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Critical
Author: Robin Cook
ISBN: 039915423X
Publisher: Putnam Adult - 2007-08-07
Format: Hardcover
Book Details Customer Reviews
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Customer Reviews:

Are you kidding me?!

My coworker just read me two pages from this book. OMG! And Cook is a #1 NY Times Bestselling author?! No way. It just goes to show the level of critical reading Americans have, or don't have, today. This was amateur and nothing more. The paragraph contructions, even in middle school, in "my day," would have been marked up with red ink, and rightfully so. Go back to school, Robin, or change careers, because assuming you take pride in what you do, you have no affirmation except from people who don't know good writing, and being on a NY bestselling list doesn't mean much of anything today.

Predictable but Interesting

Robin Cook tends to follow the same formula for all his medical thrillers so any potential reader should already enjoy this predictable style. He does pick medical topics of current import to address and provides interesting information about the subject. In some senses his books serve as a warning about current medical perils.

This particular book is about MRSA, in a particularly deadly staff infection form. Laurie Montgomery and Jack Stapleton, returning New York City medical examiners, actively pursue the origin of a MRSA outbreak in hospitals owned by the same corporation. Book is loaded with information about MRSA with and the education about the virus is enough reason to read this book. It is a very frightening reality in our hospitals.

Boring

I usually like Robin Cook's fiction, but this book was fairly boring and the writing downright stilted. Pass on Critical...it's not worth the time.

Notable only for amateurish writing.

Cook breaks all the rules of writer's craft. Wooden dialogue. Stilted language -- when was the last time you heard a real person say "shall" to express his intention to do something? Information dumps disguised as dialogue between talking heads. Cursory attention to setting. Cardboard, stereotypical characters. Worse, Jack, a main character,is plain stupid -- an experienced ME is hell bent on having knee surgery at a hospital that has killed a string of patients with a virulent infection. Predictable plot. At the one dramatic moment, the author shuts the reader out -- when Laurie was kidnapped and fitted for concrete shoes, the reader is never allowed to experience her terror; thanks to drugs the Mafia enforcers so kindly gave her, she can't even remember what happened. Something is very wrong with a publishing industry that ignores droves of talented writers of medical mysteries in favor of hack work like CRITICAL.

It wasn't a page-turner

As a fan and avid reader of Robin Cook's other books, I can safely say this was not up to par. I could actually put this book down at any time and not feel the need to get back to the story. Normally this is not even an option - his other books keep me up way too late at night cuz I can't put them down!

Oh well. It was a decent story but not exciting... at all.

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Editorial Reviews:

Angela Dawson, M.D., appears to have it all: at the age of thirty-seven, she owns a fabulous New York City apartment, a stunning seaside house on Nantucket, and enjoys the perks of her prosperous lifestyle. But her climb to the top was rough, marked by a troubled childhood, a failed marriage, and the devastating blow of bankruptcy as a primary-care internist. Painfully aware of the role of economics in modern life, particularly in the health-care field, Angela returned to school to earn an MBA. Armed with a shiny new degree and blessed with determination, intelligence, and impeccable timing, Angela founded a start-up company, Angels Healthcare, then took it public. With her controlling interest in three busy specialty hospitals in New York City and plans for others in Miami and Los Angeles, Angela's future looked very bright.

Then a surge of drug-resistant staph infections in all three hospitals devastates Angela's carefully constructed world. Not only do the infections result in patient deaths, but the fatalities also cause stock prices to tumble, leaving market analysts wondering if Angela will be able to hold her empire together.

New York City medical examiners Laurie Montgomery and Jack Stapleton are naturally intrigued by the uptick in staph-related post-procedure deaths. Aside from their own professional curiosity, there's a personal stake as well: Laurie and Jack are newly married, and Jack is facing surgery to repair a torn ligament at Angels Orthopedic Hospital. Despite Jack's protests, Laurie can't help investigating-opening a Pandora's box of corporate intrigue that threatens not just her livelihood, but her life with Jack as well.

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