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A review by risky_oak
A Case of Need by Michael Crichton, Jeffery Hudson
This is Michael Crichton's fourth book and the first that had a more serious vibe.
As I said in my previous reviews about Crichton's thrillers written under the pseudonym [a:John Lange|12619|John Lange|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1311735441p2/12619.jpg], while a medical student, they were written for financial reasons and were not high literature.
The reason for writing this book was a discussion he had with a senior doctor.
Crichton: Why does the medical profession not address the inequalities and health hazards of the present situation (abortion)
Senior Doctor: Abortion is illegal.
Crichton: I know. It's also medically dangerous and unfair.
Senior Doctor: Abortion is illegal.
He felt that behind this cryptically laconic answer, there were more things left unsaid so during Spring break he wrote this book in 10 days.
The following year (1968) the book was released under the new pseudonym Jeffery Hudson, which caused a stir in Boston (the place that the story takes place and the city Michael studied Medicine).
Everyone was saying who is this Hudson guy that knows so much about the Medical School?
Of course Crichton was joining the conversations acting his role pretty well.
Some months later and the book won the Edgar (Allan Poe) Award and Crichton was alarmed that by accepting the award it would reveal the true identity of Jeffery Hudson: Michael Crichton, a Boston Medical Student.
But in the end he received the award and thankfully for him nothing else happened.
By 1994, when he was already famous, he republished this book (the edition I read) and what I said above is included in his introduction.
And why does this book have a more serious vibe than the previous thrillers?
Because here he is touching a taboo subject, something which is still current even today, let alone in the sixties: Abortion
The story begins with a girl dying from uncontrollable bleeding. The reason is abortion.
Looking for answers a doctor becomes a medical Sherlock Holmes trying to find out the reasons behind this death and the cause of it (abortion). And since this is a taboo subject in the medical world a lot of people want the reasons behind this death to remain unknown, and they might try to silence the doctor too.
At the end of this edition there are appendices were Crichton discuss different procedures, arguments and ethics on abortion.
Crichton's experience as a medical student and as a writer of this book were probably the seeds for the medical series created by Crichton known as ER with George Clooney as a protagonist in the first season.
Read it also in Greek at βιβλιοαλχημείες
As I said in my previous reviews about Crichton's thrillers written under the pseudonym [a:John Lange|12619|John Lange|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1311735441p2/12619.jpg], while a medical student, they were written for financial reasons and were not high literature.
The reason for writing this book was a discussion he had with a senior doctor.
Crichton: Why does the medical profession not address the inequalities and health hazards of the present situation (abortion)
Senior Doctor: Abortion is illegal.
Crichton: I know. It's also medically dangerous and unfair.
Senior Doctor: Abortion is illegal.
He felt that behind this cryptically laconic answer, there were more things left unsaid so during Spring break he wrote this book in 10 days.
The following year (1968) the book was released under the new pseudonym Jeffery Hudson, which caused a stir in Boston (the place that the story takes place and the city Michael studied Medicine).
Everyone was saying who is this Hudson guy that knows so much about the Medical School?
Of course Crichton was joining the conversations acting his role pretty well.
Some months later and the book won the Edgar (Allan Poe) Award and Crichton was alarmed that by accepting the award it would reveal the true identity of Jeffery Hudson: Michael Crichton, a Boston Medical Student.
But in the end he received the award and thankfully for him nothing else happened.
By 1994, when he was already famous, he republished this book (the edition I read) and what I said above is included in his introduction.
And why does this book have a more serious vibe than the previous thrillers?
Because here he is touching a taboo subject, something which is still current even today, let alone in the sixties: Abortion
The story begins with a girl dying from uncontrollable bleeding. The reason is abortion.
Looking for answers a doctor becomes a medical Sherlock Holmes trying to find out the reasons behind this death and the cause of it (abortion). And since this is a taboo subject in the medical world a lot of people want the reasons behind this death to remain unknown, and they might try to silence the doctor too.
At the end of this edition there are appendices were Crichton discuss different procedures, arguments and ethics on abortion.
Crichton's experience as a medical student and as a writer of this book were probably the seeds for the medical series created by Crichton known as ER with George Clooney as a protagonist in the first season.
Read it also in Greek at βιβλιοαλχημείες