Bad Docs
Robin Cook is to medical thrillers what John Grisham is to the law. Ever since he hit the bestseller lists in 1977 with the truly chilling Coma, he has churned out 35-odd books set against a medical backdrop, and picking holes in the so-called ‘noble profession.’
The title of his latest, Charlatans, is self-explanatory; the novel opens with the detailed preparation for an operation at the prestigious and state-of-the-art Boston Memorial Hospital. The surgery was supposed to be routine, but the patient dies on the operating table. The arrogant, high-flying surgeon, Dr. William Mason, blames the anesthesiologist, Dr Ava London, and she points fingers at him. But when three such deaths occur, there is cause for suspicion. An ambitious young chief surgery resident, Dr. Noah Rothauser, is caught in the crossfire, when he has to investigate the deaths.
He is attracted to Ava, but also finds that her lifestyle is way more lavish than a doctor could afford, and there are other strange things about her, like her obsession with social media under assumed names. Turns out she works as a lobbyist for the Nutritional Supplement Council, and the plot gets more complex and dangerous.
The novel, like all of Cook’s work, makes valid points about medical malpractice, but the books, too high on procedure and jargon, are getting increasing tough to get through, without some speed-reading. But, at least they are eye-openers in one way of another. There are good doctors, and then there are the greedy and evil kind.
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