Foreign Body

June 30, 2008
Bestseller Cook (Critical
) stumbles in this formulaic thriller about the timely subject of medical tourism, the trend in which U.S. citizens seek to save costs on expensive surgery through treatment overseas. At the center of the drama is Jennifer Hernandez, a fourth-year medical student at UCLA, whose grandmother has died in a New Delhi hospital following hip replacement surgery. Suspicious about the circumstances, Hernandez immediately flies to India to investigate. There she not only discovers a number of similar deaths of U.S. citizens but also runs into the one-two punch of a desperate Indian medical industry struggling to block all publicity about the deaths and a huge American HMO that wants nothing more than the widest exposure of the apparent medical missteps in the Third World. Implausible plot twists, unconvincing villains, silly dialogue and a convenient, all-too-happy ending make this one of Cook's rare weak efforts.

August 15, 2008
When her beloved grandmother suddenly dies after routine hip surgery in India, UCLA medical student Jennifer Hernandez interrupts her studies and flies to New Delhi to claim the body. Arriving at the ultra-modern Queen Victoria Hospital, Jennifer notices problems with her grandmother's case that worry her. When a second, and then a third, sudden death of an American "medical tourist" occur over the next two days, Jennifer becomes suspicious. She turns for help to her mentor, New York City medical examiner Laurie Montgomery, who leaves immediately for India, accompanied by husband and fellow medical examiner Jack Stapleton. (Both characters appeared previously in the author's "Chromosome 6" and "Vector".) What the trio discovers is a vast conspiracy to undermine India's growing medical tourism industry by an American health-care firm willing to resort to blackmail, kidnapping, and murder. Cook's 27th medical thriller includes his standard brew of interesting characters, plenty of medical background, a fast pace, and increasingly unbelievable events. Fans willing to suspend disbelief will enjoy the ride. Recommended for popular fiction collections. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 4/1/08.]A.J. Wright, Anesthesiology Lib., Univ. of Alabama at Birmingham

Copyright 2008 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2008
Medical-thriller writer Cook has made a tidy sum scaring the bejesus out of his readers with medical catastrophes ranging from Coma (1977) to Seizure (2003). His latest homes in onthe phenomenon of medical tourism, a new trend that sees many U.S. citizens traveling to foreignhospitals to obtain low-cost surgical procedures, often spending their recovery time in five-star resorts. Unfortunately for the three victims here, its not a five-star resort but a cafeteria freezer that is their resting place after three routine surgeries done in New Delhi, India, produce fatal results. One of the victims is the grandmother of Jennifer Hernandez, a UCLA medical studentwho is resisting pressure to have herrelative cremated. The fact that her grandmothers death was publicized on CNN before the hospital even contacted thefamily has made Jennifer suspicious. She turns to forensic experts Drs. Laurie Montgomery and Jack Stapleton (last seen in Critical, 2007), who quickly determine the best way to bypass Indias corrupt police force, perform an illegal autopsy, and figurewho has the prime motive forsabotaging Indias burgeoning medical-tourism industry. Cooks clever concept is undermined by thewooden characters, but what is most in need of resuscitation here is the painfully awkward dialogue. Still, this is an easy read that offers good background detail on India in addition to the medicaldrama and should appealto the authors many fans.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)