Customer Reviews

Brain

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Like many of his other books, "Brain" starts out with a rather good story that can hold readers' attention until the end. The core message is human experimentation, and in this case the brain's functions as an example. The beginning of the story fills with mysterious deaths that slowly draw our good doctors into a trap. Cook has the talent to explain medical technicality in simple terms, to discuss medical and ethical issues that are relevant to the society, and to display the day-to-day life of the medical professionals. Unfortunately, most of his novels suffer from abrupt and bizzare endings that read more like a sci-fi movie script: In "Brain", the human brain and spinal cord can be kept alive and functioning in a jar of liquid (remember RoboCop 2?). In "Chromosome 6", a jungle turns into "Planet Apes". In "Toxin", the final investigation of the meat factory reads like a James Bond movie. So, despite the wonderful starts and the real messages carried by the stories, there is always somewhat a letdown in the end. I have been hoping to find a good ending in Cook's novel. If the readers are interested in human experimentation, I highly recommend the book "The Plutonium Files", which are real stories about the nuclear research and experimentation conducted by the US military during and after WWII.

From the back of the book "Martin Philips and Denise Sanger were Doctors, Lovers-and desperately afraid. Both of them suspected that something was wrong - terribly wrong - in the great medical research center where they worked." What is causing so many patients to die on the operating table? Why is it only females? Read this book to find out. However; don't be disappointed, as this is not one of the better works by Robin Cook.

Being an avid fan of Robin Cook, this book was definitely not his best work. Though enjoyable, I didn't find it as gripping as some of his other works and can only give this an average rating. Normally once I start a Cook novel I have a hard time putting it down but I didn't have that problem with this one. Not boring, but not as gripping and fast paced as some of his other works. In his usual manner, Mr. Cook is successful in describing the characters and setting the scenes with minimal words and doesn't drag it out as many authors do.

I found this book to be plausible yet was able to see through the plot from the very beginning. However, like most of his novels, this book will have you thinking hard about some of the goings on in the medical world today. When I hear or see something on the news regarding a medical breakthrough, I immediately begin thinking about the many Cook novels I have read.

For all of you Cook fans, like his many other novels, keep the dictionary handy for looking up those various medical terms. If you are new to Mr. Cook, I recommend starting with one of his other novels; but the same holds true for you as well about the dictionary. If I had to list one thing about the works of Robin Cook that drive me crazy, it would be that he has a tendency to forget that many of us are only lay people who are not familiar with much of the medical jargon he uses. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy his novels greatly.

My favorite novels and I have read many by Mr. Cook and the ones I would recommend for new comers to his works are:

Outbreak
Blind Sight
Contagion
Harmful Intent

The one I don't recommend for those new to Mr. Cook is:

Godplayer

I know some people have found it too technical but for me it was the best ever. For someone on the medical field who understands the terminology, the book is great. I was very surprised at the end since I had no idea who was behind all that was happening. I have read several of Cook's books as well as other medical thrillers but I think this was one of the best that I had ever read!

This book is about a medical center that goes from saving lives to taking lives, like one of Cook's other books, Godplayer, only this one is about brain surgery. It may have been done before, but this book makes the plot of removing unsuspecting surgical patient's brains to make a supercomputer and is very disturbing. If you don't like to read descriptions of people's brains being disposed of and removed in the most gut-wrenching ways or if you can't understand complicated scientific jargon about how the brain interacts with computers, don't read this. If you do, read IT!!!!!!!

I find Robin Cook's novels very interesting and helps me understand more medical terms. His books are an inspiration to a learning person who wishes to know more about the medical field. I'm only a kid myself but i have read almost all his books: Terminal,Mutation,Invasion,Fatal Cure,Blindsight,The year of the intern,Sphinx,Acceptable Risk,Coma,Brain,Chromosome6 and a lot more i cant remember them all.

Although this novel is over 20 years old, I found it interesting, intriguing, and shocking.

Dr. Martin Philips,Assistant Chief of Neuroradiology at Hobson University Medical Center is thrilled and intrigued with the new computer program that his colleague Michaels, a genius working in the Department of Artificial Intelligence presents to him. Eager to test his new program, Philips begins to try it out on a series of x-rays, and soon discovers some strange abnormalities in several patients, some whom have recently expired, and one who went missing. Soon, Dr. Philips begins to suspect that something very strange and unethical is taking place at Hobson Medical Center. As he pursues his investigation, he faces threats of losing his position, and inadvertantly discovers that the FBI may likely be involved in the illegal activities that are taking place at the Medical Center.

Although parts of this story dragged a little at times, I never lost interest, and found it to be a good read.

If you see all my reviews of all RC's books that I have read, you will see that they are almost alike, when you finish one of these books you'll not want to go to any doctor at all, I have read many books written in this century (21st) that involve killing people to obtain their brains to make an "intelligent" computer, so if you think that this book is a "fairy tale" because it was written 25 years ago and it couldn't be possible you will get disappointed, maybe the explanation of how the computers work with the human brain is an easy way to explain it but you have to remember that this book was written in 1979, If you like these kind of books you can read Fountain Society by Wes Craven or Shadows by John Saul.

Interesting book when it comes to the idea of the medical field experimenting on humans. In this case, it's women who are patients at the GYN clinic. Heavy on the medical terminology, and Cook seemed to lose his focus for the ending which was disappointing. I wouldn't recommend the book to first time readers of Cook, as he's done better.

The story may be fiction, but the premise is factual and what Dr. Cook tells at the end of the book is enough to raise the hair on the back of your neck. In the 30s and continuing into the 70s the government experimented on a group of black men with the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiments via the U.S. Health Dept., which is now the CDC. See BAD BLOOD by James Jones and THE TUSKEGEE SYPHILIS STUDY: THE REAL STORY AND BEYOND by Fred D. Gray who as a lawyer representing the Tuskegee Syphilis survivors sued the federal government. As well, see Eileen Welsome's THE PLUTONIUM FILES: AMERICA'S SECRET MEDICAL EXPERIMENTS DURING THE COLD WAR. If you believe Robin Cook's comments at the end of this book are fictional, think again! It took Eileen Welsome 10 years to research and write her book and she received the Pulitzer for her work. Robin Cook's information in this book should make you ponder what you sign when you visit a doctor's office...read it carefully and make sure you aren't another government experiment as there have been countless experiments besides the ones I've mentioned here.

Brain by Robin Cook is a nice little book that is easy to read and quite interesting for most of the book. If you're looking to be blown away, this is not the book for you, but nonetheless, I did enjoy reading it. As with Coma, the story is really engaging, but it seems to take a familiar course toward the end.