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Summary: ROBIN COOK'S WORST YET!
Review: I HAVE READ A COUPLE OF ROBIN COOK'S BOOKS BEFORE TOXIN BUT I THINK THIS IS THE WORST YET! I HAVE DWELLED LONGER ON THE DEATHS OF SMALL ANIMALS KILLED IN THE ROADWAY THAN THE DOCTOR GRIEVED FOR HIS "BELOVED" DAUGHTER! AND WHAT ABOUT ALL THE LOOSE ENDS? ROBIN COOK HAS NEVER BEEN TOP NOTCH BUT AFTER TOXIN, I'M SWEARING OFF HIS BOOKS FOR GOOD!
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Summary: Dr. Cook's traditional medical thriller on a rampage
Review: This is not the book for one with a weak stomach. Dr. Cook takes us inside the personal struggle of a grieving father trying to uncover the contamination problems in the meat industry after his daughters horrifying bout with the e-coli virus. While those of us that are familiar with Dr. Cook's highly cusading medical thrillers are not as phased by this novels particular vehement (almost hatred) of managed care, those who are not as prepared for it might be stunned out of their ability to "suspend their disbelief" and may even find it hard to read through. If you can get past the ranting and raving and the fact that the main character is wholely unlikable in the first part of the book, this is a page turning, emotion renching book that will have you thinking in no time that you might actually like to become a vegitarian!
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Summary: Cook's first self-parody????
Review: After I enjoyed Contagion it's been downhill for Robin Cook. This lame attempt at a social commentary on HMOs and our "unsafe" food supply is so laughable it nearly parodies itself. The first half of the book rails against the bottom-line mentality of HMOs as Dr. Kim Regis tries to procure treatment for his food poisoned daughter. Memo to Dr. Cook - HMOs cannot deny treatment, they can only deny coverage. They can't forbid a person from seeking and obtaining medical care, they can only decide not to pay for it. It is ridiculous to expect the reader to believe that since his HMO wouldn't cover a particular procedure, a wealthy cardiac surgeon would have no other options. If you're waiting for hours in an emergency room and you're a rich doctor - get in your Lexus and go to a different hospital, or call your internal medicine buddy from med school, or figure it out for yourself. How lame can you get than to think that anyone, let alone a rich doctor, wouldn't think of something to do to improve the situation rather than get mad and threaten the ER staff. If you're rich and your daughter is dying and your HMO won't cover an MRI, go somewhere else and pay for it yourself! It's a free country. If it was just an average Joe the author would have a point. Most people can't afford to pay for an MRI right out of their pocket, but I suspect that "renowned cardiac surgeons" can. And on the food poisoning issue. There was an elaborate series of events that had to simulaneously take place in order to poison the child. 1) The sick cow had to be infected with a particular strain of e. coli, 2) the cow had to be taken to the meat plant instead of the rendering plant, 2) part of the cow had to fall onto the floor during processing, 3) that meat had to be insufficiently cleaned, 4) the meat had to be left in the restaurant freezer too long, and 5) the burger had to be undercooked by an unlucky flip on the grill, 6) the child had to eat the rare burger, 7) the renowned cardiac surgeon had to encourarge the child the eat the burger after the child pointed out that it was undercooked. If you remove any one of these steps you've got a non-issue. Especially if the burger is cooked right. Again, how can the reader be asked to take this "threat" seriously when such a complicated chain of events had to take place in order to create a potentially hazardous situation. There would be a real story if, instead of creating a crisis by multiple chance occurences, everything went by the book from the slaughtering of the cow to the biting of the burger, and the consumer still got sick. That would be a cause for concern - if the system worked as designed and still failed. But the author's argument refutes itself. This book is a good example of the over-simplified, illogical, group-think that is often appealed to in public safety and investigative reports that often end in over-generalizations and grossly overstated impacts on our everyday lives.
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Summary: Good read, timely topic, typical cook ending
Review: Enjoyed this book. Found subject matter completely credible. Won't eat ground meat ever again. Up and coming vegan. Once again, I was disappointed w/ Cook's ending. He has great talent for creating mystery, carrying you along, working parallel story lines for reader page-turning interest. But his endings are consistently too simplistic, too cut-off. You find yourself frustrated w/ endings, w/ too many questions, and incredulous situations. But I keep reading a Robin Cook medical mystery...ALWAYS in hardback...the best way to read a book.
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Summary: Good story poorly told
Review: This could have been a great story with real suspense but instead ended up being a laughable and cliche'd parody of itself. Robin Cook may be a good doctor, he is not a writer, the characters are shallow and monochromatic and the dialogue is juvenile at best. My eleven year old daughter and myself both thought it was poorly written and developed.
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Summary: I'll never eat hamburger again!
Review: I enjoyed the plot and characters, however the ending came to fast and was to easy. Since reading this book three months ago I haven't touch red meat, the discriptions of the slaughter house are still to vivid in my mind.
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Summary: Disturbing subject, horrid writing
Review: A compelling subject to be sure - I may never go to Burger King again. Too bad the writing is so sophomoric - at times I felt like I was watching a 3rd rate soap opera. As for the ending, Dr. Cook must have had a golf date he couldn't miss - it makes Patricia Cornwell look like Jane Austin.
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Summary: Terrible Ending
Review: The story and the plot is great, but the ending screwed up the whole thing. Like the other 2 books i have read by Mr.Cook, it makes me wonder if Mr.Cook had run out of time or idea at the end. The book just end at the begining of the climax. I was very disappointed when i reach the end.
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Summary: After a slow start, Toxin turns into a gripping novel.
Review: Toxin gets off to a very slow start, as it's mostly just Dr. Kim Reggis complaining about AmeriCare. But as soon as Becky's tragedy hits, the novel takes a turn for the better. Dr. Reggis then begins the race to exploit the meat industry before they get to him. A lot of people who reviewed this book objected to the ending, but I thought it was fitting. For now, the victories are not going to result in the large scale destruction of the meat industry. The victory for Dr. Kim Reggis is increasing the public's awareness of E-coli.
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Summary: Good subject, rushed ending
Review: I really enjoyed the subject matter of Toxin. With the E. coli outbreaks in the past years, it hits pretty close to home. What I didn't like about the book was the rushed ending. It felt unfinished. Where did Kim and his ex-wife go? Was he still facing murder charges? No one ever said anything about the missing safety inspector, whose head was found in the basement of the slaughterhouse. Also, it took a long time for the actual action to start. The daughter dies almost at the end of the book, which is when they started uncovering the conspiracy. The book seemed very rushed and seemed unfinished.
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