About the Author

Dr. Robin Cook is the author of thirty-one previous books and is credited with popularizing the medical thriller with his wildly successful first novel, Coma. He divides his time between New Hampshire and Florida. His most recent bestsellers are Death Benefit, Cure, and Intervention.

Reviews

“Master of the medical thriller.”—The New York Times

“Cook can write up a storm and spin a taut tale…a master.”—Kirkus Reviews

This accomplished if familiar medical thriller from bestseller Cook picks up the story of doctor-to-be Pia Grazdani after her horrific experiences in 2011's Death Benefit, which included being abducted and witnessing a colleague, Will McKinley, being shot in the head. Pia decides to defer her New York City residency in favor of taking a position with Nano, a Boulder, Colo., company on the cutting edge of nanotechnology research. Nano's development of "a microbivore-based antibacterial treatment" may help Will recover. To no reader's surprise, Nano's stereotypical evil businessman/scientist head, Zachary Berman, is prepared to jump across experimental ethics lines in pursuit of his own ends. Though Berman's company finds a way to enable "a man to survive a massive, normally lethal medical crisis apparently unharmed," Pia suspects that something more sinister is in the works. The concept of a young medico stumbling on a deadly conspiracy may have been fresh in 1977's Coma, but more than three decades later, there isn't much novelty left. (Dec.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

The heroine of Death Benefit, Dr. Pia Grazdani, moves from New York City to Denver to work as a researcher for medical nanotechnology firm Nanobots. She is curious about the company's seemingly endless funding and by chance soon finds that Nanobots uses human guinea pigs to test its latest discoveries. Though she's soon in mortal danger, Pia still pursues the mystery to its darkest bottom. This suspense-filled and scientifically detailed thriller is given a splendid reading by George Guidall. His pacing, inflection, diction, and intonation are all a nearly flawless pairing of text and voice. His seemingly effortless performance almost immediately draws in the listener, giving each character a consistent and distinct voice and each narrative passage just the right pace and inflection. Verdict Recommended for all public libraries.-Michael T. Fein, Central Virginia Community Coll., Lynchburg (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.