Seizure [Kindle Edition]

Robin Cook (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Cook constructs a promising yet ultimately wearying plot around the issue of therapeutic cloning, picking up where his last novel, Shock, left off. Readers are once again privy to the morally questionable goings on at the Wingate Infertility Clinic in the Bahamas, but its doctors are side players here. Leading the action is former Harvard biotech ace Daniel Lowell, who has formed his own company to investigate a cloning technique in which a patient with an incurable disease is returned to health through the injection of stem cells. In this case the disease is Parkinson's, and the patient is Ashley Butler, a conservative U.S. senator from the South. For political reasons, Butler opposes the legalization of Lowell's technique. Yet Butler-given about a year to live-is willing to switch sides if Lowell agrees to try out the treatment on him first. The kicker is that the fundamentalist Butler wants the stem cells injected into his brain to come from a very specific source: the Shroud of Turin, the burial cloth of Jesus Christ. Cook provides plenty of action as well as polemical asides about the ethics of cloning (he believes politics intrudes far too often into medical and biotech issues), yet readers waiting for a jolt or a revelation will be disappointed. Cook occasionally lets loose the propulsive narrative force that characterizes his best work, but much of the plot is stale and contrived. Readers will have to endure characters who fail to stir emotions (such as a band of corny mobsters), as well as descriptions of Bahamanian resorts that read like paid promotional material.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Cook's latest medical thriller centers around two men--Daniel Lowell, a brilliant researcher, and Ashley Butler, a powerful southern senator. Daniel and his girlfriend, Stephanie D'Agostino, are the cofounders of CURE, a medical research company, the existence of which relies heavily on biotechnology legislation that Butler is trying to block. However, he has an ulterior motive: he is suffering from Parkinson's disease and wants Daniel to treat him using cloned cells. Daniel and Stephanie are taken aback, since their procedure has yet to get FDA approval, meaning they would have to do the surgery in another country. And they're shocked to learn that Butler wants the cells taken not from a donor but from the infamous Shroud of Turin. He puts Daniel and Stephanie in contact with the unscrupulous doctors at the Wingate Clinic (last seen in Cook's previous novel, Shock [2001]) in Nassau. But before they can go to the Wingate to prepare for the procedure, Daniel and Stephanie must go to Turin, to retrieve a piece of the Shroud. Cook is at his best when focusing on fascinating, cutting-edge biotechnology procedures. Kristine Huntley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 804 KB
• Publisher: Berkley (October 5, 2004)
• Sold by: Penguin Publishing
• Language: English
• ASIN: B000OIZUYO
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 2.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (82 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #210,222 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

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

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars (1 1/2) A BARELY READABLE STORY From A Talented Author, August 5, 2003

By 

Tucker Andersen (Wall Street) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Seizure (Hardcover)

If you fall into one of the following four categories you might be considering reading this book, but BEWARE, with the possible exception of number four you will in all likelihood be very disappointed. First, you are a diehard Robin Cook Fan. Second, you read SHOCK and understand that Spencer Wingate and his cohorts at the Wingate Clinic play a relatively small but central role in this book. Third, you are interested in the medical aspects and the ethical debate concerning cloning and stem cell research. Last, you are a speed reader who only skims most novels for the central element of the plot and are not bothered by unlikable characters and uneven writing.

The plot is as described in other reviews and on the book jacket. Dr. Daniel Lowell, a brilliant medical researcher (previously employed by Merck) resigns the Harvard faculty to start his own biotech firm. He is joined by his younger associate, Stephanie D'Agostino, with the hope of commercializing a procedure developed by Daniel, HTSR (Homologous Transgenic Segmental Recombination). Their future is threatened when the powerful Senator Ashley Butler threatens to introduce legislation banning the procedure at a time when Daniel's firm is in need of a further cash infusion from his venture capital backers. Meanwhile, Senator Butler's staff research has led him to believe that the HTSR treatment might successfully provide a cure for his recently diagnosed but rapidly progressing Parkinson's Disease. (Since it would threaten his political career, his disease has been a closely kept secret, known only to his long time aide Carol Manning and his physician.) There are several subplots including a DNA sample extracted from a fragment of the Shroud of Turin, the use of the facilities of the Wingate clinic (which has relocated to the Bahamas), and Stephanie's family connections to the Boston Mob (in an unbelievable use of stereotyping).

As the author has explained, he views himself as writing "faction", and wants to use his books to inform and enlighten, as well as preach whatever happens to be his message of the moment. However, he has apparently forgotten that his stories should also be interesting and entertaining. He claims that he needed to research the political aspects of this book in D.C., and yet the political insights are minimal. The information on the Shroud of Turin was new to me, but the segments on therapeutic cloning were much too technical and lengthy to maintain my interest. Thus a story with several potentially interesting subplots and which had the potential to involve an interesting discussion of the potential ethical dilemmas involved in biotech experimentation tried to do too much and as a result accomplished almost nothing.

In addition, without exception the characters were totally unlikable stereotypes and caricatures. Daniel was a selfish individual lacking in judgment who was only interested in fame and fortune; the Catholic clergy were primarily interested in their political goals; Senator Butler was a totally self-centered fraud, Stephanie was portrayed as the typical female companion who was too weak to resist Daniel's and the Senator's plan even though her instincts and her intuition told her it was wrong and would probably fail; finally, the distractions caused by her family had no discernible purpose except to lengthen the book. And if you plan to read this book to find out what happened to Spencer Wingate, Paul Saunders and Kurt Hermann you will be disappointed as well. Even the dialog and the writng style seem unnatural for much of the book.

The only reasons I rounded up my rating are that there are a few moments of real tension if you plough through the whole book, there is some interesting information presented about the controversy concerning therapeutic cloning, and the plot has promise (although unfulfilled). So , if you fit into category four at the begining of my review, you might find this book marginally worthwhile. Unfortunately, I got over my disappointment with the author's last few books (since I used to be a big fan of his) and read this in my usual thorough style, only to be disappointed once again.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars It almost gave me one, July 30, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Seizure (Hardcover)

Robin Cook's thrillers used to pace the genre, worthy of praise like "heart-pounding" and "pulse-racing"...but this book was so wooden, it was dead on arrival. I don't know why the dialogue was so poorly written (the characters never used contractions, and frequently made ridiculous exclamations, like 'my heavens!'), the plot incredibly slow to take shape and the twists telegraphed chapters in advance. Finally, the rapid climax is so unexpected, it feels like half the book is missing and Cook had to get the title to his publisher.

Frankly, this was a parody of a good Robin Cook work...the ethics he promises to examine are explored mostly in the afterword. If you want to read this book, just take two minutes and look at the flap jacket--that's the entire story, right there. Just terrible.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A big disappointment, April 3, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Seizure (Hardcover)

I'm a reader who likes to whiz through a good book and not have to think much about what I'm reading. I used to be able to do that with Robin Cook novels, and I LOVED them. I am in the medical field and absolutely adored Dr. Cook's early works. His recent novels, though, seem to be harder to follow, and not as focused on the actual medical thriller genre that I love so much. I yearn for something like Coma, Harmful Intent, Outbreak, etc. Earlier Cook works would have me up til the wee hours, sometimes finishing his book in a matter of 1-2 days. I couldn't even get past the first 3 chapters of this one. Big disappointment.