to give anything important away, here, but does anyone believe that one completely unsuspecting person can just happen to accidentally keep avoiding TWO dedicated, trained hit men for a couple of days? Maybe Mr. Bean.
I also don't believe that if a couple of dozen people have contracted an incurable, super-charged flesh-eating virus after surgery, Jack would still insist on going through with HIS surgery. The surgery time and date are obviously an artificial deadline for Laurie to find out what causes the bacteria. It also gets very annoying with Laurie going "Please don't have the surgery...." and Jack going "You're not going to talk me out of it!" THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE NOVEL.
I also thought the "message" was not only annoying but an economic impossibility. Cook seems to think that hospitals shouldn't make any money. They should help everybody regardless of the ability to pay. That means taxpayers picking up the bill, which means eventually bankrupting Medicare and Medicaid, which equals really big UH-OH. If business and medicine really can't co-exist in any way, we're screwed. My guess is that business and medicine aren't really completely incompatible.
Anyway, this could have been written much better.
The main problems I had with this book: I guess the gangsters annoyed me the most. I'm not sure what they were doing in a medical thriller in the first place. It seems a huge part of the middle of the book was taken up by these incompetent, 2-bit, hack small-time gangsters with the cheesiest dialogue ever.
They even used phrases like, "The bird has flown," and "The fish have been fed." Ye Gods. Yeah, the local mafioso's name is Vinny. What else?
Anyway, these guys just sit around a lot spying on each other, and you just know that eventually they'll get in each others' way, thus helping out the protag in some way, but for the longest time they're sitting in cars getting on each others nerves and whacking each other up the side of the head like the Three Stooges. "Why I oughta...." "Nyuck, nyuck..."
Other plot points are just a little too much of a stretch for me. Don't want to give anything important away, here, but does anyone believe that one completely unsuspecting person can just happen to accidentally keep avoiding TWO dedicated, trained hit men for a couple of days? Maybe Mr. Bean.
I also don't believe that if a couple of dozen people have contracted an incurable, super-charged flesh-eating virus after surgery, Jack would still insist on going through with HIS surgery. The surgery time and date are obviously an artificial deadline for Laurie to find out what causes the bacteria. It also gets very annoying with Laurie going "Please don't have the surgery...." and Jack going "You're not going to talk me out of it!" THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE NOVEL.
I also thought the "message" was not only annoying but an economic impossibility. Cook seems to think that hospitals shouldn't make any money. They should help everybody regardless of the ability to pay. That means taxpayers picking up the bill, which means eventually bankrupting Medicare and Medicaid, which equals really big UH-OH. If business and medicine really can't co-exist in any way, we're screwed. My guess is that business and medicine aren't really completely incompatible.
Anyway, this could have been written much better.
booksbecreads's review against another edition
3.0
[b:Contagion|6479037|Contagion|Robin Cook|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51cK9pdcV0L._SL75_.jpg|2666742]was so much better, but not a bad medical mystery.
bibliobethreads's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed this medical thriller which centres around the very current and relevant issue of hospital acquired infection by mRSA. You don't need to be very familiar with medical jargon to read this novel but it probably helps! There are a few business references in this book which did not interest me too much but overall it was an enjoyable read.
rouver's review against another edition
3.0
Another "tenacious, feisty coroner solves crimes that the cops can't" sort of book. While I jumped in at book 7, the author was able to fill me in on who the characters were, their relationships with one another...unlike some other authors (I'm looking at YOU, Martha Grimes). Specialty hospitals have cropped up to maximize profits: they perform all the procedures that pay off vs offering general treatments that may or may not get paid for by medicare/caid. Unfortunately, there has been a rash of very fast moving infections that are hitting their patients, and their patients only. Laurie Montgomery, said feisty coroner, has discovered the pattern & is desperately trying to find out the cause before her coworker-coroner/husband mulishly goes ahead with his surgery in the face of huge red flags against doing so. Honestly, that was my biggest gripe. Jack completely ignores the evidence, his intelligent wife's opinion, and isn't willing to wait to have the operation to fix his torn ACL.
The book was fine for what it was. I might pick up the first in the series, but I'm not rushing out to do so.
The book was fine for what it was. I might pick up the first in the series, but I'm not rushing out to do so.
sarah1984's review against another edition
4.0
I just started a medical course and so I loved reading the phrases and terminology in 'real life' use (as real as a fiction novel can get). Not one of his absolute best, but top 10. Not too many unpronounceable medical terms.
harini's review against another edition
2.0
I had heard so much about Robin Cook and his books before I read this. I have to say that this book does no justice what so ever to all the things said. I found it difficult to read the book and completed it only after 2 years as I can never leave a book half read. The mystery is good but the writing is a let down.
geor0148's review against another edition
3.0
Very much of the same, although I've come to expect that from the Laurie Montgomery/ Jack Stapleton series. A fun and easy read, but the ending was sudden without very much of a wrap up and the plot was pretty much a blending of previous story-lines.
inkerdoodle's review against another edition
2.0
This was my first Robin Cook book. I tried hard to like this book. I enjoyed the parts about the MRSA infection. I hated the parts with the gangster. I wish the book would have been more about the infection and less about the goons trying to kill everyone. I found the whole Laurie trying to stop Jack's surgery to be endearing at first, but it began to grate on my nerves after a while. There were a lot of characters in the book, but none I really cared about. Overall I would not recommend this book.