Host (Medical Thriller)

by Robin Cook

Devastated by the death of her boyfriend after a routine surgery, fourth-year medical student Lynn Pierce investigates the accident and discovers a string of suspicious deaths at the hospital.

• ISBN10: 0399172149
• ISBN13: 9780399172144
• Publish Date: 20 October 2015
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: G.P. Putnam's Sons
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 416
• Language: English

Reviews

[kimbacaffeinate]

Caffeinated Aspects:

• We meet Lynn Pierce a fourth year medical student on the morning of her boyfriend’s routine knee surgery. Carl fails to regain consciousness after the procedure.  Lynn and fellow classmate Michael investigate and uncover something disturbing.


• I loved the investigation and all the geeky medical talk; it had an easy of readability and kept me flipping the pages to uncover what was happening. Cook shared the story of other patients ramping up the suspense angle and the threat to our protagonists.


• Russians, hit men, and those in power added twists and turns as we uncovered what was happening to patients. Middleton Healthcare and their partner, Sidereal Pharmaceuticals with profit as their end game were believable villains.


• The convalescent center and its futuristic care system and diabolical treatments are sure to please your inner geek. Some aspects felt plausible and will give you cause to shiver.


• While Lynn sometimes annoyed me, her tenacious determination to uncover the truth made her a strong heroine. Michael was the more level-headed of the two and I admired him from the start.

Decaffeinated Aspects:

• Michael is black and about to graduate second in his class. While I love diversity, I do not believe his race, nor his ability to speak both as if from the “hood” and as an “English professor” should have been so heavily weighted. The author I believe was trying to shed light on racism but I hated the attention drawn to the color of his skin. While I certainly respect the message, I would have preferred a showing not telling approach. I felt like I was reading one of those learning books in school that was meant to be fun but teach a lesson. It was unfair to Michael who was a strong, humorous and bright character.


• Discussions on the of cost of medical care, pharmaceutical companies with their hands in Congress’s pockets and the cost of new drugs took up a significant chunk of page time. While I completely agree, it did not flow well and felt more placed into conversations for "the message".


• Having read Coma by Cook, Host felt like a revamped “newer” version leaving me feeling a tad disappointed. The similarities were substantial.

Copy provided by publisher. This review was originally posted on Caffeinated Book Reviewer