New York Times-bestselling author Robin Cook takes on the cutting-edge world of gene-modification in this pulse-pounding new medical thriller.When an unidentified, seemingly healthy young woman collapses suddenly on the New York City subway and dies upon reaching the hospital, her case is an eerie reminder for veteran medical examiner Jack Stapleton of the 1918 flu pandemic. Fearful of a repeat … pandemic. Fearful of a repeat on the one hundredth anniversary of the nightmarish contagion, Jack autopsies the woman within hours of her demise and discovers some striking anomalies: first, that she has had a heart transplant, and second, that, against all odds, her DNA matches that of the transplanted heart.
Although the facts don’t add up to influenza, Jack must race against the clock to identify the woman and determine what kind of virus could wreak such havoc–a task made more urgent when two other victims succumb to a similar rapid death. But nothing makes sense until his investigation leads him into the fascinating realm of CRISPR/CAS9, a gene-editing biotechnology that’s captured the imagination of the medical community. . . and the attention of its most unethical members. Drawn into the dark underbelly of the organ transplant market, Jack will come face-to-face with a megalomaniacal businessman willing to risk human lives in order to conquer a lucrative new frontier in medicine–and if Jack’s not careful, the next life lost might be his own.
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A young woman, recovering from a medical procedure, feels great. She dresses up and decide to take the subway to Manhattan. She boards one of the trains and several minutes into the trip begins to feel ill. She collapses, falling to the floor of the train, surrounded by other passengers – someone yells to call 911 and when the paramedics arrive as the train stops at the next station, the woman is already dead. Nevertheless, the medics transport her to Bellevue Hospital and she is declared dead. There’s no identification on her person, her phone was stolen by one of the other passengers so the case goes to the Medical Examiner’s Department where one of the senior pathologists, Dr. Jack Stapelton, takes the case – the first of several similar “subway deaths.” Jack treats the death as one possibly presenting issues that indicate some contagious disease may have been the cause of her death and take appropriate safety precautions. After beginning the autopsy and opening the woman’s chest, he sees she has had a recent heart transplant. He’s certain that the transplant i not the cause of death. He sees that her lungs are totally filled with her own bodily fluids and begins the process of trying to find why this happened. More deaths follow and some curious evidence keeps Jack interested because toxicology indicates this victim (and later other victims) were not placed on anti-rejection medications. Later he finds this is because the blood types of victims and donors match perfectly. How could this have happened? Something strange is afoot – what is it? Read this Robin Cook book and find out. I’ve read all of Cook’s book over the years and they are always well-researched and very readable.
Another great book By Robin Cook. Have been reading his books since Coma. Have enjoyed them all.
This book was very prescient . I liked the pandemic in the book a lot better than living through Covid-19. Couldn’t be more topical for today but after Covid-19 fictionalization of this type of problem is yesterday’s news.
The writing is rather simplistic but enjoyable for light reading. Rather timely.
In the midst of the current pandemic, it is most appropriate, maybe a bit too real for comfort!
I normally really enjoy Robin Cook’s writing, but this one wasn’t as enjoyable. Part of it is because it hit too close to COVID-19 and part is because there were so many references to the past of Dr. Jack Stapleton. It also was a complete cliffhanger and that turned me off. It wasn’t up to Robin’s normal writing.
Great book and the movie was excellent. I just watched it again because of our pandemic. It’s very informative.
The title was misleading—not a pandemic after all.
Boring! Not believable.
A pandemic involving the Chinese with a twist.
This book started out so good, but finished on such a downer. Good action, building suspense, but ending seemed rushed and simplistic, almost as if there was a deadline the author had to finish. Hurry up, disappointing ending took away from overall decent read.
I thought it was a bit weird that I started reading this book just as the Corona Virus started to scare the world. But hey, it was the next book in the pile.
To be totally honest I was very disappointed with this book. I could not relate to the hero and with five or six fatalities it could hardly be classified as a pandemic. And the ending, WTF? Was so lame I had to go back to the start of the chapter to see that it really was the last chapter.
I was expecting more about the pandemic….forgetting its fiction and not what is going on today.
not a great book to read now.
The plot is unbelievable and the story is full of fluff. I used to love Robin Cook. I think I’m done. This book was tedious and barely held my attentioni.
Particularly realistic in today’s times
Not as good as some of his others. Reading about the real life pandemic occurring now is a lot more riviting
Been enjoying several “virus thrillers” recently – reading with my ears (via Libby audiobooks)
I have always loved Robin Cook’s books. I like his style of writing and his well developed characters. That being said, this story line and the characters of Jack and Laurie are feeling rather stale. Jack chases a pandemic because he can’t deal with his autistic daughters diagnosis and his in laws moving in. Really? Laurie Montgomery is a waste as chief medical examiner and used to be a very dynamic and interesting character is relegated to a harpy and a shrew. Not as good as they used to be. Time to write about some fresh blood and let Laurie and Jack rest.
A bit daunting to read during our real-life pandemic going on, but Robin Cook kept me reading until the wee hours wanting to see what happened next.