Book Review: Critical, by Robin Cook

Robin Cook has to be the best in the medical thriller genre. Critical brings back two of my favorite characters in his books--Jack Stapleton and Laurie Montgomery, medical examiners, and, in this book, newlyweds.

As usual, Laurie is making connections that others seem to have missed. Several cases she or her colleagues have autopsied lately cause her to realize that something is dreadfully wrong. There has been a rash of fatal drug-resistant staph infections occurring in the area in the last three months, many of which were primary pneumonias, and all of which occurred in three specialty hospitals in the area. The three hospitals are run by the same company, Angels Healthcare, a start-up which is about to go public.

The company's founder and CEO, Angela Dawson, is a lot like Laurie in a way. Intelligent, driven, and determined, Angela had gone into medicine intent on helping people, only to see her practice go bankrupt. Devastated, she went back to school, this time to get an MBA. Her plan to open several specialty hospitals seems guaranteed to succeed. However, the surge of infections could put an end to her plans and leave her with nothing. The closure of several of her operating rooms as a consequence of the infections has led to severe cash-flow problems. With no other choice, she turns to her ex-husband, Michael, for financial help. Michael, already heavily invested along with several highly questionable friends, would like nothing more than to walk away from the company, but he knows that if the company goes down, his "friends" will take care of him for good.

Both women want nothing more than for the infections to stop for good, but they butt heads as Angela is intent on damage control and saving the company, while Laurie is determined to get at the cause of the infections. For Laurie, there is more than professional curiosity at stake. Her husband, the headstrong Jack Stapleton and fellow medical examiner, is scheduled to receive surgery for an athletic injury at Angels' Orthopedic Hospital. Since she can't convince her stubborn husband to delay the surgery, it's a race against the clock to solve the mystery behind the infections. Not only that, but her investigation of the infections has upset some very dangerous people (the friends of Michael), including villains she has encountered in the past. These villains think that now is the perfect time to exact their revenge and shut her up forever.

As with all of Cook's books, Critical is fast-paced and full of intrigue. Cook's novels also usually contain some sort of moral, in this case about the danger of mixing business and medicine.