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Foreign Body
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Manufacturer: Putnam Adult
Author: Robin Cook
Publisher: Putnam Adult
Average Customer Rating:
Our Price: $17.13
You Save: $ 8.82 ( 34% )
Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Putnam Adult
Author: Robin Cook
Publisher: Putnam Adult
Average Customer Rating:
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Foreign Body Description
Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780399155024
ISBN: 0399155023
Label: Putnam Adult
Manufacturer: Putnam Adult
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 448
Publication Date: 2008-08-05
Publisher: Putnam Adult
Studio: Putnam Adult
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780399155024
ISBN: 0399155023
Label: Putnam Adult
Manufacturer: Putnam Adult
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 448
Publication Date: 2008-08-05
Publisher: Putnam Adult
Studio: Putnam Adult
Editorial Review of Foreign Body
A series of unexplained deaths in foreign hospitals sends an idealistic UCLA medical student on a desperate search for answers, in this chilling tale from the master of the medical thriller.
Jennifer Hernandez is a fourth-year medical student at UCLA, just completing an elective in general surgery, whose world is shattered during a break in an otherwise ordinary day. While relaxing in the surgical lounge of L.A.’s Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, she half-listens to a piece on medical tourism, where first-world citizens travel to third-world countries for surgery. But when she hears her beloved grandmother’s name mentioned, her own heart nearly stops: the CNN reporter says Maria Suarez-Hernandez had died, a day after undergoing a hip replacement in New Delhi’s Queen Victoria Hospital.
Maria had raised Jennifer and her brothers from infancy, and their bond was unshakable. Still, the news that Maria had traveled to India was a shock to Jennifer, until she realized that it was the only viable option for the hardworking yet uninsured woman. Devastated, and desperate for answers, Jennifer takes emergency leave from school and heads to India, where relations with local officials go from sympathetic to sour as she presses for more information. With the discovery of other unexplained deaths followed by hasty cremations, Jennifer reaches out to her mentor, New York City medical examiner Dr. Laurie Montgomery, who has her own deep connection to Maria.
Laurie, along with her husband, Dr. Jack Stapleton, rushes to the younger woman’s side, discovering a sophisticated medical facility with little margin for error. As the death count grows, so do the questions, leading Laurie and Jennifer to unveil a sinister, multilayered conspiracy of global proportions.
Jennifer Hernandez is a fourth-year medical student at UCLA, just completing an elective in general surgery, whose world is shattered during a break in an otherwise ordinary day. While relaxing in the surgical lounge of L.A.’s Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, she half-listens to a piece on medical tourism, where first-world citizens travel to third-world countries for surgery. But when she hears her beloved grandmother’s name mentioned, her own heart nearly stops: the CNN reporter says Maria Suarez-Hernandez had died, a day after undergoing a hip replacement in New Delhi’s Queen Victoria Hospital.
Maria had raised Jennifer and her brothers from infancy, and their bond was unshakable. Still, the news that Maria had traveled to India was a shock to Jennifer, until she realized that it was the only viable option for the hardworking yet uninsured woman. Devastated, and desperate for answers, Jennifer takes emergency leave from school and heads to India, where relations with local officials go from sympathetic to sour as she presses for more information. With the discovery of other unexplained deaths followed by hasty cremations, Jennifer reaches out to her mentor, New York City medical examiner Dr. Laurie Montgomery, who has her own deep connection to Maria.
Laurie, along with her husband, Dr. Jack Stapleton, rushes to the younger woman’s side, discovering a sophisticated medical facility with little margin for error. As the death count grows, so do the questions, leading Laurie and Jennifer to unveil a sinister, multilayered conspiracy of global proportions.
Customer Reviews of Foreign Body
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Perspective from an Indian surgeon in the USA
Review: Robin Cook has certainly been one of my favorite authors along with Issac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Stephen Baxter and the like. As far as medical thrillers are concerned he is probably the best writer out there at the moment and has been for many years now. The verdict in short - This effort doesn't do justice to many of his previous stellar works. What was interesting though, from my relatively unique perspective as a surgeon from India who subsequently went through surgical residency in NYC, was his focus on medical tourism and his overall grasp of India. I have to say that on both these counts, his portrayal has been very realistic. His acknowledgement that private hospitals in India matched up easily to their western counterparts is a fact well known to people in India, but a recognition from Robin Cook on the international stage is something else. In the same breath, he also manages to showcase reasonably accurately, the best and worst of India as a society, and as a country, which can be a paradox to most westerners. The storyline itself, I am afraid, isn't too complicated and its a safe bet to say that this certainly isn't one of the master's better efforts..
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Robin Cook's Foreign Body
Review: Robin Cook has done it again by keeping you on the edge of your seat. You want to keep reading it until the end. A true page turner.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Incredibly bad
Review: Other reviewers have said it all about how incredibly bad this book is. But the worst part is that they tried to drum up "excitement" for the release by posting two minute vignettes of the prequel on the Web. For weeks, every day, there was a new episode to get you wrapped up in the recruitment of the Indian nurses.
I didn't know this until I got the book and was directed to the website. Since the book had been released at that point I was able to go back and view each episode leading up the the release.
They are horrible. If you think TV soap operas are poorly written, overacted, frequently bizarre, and boring - you haven't seen anything as bad as these vignettes. I lasted through four before wanting to gag and at that point had all ready figured out where the weeks of vignettes were heading and what the book was about.
In spite of that, I read the book just because I hoped I was wrong. Unfortunately, the book recapped everything in the vignettes (in about 2 paragraphs) and was even worse than the Web acting. What a total waste of time. I agree we should have negative stars for garbage like this.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Surely someone else wrote this book
Review: If you are looking for anything plausible, in terms of characters or realism or action, avoid this stinker of a book.
Shaky, shaky, shaky. A really bad book. I don't think the good Dr. wrote it and wonder if he even read it.
The basic idea is actually very interesting and this could have been a real entertainer and illuminator, but this book just falls on its face.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Nancy Drew goes to Bollywood!
Review: Extremely disappointing - reads like a bad Nancy Drew. The whole plot is given away in the prologue - the rest is an unconvincing, simplistic plot with extremely boring characters. Either Cook has completely lost it or got someone in India to write it and didn't even bother to read it himself!
Review Summary: Perspective from an Indian surgeon in the USA
Review: Robin Cook has certainly been one of my favorite authors along with Issac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Stephen Baxter and the like. As far as medical thrillers are concerned he is probably the best writer out there at the moment and has been for many years now. The verdict in short - This effort doesn't do justice to many of his previous stellar works. What was interesting though, from my relatively unique perspective as a surgeon from India who subsequently went through surgical residency in NYC, was his focus on medical tourism and his overall grasp of India. I have to say that on both these counts, his portrayal has been very realistic. His acknowledgement that private hospitals in India matched up easily to their western counterparts is a fact well known to people in India, but a recognition from Robin Cook on the international stage is something else. In the same breath, he also manages to showcase reasonably accurately, the best and worst of India as a society, and as a country, which can be a paradox to most westerners. The storyline itself, I am afraid, isn't too complicated and its a safe bet to say that this certainly isn't one of the master's better efforts..
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Robin Cook's Foreign Body
Review: Robin Cook has done it again by keeping you on the edge of your seat. You want to keep reading it until the end. A true page turner.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Incredibly bad
Review: Other reviewers have said it all about how incredibly bad this book is. But the worst part is that they tried to drum up "excitement" for the release by posting two minute vignettes of the prequel on the Web. For weeks, every day, there was a new episode to get you wrapped up in the recruitment of the Indian nurses.
I didn't know this until I got the book and was directed to the website. Since the book had been released at that point I was able to go back and view each episode leading up the the release.
They are horrible. If you think TV soap operas are poorly written, overacted, frequently bizarre, and boring - you haven't seen anything as bad as these vignettes. I lasted through four before wanting to gag and at that point had all ready figured out where the weeks of vignettes were heading and what the book was about.
In spite of that, I read the book just because I hoped I was wrong. Unfortunately, the book recapped everything in the vignettes (in about 2 paragraphs) and was even worse than the Web acting. What a total waste of time. I agree we should have negative stars for garbage like this.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Surely someone else wrote this book
Review: If you are looking for anything plausible, in terms of characters or realism or action, avoid this stinker of a book.
Shaky, shaky, shaky. A really bad book. I don't think the good Dr. wrote it and wonder if he even read it.
The basic idea is actually very interesting and this could have been a real entertainer and illuminator, but this book just falls on its face.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Nancy Drew goes to Bollywood!
Review: Extremely disappointing - reads like a bad Nancy Drew. The whole plot is given away in the prologue - the rest is an unconvincing, simplistic plot with extremely boring characters. Either Cook has completely lost it or got someone in India to write it and didn't even bother to read it himself!