Mortal Fear [Mass Market Paperback]

Robin Cook (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 1989

A harrowing medical nightmare on the cutting edge of genetic research, Mortal Fear goes into the controversial future of modern medicine. At a large Boston clinic, a world-class biologist stumbles upon a miraculous discovery, a major scientific breakthrough. Soon, healthy, middle-aged patients are dying of old age. And the ultimate experiment in terror begins...

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Berkley (February 1, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425113884
• ISBN-13: 978-0425113882
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,164,597 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #27 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Mystery & Thrillers > Authors, A-Z > ( C ) > Cook, Robin

More About the Author

Doctor and author Robin Cook is widely credited with introducing the word 'medical' to the thriller genre, and over twenty years after the publication of his breakthrough novel, Coma, he continues to dominate the category he created. Cook has successfully combined medical fact with fantasy to produce a over twenty-seven international bestsellers, including Outbreak (1987), Terminal (1993), Contagion (1996), Chromosome 6 (1997) and Foreign Body (2008).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars This IS the Weakest Link, September 30, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Mortal Fear (Mass Market Paperback)

This is the most disappointing Robin Cook novel I've read. The novel's protagonist, internest Dr. Jason Howard, is a middle-aged widower who sold his practice and signed a contract with an HMO organization after his wife's death. Unfortunately, this backstory is the most interesting part of the novel. The premise is smart, but the plotting is inexplicably weak. Howard is a nice, hardworking, affable doctor who contends with the plethora of daily outpatients in an HMO-owned facility. Suddenly, a colleague invites him to dinner, says he discovered something incredibly and then dies. The reader is then thrust into the story. The villain is sorrily predictable. Once you read the description of this character in the early part of the book, it's obvious that they're the evil mastermind behind Howard's colleague's demise and the strange course of events that follow. The most interesting character in the novel is Carol Donner, an exotic dancer who had a fling with said dead colleague. She's fascinating, but little is revealed about her and you wonder why she's there at all.

I've been thrilled with the Cook books I've read. If you are too, do yourself a favor and stay away from this one.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars DEATH RATTLES, February 18, 2004

By 

Michael Butts (Berkeley Springs, WV USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mortal Fear (Mass Market Paperback)

Cook once again serves us up a hero who decides to become a private investigator and research things he should leave to the police. At least in this one, the police are one step behind him. Cook gives us his standard sciene gone wrong plot, although fascinating at times and extremely readable. Cook is no great writer, but he manages to hook his audience, and enable us to root for the good guy even though most of the time they act like juveniles.
Readable.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, July 2, 1998

By 

Ashwin N. Ananthakrishnan "williamash" (Milwaukee, WI, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mortal Fear (Mass Market Paperback)

In 'Mortal Fear' Robin Cook introduces another frightening idea , as in his previous books, -- Killing older patients who will probably require prolonged treatment to make way for younger patients with a better chance of recovery. A scary thought indeed. He introduced a similar line of thought in his previous book - Godplayer, and readers who have read that book can see the similarity, and will probably find this one boring, as I did. Not one of his better books, Mortal Fear, lacks the suspense one looks for in his books. GHP is struck by a psychopath who introduces a Death Hormone releasing factor into old patients causing them to age fast and die within three weeks. I rate this book only average, Cook is capable of better books.