Vital Signs

Rating:
Summary: Fact and Fiction
Review: Being a fan of medical thrillers and Robin Cook in particular I can understand the frustration som readers have felt that this book is not believable. This more than some of his later works is a fictional romp backed up with some alarming medical facts. As in all his books the premise is the same, this time a doctoe desperate for a baby is in IVF. Her rare condition turns out not to be rare. She and an old friend, another doctoe with the same condition become suspicious. What was a departure for Cook was the chase round the world as they are persued by mafia, triads and gangsters. If you read it with the understanding it is only a piece of fiction you won't be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: COOKIE CRUMBLING
Review: Robin Cook is at his best when his medical thrillers stay focused and are more suspenseful. Now Cook is trying to turn his medical thrillers into convoluted espionage thrillers, taking his characters all over the world. Here we go to Australia, Hong Kong and China. Drawn out, unbelievable situations and meandering dialogue draw this book down. I liked the character of Tristan Williams, but both Marissa and Wendy get a little too much, and I can't blame husband Robert for his disdain with Marissa's antics. Of all the Cook books (ha, no pun intended) I've read, this is his least effective.

Rating:
Summary: Hokey and Predictable, and a Wild Goose Chase
Review: This book was okay as a vacation cabin read, but it is not one of Robin Cook's best. I found the plot pretty much predictable, in that the clinic was obviously trying to drum up business by creating a market, and then stringing the customer along to milk them for more cash. It only takes a couple hundred pages before the heroine of the story even gets close to that idea. She also falls for some of the lies quite easily, although she was suspicious about a coverup and evil intentions, she doesn't grok the obvious motive and means until the last few pages. The entertaining part is the traipsing through the clinic, breaking into the computer, and then off to Australia while chased by two bumbling hit-men, and then the heroine and her alter-ego trying to make contact with the triads (the number of watches they went through), before finally figuring out what the Chinese doctors do best. A good rainy day read, but not much of a mystery.