Host by Robin Cook

Host (Medical Thriller)

by Robin Cook

Host, the explosive thriller from New York Times bestselling author and master of the medical thriller, Robin Cook, takes readers back to where the genre began, and the questions posed in Coma: what happens when innocent hospital patients are used as medical 'incubators' against their will?

Lynn Peirce, a fourth-year medical student at Mason-Dixon University, thinks she has her life figured out. But when her otherwise healthy boyfriend, Carl, is admitted to hospital for routine surgery, Lynn is devastated by his sudden death.

Convinced there's more to the story than the authorities are willing to reveal, Lynn searches for evidence of medical malpractice with the help of her lab partner, Michael. What she uncovers, however, is far more disturbing. Hospitals associated with Middleton Healthcare have unnervingly high rates of unexplained complications and patients contracting serious and terminal illnesses following routine surgery.

When Lynn and Michael begin to receive death threats, they realize they must discover the truth, before the shadowy forces behind Middleton Healthcare can put a stop to their efforts once and for all.

Reviewed by kimbacaffeinate on

2 of 5 stars

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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

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 6 November, 2015: Finished reading
  • 6 November, 2015: Reviewed