Rating: Summary: Robin Cook the master of medical thrillers Review: Chromosome 6 is a very good book, you never get bored. There are a lot of action and suspense. The story is about the clonage , and that show what the clonage can do, some human-animal, that make thinking. The book speaks about what past now. It's sometimes hard to understand because there are a lot of the medical terminology. and about a medical examiner named Jack Stapleton who discovers at the morgue in New York City while working that something strange is going on. He notices during an autopsy that a man had had a liver transplant but for some reason he has trouble finding out where and when and also the man didn't need anti - immunity drugs, in other words the body did not try to reject the liver. Jack digs deep to find the answer and the two plots finally connect. I very enjoyed it!
Rating: Summary: An Insult to Literacy Review: I thought I was enjoying "Chromosome 6" until I realized more than halfway through the book that the plot was still not fully developed. Cook spends nearly the entire novel developing the storyline, but never actually drops the proverbial bomb, leaving the reader unincluded in the novel's exposition.
That's a shame because the subject matter (genetic engineering and organ transplantation) and the setting (Equatorial Guinea) are both very intriguing. But both are sacrificed to an underdeveloped story that reads more like a screenplay than a novel. Any potentially redeeming quality in the subject matter never materializes, however, as the story eventually (painstakingly) turns into a ridiculous and farcical sequence of events that have no grounding in common sense or reality.
Cook spans page after page recounting terribly inconsequential and purposeless dialogue between characters, and then amazingly churns out even more pages so that one of the characters can then tediously recount that dialogue to a different character. I'm talking lengthy expositional conversations over New York traffic, wrong numbers, and cab rides. The good news is that I got to brush up on my ability to skim read.
Every character that appears in "Chromosome 6" is as underdeveloped as the plot. To add insult to injury, the random instances when Cook attempts to delve deeper into the psyches of his protagonists, he merely exposes aspects that are usually totally irrelvant to the story, not to mention wholly uninteresting. Cook also presumes his readers so completely naive or gullible as to believe that people would actually act in the manner in which his characters behave.
The dialogue between the characters, in addition to being exhaustive, is forced, unbelievable, and unrealistically proper.
It is evident, despite the innumerable flaws of "Chromosome 6", that Cook is not necessarily a bad writer. His writing is clear, devoid of any distracting and unnecessary description, and, despite the subject matter, is easy to comprehend. Unfortunately, however, the end result of "Chromosome 6" negates any hint that Cook might have the ability to tell a decent story.
Despite the endless shortcomings of "Chromosome 6", however, I almost would have given it 2-stars, which in itself is quite generous, but the total absurdity of the ending prevents me from even going that far. One star is plenty for this book.
Rating: Summary: 1-Dimensional Writing Review: I was very disappointed with this novel. I have heard from so many people that Robin Cook writes such good medical thrillers. So decided to read this book as part of my research into how society and literature depicts geneic engineering in animal species. This was definately the worst book of the many that I read. The plot was unbelievably bad, the characters were underdeveloped and the "bad guys" horribly sterotypic. Additionally the characters behaved in ways that were senseless. There are many other books that deal with this subject/premise. I felt as if I wasted my time with this one.
I recommend Sims by F. Paul Wilson or Dark Inheritance by W. Michael Gear and Kathleen O'Neal Gear. Both have more believable characters and offer much more suspense.
Rating: Summary: Definitely a page turner but the ending?????? Review: Once I reached page 75 I could hardly put this book down! Very exciting however, I didn't expect to have to come up with my own ending. You have to assume Kevin, Candace, and Melanie made it back to the U.S. ok, assume the whole operation was shut down, and once Esteban who also went to Africa with Warren,Natalie, Laurie, and Jack introduced everyone to his relative he is never mentioned again. Did he stay in Africa or what? And where did Warren and Natalie go in the end? If they all left New York together shouldn't they have arrived back together? I guess the glossary at the end was nice, but wasn't really necessary since the medical terms are explained pretty well throughout the story. Also, the ending was rushed. Robin Cook did the same thing with Toxin, left you hanging in the end. I've only read 2 of his books, do all of them end this way? I want to read more but, I don't want to be let down in the end. Oh well, if nothing else, I'll gain alot of knowledge.
Rating: Summary: OVERCOOKED Review: Robin Cook by now must realize he must sacrifice the "king of medical thrillers" to the charming Tess Gerritsen. Although Cook has done some good work, this muddled, overdrawn, repetitious tome is too long in length and too short on excitement. While Tess manages to keep the reader braced for unexpected twists, Cook leads you to where you know it's going, and peoples it with some of the most uninteresting characters I've had the displeasure to spend time with. The mafia characters are hilariously inept, and the heroes at the cloning site are childish, stupid, and reminiscent of an episode of Dawson's Creek. This is not Cook at his best, the three stars are to recognize his previous works and hope they get better after this one.
Rating: Summary: OVERCOOKED Review: Robin Cook by now must realize he must sacrifice the "king of medical thrillers" to the charming Tess Gerritsen. Although Cook has done some good work, this muddled, overdrawn, repetitious tome is too long in length and too short on excitement. While Tess manages to keep the reader braced for unexpected twists, Cook leads you to where you know it's going, and peoples it with some of the most uninteresting characters I've had the displeasure to spend time with. The mafia characters are hilariously inept, and the heroes at the cloning site are childish, stupid, and reminiscent of an episode of Dawson's Creek. This is not Cook at his best, the three stars are to recognize his previous works and hope they get better after this one.
Rating: Summary: An intriguing and unsettling read Review: Robin Cook has created a fascinating storyline: the creation of human genetic "seconds" that offer the possibility of organ transplants with no adverse reactions. Of course, nothing this procedurally complicated or morally questionable comes cheap, so only the most affluent can afford the procedure. Not surprisingly, several members of the mafia become clients of the biotech firm offering this service. I enjoyed the book, as well as the world travels, and meeting the bonobos monkeys. The end of the book is exciting, but after the climax the reader is left wondering what will eventually happen to the main characters. Also keeping the book from a "10" rating is the superficial character development, as well as the almost anticeptic relationships among the characters. However, the storyline is inspired and makes the book worth reading
Rating: Summary: Stunningly bad. Run, run from this book! Review: Robin Cook's novel of genetic manipulation which creates a race of proto-human simians is laughable. My congratulations, however, go to him for apparently creating one of these creatures himself, as Chromosome 6 appears to have been edited by one of these self-same bonobo apes!This novel is tripe- absurd, unbelieveable characters (in particular the female characters assisting Kevin at the complex in Africa), dialogue that is beyond clumsy, the most howlingly bad, stereotypical mafiosi imaginable- I fail to see how any editor worth his salt wouldn't be forced to ask for an extensive rewrite. That is, of course, unless he were a genetically engineered chimp editing with a sharpened flint. Yup, that would be the only possible reason for this literary train wreck.
Rating: Summary: Stunningly bad. Run, run from this book! Review: Robin Cook's novel of genetic manipulation which creates a race of proto-human simians is laughable. My congratulations, however, go to him for apparently creating one of these creatures himself, as Chromosome 6 appears to have been edited by one of these self-same bonobo apes! This novel is tripe- absurd, unbelieveable characters (in particular the female characters assisting Kevin at the complex in Africa), dialogue that is beyond clumsy, the most howlingly bad, stereotypical mafiosi imaginable- I fail to see how any editor worth his salt wouldn't be forced to ask for an extensive rewrite. That is, of course, unless he were a genetically engineered chimp editing with a sharpened flint. Yup, that would be the only possible reason for this literary train wreck.
Rating: Summary: Not The Best Cookbook I've Read Review: Robin Cook, doctor turned writer, has produced a bundle of popular books in the "medical thriller" genre. I've read most of them, so it is fair to say that I generally enjoy Dr. Cook's work. His medical knowledge and use of topical ideas from the health care field make his tales intriguing, and they are always fast-paced. Unfortunately, character development is not a priority, and Cook's plots have tended to become increasingly predictable and far-fetched. CHROMOSOME 6 is an improvement over some of Dr. Cook's other recent books. He divides the action between the U.S. and an African research facility, and he raises some genuine concerns with regard to cloning and bio-engineering. Also, he brings back a likeable protagonist (Dr. Laurie Montgomery) from a previous book. The action is non-stop, so boredom isn't a problem. On the downside, though, Cook's plots have become very predictable. There is plenty of action but few surprises. Characterization also remains a problem. Besides the general lack of depth, Cook's mafiosi are so stereotypical that they're more laughable than sinister, and the behavior of the two main female characters at the African site in the face of mercenary troops and flying bullets is totally unbelievable. Finally, as several other reviewers here have mentioned, the story ends quite abruptly, as though the author suddenly ran out of space. CHROMOSOME 6 isn't, IMO, Robin Cook's weakest book (I'll leave that honor to INVASION), but it's a long way from being one of his best. Unless you're a diehard fan, I'd advise that you skip this one. There are lots of better books out there, including several of Cook's earlier efforts.
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