Robin Cook, who likes to scare his readers with grisly medical thrillers, has chosen the most grisly of medical specialties, forensic pathology, as the theme for his latest novel.
The ophthalmologist-turned-novelist relies on his own formula-writing so much that one can almost follow his thinking as he mixes the ingredients for his literary dish:"OK, let's set the story at a morgue, so my characters can have a romp among mutilated corpses. And, in this age of women's liberation, let's make the protagonist a woman in a man's world. For romantic purposes, throw in two suitors. And to make things lively, add a couple of Mafia hit men."
Bingo! A drama naturally evolves.
Laurie Montgomery, 32 and single, works as an associate medical examiner in the office of the chief medical examiner in New York. She becomes aware of a certain trend: Young professionals who are not known to be drug users are dying from overdoses.
Montgomery suspects that contaminated drugs are in circulation and wants to warn the public, but her boss doesn't allow her to do so. In desperation, she leaks the information to the press. She not only gets fired, but becomes the target of Mafia hit men.
For all the excitement, what's behind the mystery turns out to be mundane and anticlimactic. And in this sense, the novel is a disappointment. However, Cook depicts with finesse and humor a relationship between Montgomery, the privileged daughter of a cardiac surgeon, and Lou Soldano, a New York Police Department detective lieutenant from a humble background. And this makes the novel an interesting love story, if not the most exciting medical thriller. - Waka Tsunoda (AP)