Customer Reviews

Contagion

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Manhatten General Hospital seems to be a dangerous place to be hospitalized in. During a ninety-six hour period nine people have succumbed to not one, not two but three extremely rare diseases, especially for New York City. Jack Stapleton is the New York city Medical Examiner who discovered these occurrences in the course of performing autopsies upon the victims and while no one has questioned the natural occurrence of these deadly, highly infectious diseases, Jack eventually comes to the conclusion that these events are too much of a coincidence to be accidental.

Contagion was written by a prolific writer named Robin Cook. If you are not familiar with Cook you should be. He is the unquestioned king of the medical mystery/suspense genre, having written well over twenty such books, dating back to the seventies. If you happen to remember the scary movie Coma, that was Robin Cook.

With not one but three different extremely rare pathogens killing patients at the New York hospital, Stapleton suspects it's more than just coincidence. But Jack can't seem to get anybody's attention, especially at the Hospital itself where the management even resents and has barred his presence. This leads Jack to suspect there may be a connection between the mysterious microbes responsible for the deaths and the HMO that owns the hospital, Americare, the same HMO that once destroyed his flourishing medical practice. However Jack is unable to convince his friends and co-workers Chet and Laurie or his bosses that these occurrences are being orchestrated, even after a deadly form of Influenza makes an appearance killing many more patients and hospital staff.

Could Americare deliberately killing off its sickest patients - those who cost the most money to treat? If not, is there an even more dastardly motive behind the mysterious happenings at Manhattan General, and what about the sudden attempts on Jack's life by members of a black gang who surprisingly rescued by members of another black gang?

CONCLUSION

Contagion is a fun read, one that, as commonly happens with an intriguing book, I kept finding reasons to to read when I should be doing other things. Though Cook is known to throw in a generous dose of medical terms I forgive him, it is after all a MEDICAL THRILLER! Other than that his writing is fluid and user friendly, though sometimes a little weak when it comes to character development, and his fulminations about the dangers of managed care tend to compete with the plot. Still, to his credit, Cook doesn't try to overwhelm you with his obvious intellect. He writes to be understood and appreciated by the masses.

Speaking of the plot, Cook manages to instill a little bi-racial tolerance by having his protagonist (Jack)living in a flat in Harlem and becoming a basketball buddy with Warren, the imposing leader of a black gang. Coincidently another black gang is hired first to scare then to kill Jack and the interplay between good and bad black guys was a nice touch. In fact there were many nice touches which overcame some weaknesses which, to me, became evident toward the end of the book. But even though I questioned the improbable rational for the murders, I was totally surprised by the identity of of the perps.

Beware, Contagion may make you think twice about going to the hospital short of anything life threatening.

Contagion had been sitting in my bookcase unread since I obtained a proof of it in 1996. I decided to read it now because the movie reviews of Contagion were pretty good and I knew I'd never read the book if I had gone to see the movie first.

My decision was a huge mistake since the book was -- in a word -- awful.

It's not that the plot was so bad, which involves forensic pathologist Jack Stapleton suspecting that three different very rare diseases responsible for the deaths of several people at a New York hospital is more than just coincidence. While the plot is highly implausible and requires the reader to stretch their willingness-to-believe to the limit, the book does move along at a decent enough pace. What made this book so bad for me was that Cook's ability to create believable, richly developed characters and dialogue that real people would speak was virtually non-existent. The characters were so one-dimensional,cartoon-like and unrealistic, and the dialogue was so cliche-ridden and ridiculous, that I frequently found myself thinking that the influenza that killed several characters in the book couldn't be any more painful than the pain reading this book produced. What I am asking myself now is: Why did I finish this book if I thought it was so bad? Could I be a glutton for punishment?

I don't think so.

Despite my problems with the plot, character development and dialogue, I continued reading because I wanted to see what happened in the end. Reading the last 75 pages was the "straw that broke the camel's back" for me. While there was a bit of a surprising twist toward the end, the way Cook wrapped up this book was extremely poor and unrealistic. So poor, that the odds of any of the other unread books by Robin Cook in my bookcase ever being read are about the same as the cause for the influenza outbreak described in Contagion becoming reality.

On one level, Robin Cook's "Contagion" covers familiar ground: a dedicated doctor, a health care system out of control, and a potential plague that could wipe out mankind. The hero in this case is Jack Stapleton, a medical examiner whose loss of family transforms him into an irreverent, anti-authority figure, a white man who lives in Harlem and rides a bicycle through the city. He also, of course, is the only one to see a pattern in several illnesses that appear at an HMO in New York City; illnesses that are rare and deadly, such as the hantavirus. Cook also delves into the advertising world with one character, Terese, who may not be all that she seems. Cook plays several plotlines concurrently, and for the most part successfully, although how they converge is a little predictable. The main illness, a strain of influenza that wiped out more people than World War I, is the most realistic part of the novel: Cook knows his viruses, and has done his historical research. At times predictable, but still gripping, "Contagion" is on the high end of medical thrillers.

This is another of Robin Cooks books that brings along Jack Stapelton. Such an involved character! As always the action never stops when Jack is involved.

I really enjoyed this book. The plot was good, I liked the characters, it wasn't dull at any time. I was surprised at the end when I found out who was infecting all these people, but the reason why was a little lame. It was such a good book, I expected a better ending.

This book is the type that will stay with you for days. I was hesitant about reading it because I don't usually like medical thrillers. But, Cook unfolded an unbelievable tale and kept me on the edge of my seat, guessing who would be the next to go. It is definitely a must read

The book starts off with three seemingly unrelated events that, we are told, will eventually collide. The main character in this story is Dr. Stapleton who works in the morgue of a medical facility. The doctor who is a mystery to his co-workers stumbles upon a mystery in the medical field. Several deaths from a local hospital have apparently occurred from rare diseases. Dr. Stapleton, who appears to enjoy living on the edge -- he's a caucasion living in Harlem, makes a genuine pest of himself while he investigates the origin of the diseases.
His pestering lands him on the most-unwanted-list for the hospital. This fact does not deter Dr. Stapleton since this hospital is also associated with a company who he blames for ruining his life. It's not until an attempt is made on his life that he realizes that he may have stumbled onto something more than a freak occurance. In this book there are other characters who either assist or hender Dr. Stapleton's investigation. The thrill is guessing who is actually "assiting" and who is actually "hendering." People are not
always what they seem or who they seem.

As usual, the medical jargon in Robin Cook's novel does not make it difficult reading. Most of the medical terminology is explained sufficiently for the reader to understand the significance of the medical find. The descriptions of the autopsies is not so graphic that it will offend anyone who normally reads medical thrillers. The book is fast-paced and definitely keeps your attention. The characters in the book are well thought out and quite believable. I enjoyed this book and plan to pass it along to others who share an
interest in mystery novels.

This is bad in a big, big, big way.

Unlikable, wooden, two-dimensional characters.

Stiff dialogue.

Character backstories that have nothing to do with the plot and that do not inform the characters' actions.

Black characters drawn with cliched, caricatured strokes.

The ONLY things that kept me reading to the end were coffee-induced insomnia, a mild interest in the author's asides on H1N1, and a masochistic drive to see how the author ties up all this drivel.

In 1995, Robin Cook produced another medical thriller page-turner with Contagion, the book in which NYC medical examiners Jack Stapleton and Laurie Montgomery first team up (they also appear in the later Cook novels Chromosome Six & Vector). A large corporate hospital starts having odd unexplained infectious deaths, first plague, quickly followed in succession by tularemia, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, & influenza. Jack makes his early reputation in this novel by figuring out the diagnoses &, in the course of his investigations, gets caught up in the murderous scheme in the background. Halfway through the book, you think you know who done it, but you're probably only half right, as it's a pretty big surprise toward the end. The plot interweaves medical rivalry, bureaucratic infighting, Madison Avenue advertising, cutthroat corporate politics, & big business medicine. While not Robin Cook's best novel, Contagion is a satisfying read & difficult to put down once started.

It's obvious that the author is a doctor, not a writer. While the medical details are probably accurate (I wouldn't know), the prose is laughably bad. The plot drags (chapter after chapter setting up the medical situation), and then erupts into an unlikely series of narrow escapes. The mystery's solution comes out of left field. Not recommended.