Life Blood [Paperback]

Thomas Hoover (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 2000

In "Life Blood", Thomas Hoover brings together impressive storytelling skills with fascinating, authentic medical detail and more than enough suspense to keep readers poised on the edge of their seats. Like Tess Gerritsen's In Their Footsteps, Michael Palmer's The Patient, and Nelson DeMille's Plum Island, this thriller from an exciting new voice promises to shoot straight up the bestseller lists.

It lies hidden deep in the mist-shrouded rain forest of Central America. A place where a brilliant doctor fulfills dreams for some -- and creates chilling nightmares for others. Now, filmmaker Morgan James is about to journey straight into the heart of a dark conspiracy...where a bizarre human experiment comes at a terrible price. And where she may be the next to pay with her life.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Pinnacle (December 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786013133
• ISBN-13: 978-0786013135
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 1.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,649,679 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Predictable villian, January 8, 2001

By 

Kathleene Thomason "katreads" (Dunbar, KY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Life Blood (Paperback)

Morgan James, a filmmaker, is unable to have a baby so she decides to do a short film on people who adopt. She finds that the process is long, drawn-out and tedious, but then she hears of some women who recieved healthy, white babies in just a few months. She sets out to investigate the adoption agency and from there it is as if Hoover followed a formula for bizzare human experiment novels. There is the obiligatory vague person wandering around the doctors complex, the mysterious doctor who travels back forth between Central America and New York and Morgan, who upon discovering that her cousin is in the clutches of this madman, immediately goes to South America to resuce her, even though she has no proof that that is where her cousin is. It is so predictable that you can almost finish writing it for him after a certain point in the book. Some of the things that he has his characters doing are so stupid you want to slap them. This would make a great emergency book, you know the one that you keep in your glovebox in case you have a flat tire and are waiting for help.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars What is this?!?, December 6, 2002

By 

Hippolytos (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Life Blood (Paperback)

I can't decide whether this novel is inventive or just ridiculous. Documentary-maker Morgan James is 38 years old, enjoys tenuous employment, has relatively no family, has recently broken up with the first man she has truly loved in decades, and is desperate to have a baby. Oh, yeah, and she just happens to be infertile despite no medical cause. That's perhaps the most believable part of this novel.

Morgan is written as too much of a martyr, but does enjoy some moments of clever determination and a smart (and funny) mouth. Everyone else, however, is simply too one-note, which lends an unfortunate air of predictability. Hoover manages to keep you guessing what the real secret of the novel is, but the reader will be only one step behind him. The action sequences are able, if standard. What I found galling was the callous treatment that infertility received. Yes, Morgan can't conceive, and she regards adoption as a viable option, which is good. However, it's obvious that the author didn't research his subject too closely. All the thoughts and feelings evoked are those any Discovery Channel documentary relays. The actual mechanics of reproductive endocrinology are only meekly addressed, and when they are, it is so horrific and base, it borders on disgusting. Even the ending leaves you questioning what's really going on.

This is not a novel I'd recommend. Too many genres, poorly-written characters and an absolutely inane plot unite in this below-average thriller.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars So so, May 25, 2011

By 

ratterriermom - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Life Blood (Kindle Edition)

One of those books that I wasn't sure if I'd keep going with until I was nearly halfway through, but ended up being a decent read.