Chromosome 6

Rating:
Summary: ONE OF HIS BEST!!!!!
Review: This was a riviting book. I couldn't put it down. I have read every book Cook has written and this is his best. The characters were wonderful. I loved the way he brought all the characters together at the end. I love to read a book where there is different locations and characters. It keeps you on your toes

Rating:
Summary: Very boring-gave up on it
Review: Cook reintroduced some old characters using the same story line descriptions. I felt I was rereading a previously read novel. Editors missed many writing errors which made for awkward sentences. I finished only half the book and gave up

Rating:
Summary: Robin Cook continues his downhill slide
Review: Although many things about this book were enjoyable (the re-introduction to his cast of characters from Contagion), I couldn't help but feel that I was reading a draft for a screenplay. Very little new was revealed about his protagonists and I felt he failed to adequately develop the main antagonists in this novel. However, his main theme does, once again, raise certain moral and ethical issues

Rating:
Summary: A visit with old friends
Review: Robin Cook takes us back to a group of old friends in the New York City Medical Examiner's Office. I particularly enjoyed another adventure with Jack, Lori, Warren and Lou. These characters once again embroil themselves in danger and intrigue. These characters, plus the cast of new villans and ethics-questioning, conglomerate employees, combine to make a lighter-than-usual story in the Cook format for mystery and suspense. It was actually pleasant not to be given nightmares from a Robin Cook novel. We can only hope Cook keeps these characters alive with new adventures to come!

Rating:
Summary: Good, two thumbs up, but not one of Cook's best
Review: The book kept my interest and is one of the better that I have read over the last 6 months. Much of the plot was revealed a little to early, letting the reader figure out what was going to happen and how the book was going to end fairly early into the story. Some of the characters did somewhat of a flip-flop, such as Candace, as the story unfolded. Overall, a very good book, very believable plot (could actually be happening now!), but also one that could have been a little bit more suspenseful had the writer kept a little bit more hidden from the reader

Rating:
Summary: a very good read
Review: As usual, Robin Cook is aware of what is just around the corner when it comes to medical technology. But then again maybe his latest book is more non-fiction then we think

Rating:
Summary: Fast-paced, a real page turner! I couldn't put it down!
Review: Robin Cook did it again!!! If you enjoyed "Contagion", you'll love "Chromosome 6". Some of the same characters we enjoyed in "Contagion"(the doctors from the coroners office in New York) have an integral part in "Chromosome 6". The ending to this story left me wanting more, as do all good mysteries. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys an exciting, fast- paced, science fiction thriller!

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: 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.