Godplayer

Rating:
Summary: Boring... Boring...Boring......
Review: "Godplayer" is probably not the book for those that enjoy Cook for his fast-paced thrillers. In this one he takes his time to develop the characters and puts more focus on their emotions and relationships to each other. And, biggest surprise, it doesn't take the usual path of entering the bold knight at some point that rescues the lady in distress. For that Cook has to be applauded.

Rating:
Summary: Fine book!
Review: Colorful, memorable characters, skillful story development, a lot of real, thriller-like suspense. Both talented and intelligent literature.

Rating:
Summary: Godplayer: Cardio-Horrer
Review: Godplayer, by Robin Cook, is a whole new ball-park in medical mysteries. This book explores th dark side of Cardiology, the study of the heart. I enjoyed this one a lot, it is a new and unique book by the leading author of medical thrillers!

Rating:
Summary: deciding who should live or die
Review: I enjoyed the book. The storyline was good but I thought the characters could have been developed a little more. This is a medical mystery. Cassandra Kinsley, who had been a pathologist resident but had switched to psychiatry because of her failing eyesight, is married to the top heart surgeon at the hospital. Their marriage is getting a little rocky and Cassandra thinks its her fault and then she discovers that her husband is taking drugs to help keep him going with his hectic schedule. To top it off, patients have been dying off that she and her former pathologist partner think is suspicious, but they haven't been able to discover how it is being done, then the pathologist dies after he has surgery and then when she has eye surgery she is almost killed. The book is action packed to the end.

Rating:
Summary: deciding who should live or die
Review: I enjoyed the book. The storyline was good but I thought the characters could have been developed a little more. This is a medical mystery. Cassandra Kinsley, who had been a pathologist resident but had switched to psychiatry because of her failing eyesight, is married to the top heart surgeon at the hospital. Their marriage is getting a little rocky and Cassandra thinks its her fault and then she discovers that her husband is taking drugs to help keep him going with his hectic schedule. To top it off, patients have been dying off that she and her former pathologist partner think is suspicious, but they haven't been able to discover how it is being done, then the pathologist dies after he has surgery and then when she has eye surgery she is almost killed. The book is action packed to the end.

Rating:
Summary: Don' Listen to the Negative Reviews of This Book
Review: I just finished this book and found it every bit as much of a page-turner as his other books. For me, it wasn't a problem that I was able to guess the ending in advance. I really enjoy seeing how Cook has his characters think and behave in all of his novels. The main character thinks and acts very much like someone I used to know, and I really enjoyed the novel for that reason, too.

Rating:
Summary: Formulaic
Review: I was bored - really bored, which is why I picked this book to read from the free book trade shelves at work. It has a good basic story but is so formulaic that I was able to predict the ending after the second or third chapter. Being a medical professional, it was difficult to read about procedures that are outdated now and remember when they were cutting edge. Perhaps it's also a bit scary to remember those I've worked with in the past who have had the same narcissistic outlooks.

I think I'll pass up the other books by Dr. Cook that I have not read as of yet. This is the second one of his that, in my opinion, bombed miserably.

Rating:
Summary: Pretty good...
Review: It was a good book, but not one of Cook's best. I would recommend it to a Cook fan. If you've never read one of his books, though, I wouldn't start with this one. It's not up to his usual standards.

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely boring
Review: This book can be written by any person on the streets who only have the most basic medical knowledge. I have the feeling that this was not even written as a medical thriller as the relavance to medicine was at a minimal level. Boring and stale at most parts of the story and the ending was fairly predictable. Please, read this book only if you have too much time to spare and too much money to waste on a tasteless book.

Rating:
Summary: A good thriller, but with dated characters and attitudes.
Review: This book made me very very angry - even when I enjoyed it.

Here's the thing: Someone is killing patients at Boston Memorial, and the reasons are confusing - but two people are close to realizing that something is going on, so the killer must act. One, Cassi Kingsley, is a former pathology resident who has switched to psychiatry, and the other is her friend Robert, who is still in pathology. They've noticed a pattern in deaths that don't have proper explanations. Cassi's husband, Thomas, is a superstar of the cardiology ward, and a surgeon of top class - he wants her to stop, as if these deaths have a medical reason, it will bring down the hospital. And the murderer wants these investigations to stop as well, for obvious reasons.

Sounds neat, right? Well, it is. Except that the book was written in the 80s, and here's the 'getting mad' part.

Thomas is annoyed that Cassi is associating with a 'known homosexual' like Robert. Other homosexuals in the book are likened to AIDS as a sort of causal result of their lifestyle (this from a doctor, *sigh*). Oh, and when Cassi starts to wonder about her husband's sanity, everyone tells her to calm down, stand by her man, etc. She also constantly thinks things like, "If my husband left me, my life would fall apart! What would I do?!" He's emotionally abusive, and she takes it as if it is her due. Sexism is rampant throughout the book, Cassi has all the resolve of a wet noodle, never trusts herself without her husband's opinion, won't schedule necessary eye surgery because her husband hasn't chatted it over with her yet, and dear criminy I'll stop now, before I blow a vein or something. Urk.

Honestly, in its day I'll bet this was quite the reading experience, but in today's standards, Cassi reads terribly. It's painful to watch her, frustrating to see her unable to help herself, and the attitudes of most of the hospital make you want to punch something. Certainly, this thriller kept my pulse racing, but mostly in anger.

'Nathan